Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Cave airflow patterns control calcite dissolution rates within a cave stream: Blowing Springs Cave, Arkansas, USA

Matthew D Covington, Katherine Knierim, Holly A. Young, et al.

Published: 2020-05-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Erosion rates within streams vary dramatically over time, as differences in discharge and sediment load enhance or inhibit erosion processes. Within cave streams, and other bedrock channels incising soluble rocks, changes in water chemistry are an important factor in determining how erosion rates will vary in both time and space. Prior studies within surface streams, springs, and caves suggest [...]

Upper mantle mush zones beneath low melt flux ocean island volcanoes: insights from Isla Floreana, Galápagos

Matthew Lloyd Morgan Gleeson, Sally Gibson, Michael J. Stock

Published: 2020-05-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology

The physicochemical characteristics of sub-volcanic magma storage regions have important implications for magma system dynamics and pre-eruptive behaviour. The architecture of magma storage regions located directly above high buoyancy flux mantle plumes (such as Kīlauea, Hawai’i and Fernandina, Galápagos) are relatively well understood. However, far fewer constraints exist on the nature of magma [...]

Quantification and interpretation of the climate variability record

Anna S von der Heydt, Peter Ashwin, Charles D. Camp, et al.

Published: 2020-05-25
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

This paper is currently in review for Global and Planetary Change. \\ The spectral view of variability is a compelling and adaptable tool for understanding variability of the climate. In the Mitchell (1976) seminal paper, it was used to express, on one graph with log scales, a very wide range of climate variations from millions of years to days. The spectral approach is particularly useful for [...]

Same but different: A framework to design and compare riverbank plastic monitoring strategies

Paul Vriend, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Tim van Emmerik

Published: 2020-05-25
Subjects: Education, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management

Plastic pollution in rivers negatively impacts human livelihood and aquatic ecosystems. Monitoring data are crucial for a better understanding of sources, sinks and transport mechanisms of riverine macroplastics. In turn, such understanding is key to develop effective plastic pollution prevention, mitigation and removal strategies. Riverine plastic has been observed in all compartments, of which [...]

Deep ductile shear localization facilitates near-orthogonal strike-slip faulting in a thin brittle lithosphere

Chao Liang, Jean Paul Ampuero, Daniel Pino Munoz

Published: 2020-05-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure

Some active fault systems comprise near-orthogonal conjugate strike-slip faults, as highlighted by the 2019 Ridgecrest and the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquake sequences. In conventional failure theory, orthogonal faulting requires a pressure-insensitive rock strength, which is unlikely in the brittle lithosphere. Here, we conduct 3D numerical simulations to test the hypothesis that near-orthogonal [...]

Fault-controlled base-of-scarp deposits

Domenico Chiarella, Walter Capella, Sergio G. Longhitano, et al.

Published: 2020-05-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology

The term base-of-scarp is proposed for those submarine deposits controlled by a fault and physically disconnected from their more proximal counterpart located on the footwall, although genetically linked to it. These systems differ from conventional fault-controlled deltas, such as shoal- and Gilbert-type, because they are entirely subaqueous and lack equilibrium morphology — a steady-state in [...]

The influence of spreading rate and permeability on melt focusing beneath mid-ocean ridges

Shi Sim, Marc Spiegelman, Dave Stegman, et al.

Published: 2020-05-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

At mid-ocean ridges, oceanic crust is emplaced in a narrow neovolcanic region on the seafloor, whereas basaltic melt that forms this oceanic crust is generated in a wide region beneath as suggested by a few geophysical surveys. The combined observations suggest that melt generated in a wide region at depths has to be transported horizontally to a small region at the surface. We present results [...]

On the thermo-poro-mechanics of chemically active faults

Emmanouil Veveakis

Published: 2020-05-21
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Shear zones in outcrops and core drillings on active faults commonly reveal two scales of localization, with centimeter to tens of meters thick deformation zones embedding much narrower zones of mm- to cm-scale. The narrow zones are often attributed to some form of fast instability such as earthquakes or slow slip events. Surprisingly, the double localisation phenomenon seem to be independent of [...]

Holocene tephrochronology of Kerguelen Archipelago, Subantarctic Indian Ocean

Fabien Arnaud, Pierre Sabatier, Anouk Leloup, et al.

Published: 2020-05-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Volcanology

Up to now, no geochemical or geochronological data has been published about Holocene volcanic activity on the Kerguelen Archipelago. Here we present the first continuous Holocene chronology of volcanic eruptions on the archipelago. We compared sedimentological, geochronological and geochemical data from two lake sediment cores taken in two different depocenters of Lake Armor, located ca. 70 km [...]

Jarosite formation in deep Antarctic ice provides a window into acidic, water-limited weathering on Mars

Giovanni Baccolo, Barbara Delmonte, Paul B. Niles, et al.

Published: 2020-05-20
Subjects: Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geochemistry, Planetary Glaciology, Planetary Sciences

Many interpretations have been proposed to explain the presence of jarosite within Martian surficial sediments, including the possibility that it precipitated within paleo-ice deposits owing to englacial weathering of dust. But until now a similar mechanism was not observed on Earth nor in other planetary settings. We report the first multi-analytical indication of jarosite formation within deep [...]

A toolbox to quickly prepare flood inundation models for LISFLOOD-FP simulations

Jeison Sosa, Christopher Sampson, Andrew Smith, et al.

Published: 2020-05-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Hydrodynamic floodplain inundation models have been popular for many years and used extensively in engineering applications. Continental scale flood studies are now achievable using such models due to the development of terrain elevation, hydrography and river width datasets with global coverage. However, deploying flood models at any scale is time-consuming since input data needs to be processed [...]

Recent water mass changes reveal mechanisms of ocean warming

Jan David Zika, Jonathan Gregory, Elaine McDonagh, et al.

Published: 2020-05-20
Subjects: Climate, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Over 90% of the build up of additional heat in the earth system over recent decades is contained in the ocean. Since 2006 new observational programs have revealed heterogeneous patterns of ocean heat content change. It is unclear how much of this heterogeneity is due to heat being added to and mixed within the ocean leading to material changes in water mass properties or due to changes in [...]

The perpetual fragility of creeping hillslopes

Nakul Deshpande, David Furbish, Paulo Arratia, et al.

Published: 2020-05-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Soil-mantled hillslopes owe their smooth, convex shape to creep; the slow and persistent, gravity-driven motion of grains on slopes below the angle of repose. Existing models presume that soil creep occurs via mechanical displacement of grains by (bio)physical disturbances. Recent simulations, however, suggest that soil can creep without these disturbances, due to internal relaxation dynamics [...]

Human Health Benefits of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Yanxu Zhang, Stephanie Dutkiewicz, Huanxin Zhang, et al.

Published: 2020-05-18
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeochemistry, Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The Minamata Convention is a legally-binding international treaty aimed at reducing the anthropogenic release of mercury, a potent neurotoxin. However, its human health benefit has not been quantified on a global scale. Here we evaluate the Convention’s benefit by a coupled climate-atmosphere-land-ocean-ecosystem model and a human mercury exposure component that considers all food categories. We [...]

Probabilistic soil moisture dynamics of water- and energy-limited ecosystems

Estefanía Muñoz, Andrés Ochoa, Germán Poveda, et al.

Published: 2020-05-18
Subjects: Agriculture, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Life Sciences, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Forest Sciences, Hydrology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Plant Sciences, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability

This paper presents an extension of the stochastic ecohydrological model for soil moisture dynamics at a point of Rodriguez-Iturbe et al. (1999) and Laio et al. (2001). In the original model, evapotranspiration is a function of soil moisture and vegetation parameters, so that the model is suitable for water-limited environments. Our extension introduces a dependence on maximum evapotranspiration [...]

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