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Head of section : Félix DARVE Professor Emeritus at Grenoble Institut Polytechnique, 3SR (Laboratoire Sols Solides Structures Risques), UGA (Université Grenoble Alpes)
Jean MARTINS Research Director at the CNRS, Institut des Géosciences de l'environnement (IGE), Université Grenoble Alpes

Soils that stand the test of time

Encyclopédie environnement - sable - couverture

Sand: fluid or solid?

05-01-2025

NICOT François

Sand is one of the common materials in our environment. Symbolically attached to the seaside frame, it is nevertheless one of the basic materials used…

Encyclopédie environnement - permafrost - pergélisol

The permafrost

05-01-2025

SCHOENEICH Philippe, FABRE Denis

Permafrost is present on the Earth’s surface, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. Its thickness and continuity depend on latitude and altitude. There are two main…

Encyclopédie environnement - renforcement des sols - couverture

Soil reinforcement: techniques that have become essential

05-01-2025

VILLARD Pascal, BRIANÇON Laurent

Thanks to innovative techniques, it is now possible to build on all types of floors. From simple structures to architectural feats, the know-how of engineers…

Clay: a natural and surprising nanomaterial

05-01-2025

FLAVIGNY Etienne

Clays are a family of materials that are omnipresent in our daily lives and in our environment. Dry, they seem as solid as rocks, muddy,…

Soil erosion: a story of fluid and grains

05-01-2025

WAUTIER Antoine

No material is so hard that it can withstand the onslaught of time without eroding. Water and wind patiently sculpt all the obstacles that stand…

Natural hazards

Encyclopédie environnement - risques naturels - natural hazards - natural disasters

Natural risks

05-01-2025

NICOT François

Natural hazards are an integral part of the history of our planet. Storms, cyclones, floods, heat waves, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, meteorite falls,… are…

landslides

Landslides

05-01-2025

FLAVIGNY Etienne

Landslides are one of the most prevalent natural hazards and affect all regions of the world, causing enormous damage each year in terms of both…

mouvement terrain miniamaso japon

Why do earthquakes trigger catastrophic landslides?

05-01-2025

BOURDEAU Céline

Can all earthquakes trigger ground movements? Each year, earthquakes are responsible for loss of life and damage to buildings and infrastructure. Long considered as a…

rockfall - landslides

Rock slides and rock falls, a fatality?

05-01-2025

FABRE Denis, HANTZ Didier

Due to their frequency and sometimes very large volumes in young mountain ranges (Himalayas, Andes, Alps…), rock falls, such as landslides, are among the major…

Encyclopédie environnement - avalanches - couverture

Snow avalanches

05-01-2025

ANCEY Christophe

Avalanches are fast snowflows on a mountain slope. By extension, these can be flows of other materials; sometimes we talk about underwater avalanches or stone…

La Clapière: is the largest French landslide still a major risk?

05-01-2025

DURVILLE Jean-Louis, PEREZ Jean-Louis, MAURIN Patrice

The La Clapière landslide (Alpes-Maritimes) involves 50 million m³. Identified around 1980, the phenomenon showed a gradual acceleration with marked seasonal modulations. After a peak…

Soils and people

$Encyclopedie environnement - fracturation hydraulique - natural hydraulic fracture$

The challenges of industrial hydraulic fracturing

05-01-2025

CORNET François Henri

Hydraulic fracturing is a failure process that occurs when the pressure applied to the fluid contained in a rock exceeds a certain threshold. This process…

Encyclopedie environnement - geothermie - geothermal energy

Geothermal energy: a significant source of energy?

05-01-2025

CORNET François Henri

The heat contained in aquifers for which the temperature is between 50 and 120°C can be used for district heating provided that the point of…

Encyclopédie environnement -pesticides - couverture

Pesticides: what the past teaches us

05-01-2025

SABATIER Pierre, POULENARD Jérôme, ARNAUD Fabien

Figure 1. Lake Saint André and the surrounding vineyards (in 2009). The bathymetric map (topographic map of the dulac bottom showing depths by contour lines)…

stockage hydrocarbures - hydrocarbures - gaz naturel - encyclopedie environnement - storage hydrocarbures

Underground storage of gas and hydrocarbons: prospects for the energy transition

05-01-2025

The hiker who crosses the magnificent landscapes of the Luberon on the Manosque side can, after crossing a herd of sheep and his shepherd, walk…

The major works

Soils for engineers

05-01-2025

The very diverse soils on our planet require the expertise of specialized engineers to carry out civil engineering projects, in conjunction with other specialists. This…

Living soils

biodiversité sol

Soil biodiversity

05-01-2025

VINCENT Quentin, AUCLERC Apolline, LEYVAL Corinne

Soil, a major compartment of terrestrial ecosystems, represents a very particular ecosystem since it constitutes one of the most important reservoirs of biodiversity on the…

phytoremediation restauration sols pollues végétaux

Restoration of polluted soils by plants (phytoremediation)

05-01-2025

Human activities are largely responsible for soil and water pollution and more generally for global environmental damage. Each one of us has already been confronted…

Soil formation in temperate climates

05-01-2025

How could rocks be transformed into loose materials that can support rich vegetation? What are the specificities of soils compared to rocks and unaltered formations…

Six factors of pedogenesis

05-01-2025

The formation of soils is the consequence of weathering of various geological materials (the “parent materials” formerly called “mother rocks”) particularly under the action of…

The importance of deep soil horizons

05-01-2025

Soils are not restricted to surface humus-bearing horizons. They also include so-called deep horizons that perform essential functions for the development of vegetation. Sometimes absent…

Sewage sludge: a boon for agricultural land?

23-10-2025

The massive production of sludge resulting from the treatment of our urban wastewater is part of a very positive hygienist approach (discharging properly treated water…

Deep Earth

Tsunamis: Knowing them to forecast them better

05-01-2025

HEBERT Hélène, SCHINDELE Francois

Well-known in the Pacific for many centuries, tsunamis [1] have been revealed worldwide following the catastrophic tsunamis of 2004 (Sumatra) and 2011 (Japan). Outside the…

The laws governing the activity of volcanoes

05-01-2025

Where on Earth are there volcanoes? Why and how do volcanoes erupt? Why are they capable of erupting in very different ways? To answer these…

geothermie - geostructures

Geothermal energy, a source of green energy under our buildings

05-01-2025

Energy geostructures are a modern application of low enthalpy geothermal systems (i.e. with low temperature differentials), with the major advantage of reducing initial installation costs…