Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Cyclone--Anticyclone Asymmetry Organizes Local Energy Transfers during Mixed Layer Instability
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Mixed layer instability (MLI) generates submesoscale fronts, filaments, and eddies, yet how cyclone--anticyclone asymmetry shapes the spatial distribution of energy transfers remains unclear. Ageostrophic convergence during frontal sharpening amplifies cyclonic vorticity, first producing a positively skewed vorticity distribution and later a cyclonically biased flow. We analyze a freely evolving [...]
GEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF STREAM SEDIMENTS IN PART OF GIDA KWANO CAMPUS, FUT, MINNA (ZUNGERU SHEET 163SE)
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This geochemical study analyzes ten stream sediment samples from the Gidan Kwano area in Minna (Zungeru Sheet 163SE), located in North-Central Nigeria, to evaluate the region's geological history, mineral potential, and environmental characteristics. Geological mapping identified three distinct rock units: granite, granitoid, and diorite. Using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, the study [...]
UpStream: A Modular, Metadata-First Architecture for Environmental Sensing During Intensive Observation Periods
Published: 2026-11-04
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Campaign-scale environmental sensing produces heterogeneous, high-frequency datasets that strain file- and portal-centric workflows and impede decision support. This paper presents UpStream, an API-first, metadata-supported, modular prototype for campaign-scale environmental sensor data. Co-designed with the SNIFFER air-quality laboratory, UpStream treats campaigns as first-class entities with [...]
Role of Reforestation in Reducing Landslide Risk in Galyat, Pakistan: A Remote Sensing and GIS-Based Temporal Analysis (2011–2025)
Published: 2026-11-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Landslides are among the most common natural hazards in mountainous regions, often resulting in loss of life, damage to infrastructure, and destruction of agricultural land. Forest cover plays an important role in slope stabilization, soil erosion control, and landslide-risk reduction; however, empirical evidence regarding this relationship in specific mountainous landscapes remains limited. This [...]
Geological concept revision during appraisal drilling: a replay of the McLeod VMS deposit, Matagami
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Appraisal drilling is designed around a geological concept, yet discovery records show that such concepts are often partly wrong and revised late. We propose a procedure that updates the geological concept during drilling and quantifies the cost of delayed revision. The concept is written as a lattice of geological elements, each present or absent with a prior weight, so that revision becomes [...]
The width beyond a static arrest point predicts which static arrests span the fault
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Population models treat a static arrest as the end of the rupture, although some of those arrests span the fault in a fully dynamic calculation. This paper tests whether the static crack itself shows which ones. A static stress-intensity criterion and a fully dynamic rupture were compared on 180 new random stress fields on one 120 km antiplane fault with linear slip weakening. The predictor is [...]
Transition from buoyancy-driven to shear-driven melting in a buoyant plume at a vertical ice face
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Fluid Dynamics, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
Melting of a vertical ice face in otherwise quiescent saline water generates a buoyant plume that rises along the ice. Heat and salt transfer through the thin near-wall boundary layers controls the melt rate and must be parameterized in models that do not resolve these layers. In plume models, the three-equation framework of Holland \& Jenkins (1999) is commonly coupled to transfer laws based [...]
Fertile or Barren: an open benchmark for testing geochemical fertility indices on mineralized and barren mafic-ultramafic intrusions.
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits form through a sequence of processes (e.g., magma generation, transport, crustal interaction, sulfur saturation, and sulfide accumulation). These processes can modify whole-rock compositions in different ways, making it challenging to evaluate the geochemical fertility of mafic-ultramafic magmatic intrusions. Several whole-rock fertility indices have been [...]
Efficient Uncertainty Quantification for Marine CSEM via Swi-DREI: A Physics-Driven Deep Reparameterization Ensemble Approach with Implicit Regularization
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Marine controlled-source electromagnetic (MCSEM) method serves as a pivotal geophysical tool for characterizing deep-sea hydrocarbon reservoirs or gas hydrates. However, restricted by the exponential decay of EM fields in conductive media and the spatial incompleteness of data acquisition systems, the inverse problem faces challenges of severe non-linearity and non-uniqueness. This study develops [...]
Predictive modeling of microbial biomineralization across scales
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Microorganisms influence mineral formation and transformation in natural and engineered environments, with consequences for element cycling, contaminant mobility, and mineral records. Predicting these processes remains difficult because microbial activity, local aqueous chemistry, interfacial reactions, and mineral formation operate across different spatial and temporal scales. Here, we review [...]
Residue alkalinity limits microbial leaching of rare earth elements from industrial wastes
Published: 2026-11-02
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability
Microorganisms that make acids can recover rare earth elements from industrial residues such as red mud, coal fly ash, phosphogypsum and electronic waste. Most published studies test one organism on one residue, so their results are hard to transfer. Here we compiled 17 bioleaching studies, covering 10 residues, 5 groups of organisms and 217 runs. We described them all with one physical model, [...]
Lithologic Period Predicts Yttrium Enrichment in Western United States Stream Sediments
Published: 2026-11-01
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Design of Experiments and Sample Surveys, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability
Screening ground for heavy rare earth prospecting potential at regional scale depends upon archived geochemistry, because favorable intrusive terrain in the western U.S. greatly exceeds what any drilling program could evaluate directly. This research examined whether the lithologic period of intrusive igneous terrain can reliably predict acid-leachable yttrium using only the stream sediment [...]
A sixth-century groundwater manual tested against India's well network: plant indicators and depth claims in Varāhamihira's Bṛhatsaṃhitā
Published: 2026-11-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Dakārgala chapter of Varāhamihira's Bṛhatsaṃhitā (sixth century CE) is one of the oldest detailed manuals for finding groundwater. It names trees, often together with anthills, as signs of water and gives the depth at which water will be found. It is often cited as early hydrological knowledge, but its claims have not been tested systematically. We coded the chapter's plant indicators and 48 [...]
High-resolution 14C stratigraphy reveals decadal periodicity in stromatolite lamination
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Stromatolites constitute amongst the oldest evidence for life on Earth and preserve laminated records throughout most of geological time. However, the timescales represented by their lamination remain poorly constrained. Here, we report the first high-resolution 14C dating combined with Bayesian age-depth modelling for three Holocene stromatolites from contrasting depositional environments. The [...]
Advances in UAV-Based Methane Emission Monitoring: Sensors, Sampling Geometry, and Quantification
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are one key platforms for monitoring methane due to their flexible deployment with spatial scales between ground-based sensors and crewed aircraft This review synthesises research on UAV sensing technologies, flight and sampling strategies, quantification methods, and validation practices. It finds that quantitative performance depends on the combined choice of [...]