Francis Albarede

INTRODUCTION Millions of years ago during the Tertiary Period (66–2.6 million years ago), the movement of the tectonic plates trapped between Africa and Europe gave rise to the Alpine orogens (mountain belts). Oceanic troughs between these orogens eventually formed the modern Mediterranean Sea.

The observed weights of ancient coins are usually less than the nominal ‘ideal’ weights of the coin standards to which they belong because state authorities took a fee, ‘seigniorage’, for minting coins to cover costs and make a profit. The basis for calculating the amount taken by the state and the way it administered manufacture are not well understood. Here we analyse the weights of 1,344 of the earliest coins of Athens (c.550-479 BC).

Performance of the double-Wien filter of the Neoma MC-ICPMS/MS with an application to copper stable isotope compositions Philippe Telouk, Emmanuelle Albalat, Bernard Bourdon, Francis Albarede and Vincent Balter Abstract The new Neoma MC-ICPMS/MS is equipped with a prefiltering system consisting of a double-Wien filter and a collision/reaction cell whose performances are challenged using different combinations of magnetic and electrostatic field values and adjustable slit apertures.