Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Normal fault kinematics and the role of lateral tip retreat: An example from offshore NW Australia
Published: 2020-05-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Understanding how normal faults grow is key to determining the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of rifts, and the distribution and size of potentially hazardous earthquakes. According to recent studies, normal faults tend to grow in two temporally distinct stages: a lengthening stage, followed by a throw/displacement accumulation stage. However, this model is still debated and not widely supported [...]
Breakup Without Borders: How Continents Speed Up and Slow Down During Rifting
Published: 2020-05-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Relative plate motions during continental rifting result from the interplay of local with far-field forces. Here, we study the dynamics of rifting and breakup using large-scale numerical simulations of mantle convection with self-consistent evolution of plate boundaries. We show that continental separation follows a characteristic evolution with four distinctive phases: (1) An initial slow [...]
Evaluating single and multi-date Landsat classifications of land-cover in a seasonally dry tropical forest
Published: 2020-05-28
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Accurate information on the land cover is crucial for efficient monitoring and development of environmental studies in the Brazilian Caatinga forest. It is the largest tropical seasonal forest in South America, presenting high biodiversity and is under intense anthropogenic disturbance. Caatingas land cover is heterogeneous, and rainfall is its primary phenological regulator, presenting mainly [...]
Where does subduction initiate and cease? A global scale perspective
Published: 2020-05-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The thermo-mechanical evolution of the Earths mantle is largely controlled by the dynamics of subduction zones, which connect the surface tectonic plates with the interior. However, little is known about the systematics of where subduction initiates and ceases within the framework of global plate motions and evolving continental configurations. Here, we investigate where new subduction zones [...]
Observation-based Simulations of Humidity and Temperature Using Quantile Regression
Published: 2020-05-28
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistics and Probability
The human impacts of changes in heat events depend on changes in the joint behavior of temperature and humidity. Little is currently known about these complex joint changes, either in observations or projections from general circulation models (GCMs). Further, GCMs do not fully reproduce the observed joint distribution, implying a need for simulation methods that combine information from GCMs [...]
A framework to quantify the human footprint in Africa using supply and demand of net primary production
Published: 2020-05-28
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Sustainability
The human-environment connection in the mostly rural drylands of Africa forms a complex, interlinked system that provides ecosystem services. This system is susceptible to climatic variability that impacts the supply of its products, and high population growth, which impacts the demand for these products. When plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis, [...]
Description of the continuous nature of organic matter in models of soil carbon dynamics
Published: 2020-05-28
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Geochemistry, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Soil Science
The understanding of soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics has considerably advanced in recent years. It was previously assumed that most SOM consisted of recalcitrant compounds, whereas the emerging view considers SOM as a range of polymers continuously processed into smaller molecules by decomposer enzymes. Mainstreaming these new insights in current models is challenging because of their [...]
Advective sorting of silt by currents: a laboratory study
Published: 2020-05-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Accumulations of fine sediments along continental shelf and deep-sea bathymetric contours, known as contourite drifts, form a sedimentary record that is dependent on oceanographic processes such as ocean-basin-scale circulation. A tool used to aid in interpretation of such deposits is the sortable silt hypothesis, which suggests that the mean size of the sortable silt (silt from 10-63 µm) within [...]
A newly reconciled data set for identifying sea level rise and variability in Dublin Bay
Published: 2020-05-27
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Climate, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Earth Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences, Statistics and Probability
We provide an updated sea level dataset for Dublin for the period 1938 to 2016 at yearly resolution. Using a newly collated sea level record for Dublin Port, as well as two nearby tide gauges at Arklow and Howth Harbour, we perform data quality checks and calibration of the Dublin Port record by adjusting the biased high water level measurements that affect the overall calculation of mean sea [...]
Oceanic high-frequency global seismic wave propagation with realistic bathymetry
Published: 2020-05-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We present a new approach to simulate high-frequency seismic wave propagation in and under the oceans. Based upon AxiSEM3D (Leng et al. 2019), this method sup- ports a fluid ocean layer, with associated water-depth phases and seafloor topography (bathymetry). The computational efficiency and flexibility of this formulation means that high-frequency calculations may be carried out with relatively [...]
Kilometer-scale sound speed structure that affects GNSS-A observation: Case study off the Kii channel
Published: 2020-05-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Global Navigation Satellite System-Acoustic ranging combination technique (GNSS-A) is a recently developed technology to precisely detect seafloor crustal deformation. This method can also estimate km-scale underwater sound speed structure (SSS) as a by-product of monitoring seafloor crustal deformation. This paper evaluates the validity of the spatial gradient and its temporal variation of [...]
Brittle Deformation of Carbonated Peridotite – Insights from Listvenites of the Samail Ophiolite (Oman Drilling Project Hole BT1B)
Published: 2020-05-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Hole BT1B of the Oman Drilling Project provides a continuous sampling from listvenite into the metamorphic sole that preserves the deformation, hydration and carbonation processes of oceanic mantle peridotite at the base of the Samail ophiolite, Oman. We present evidence of multistage brittle deformation in listvenites and serpentinites based on field observations, visual core logging and [...]
Effect of Lateral Outflow on Three-Dimensional Flow Structure in a River Delta
Published: 2020-05-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Spatial and temporal patterns in three-dimensional flow structure are linked to channel processes and morphology in many environments. However, there is not yet an understanding of how the flow structure is influenced by channelized and gradually distributed lateral outflows that are often prevalent in river deltas. This study presents an analysis of three-dimensional flow structure data [...]
Hotspots and mantle plumes revisited: Towards reconciling the mantle heat transfer discrepancy
Published: 2020-05-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Mantle convection is the principal mechanism by which heat is transferred from the deep Earth to the surface. Cold subducting slabs sink into the mantle and steadily warm, whilst upwelling plumes carry heat to the base of lithospheric plates where it can subsequently escape by conduction. Accurate estimation of the total heat carried by these plumes is important for understanding geodynamic [...]
Including Earth-structure uncertainties in nonlinear moment-tensor estimations
Published: 2020-05-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Earthquake-source parameters can be estimated from seismic waveforms. Since these data indirectly observe the deformation process, parameters of a physical model that quantifies the deformation process are inferred through the inverse problem; which is under-determined. This requires several assumptions to be made about Earth structure and other aspects that affect the source parameter [...]