Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Discriminating stacked distributary channel from palaeovalley fill sand bodies in foreland basin settings
Published: 2020-01-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Stratigraphy
Stacked fluvial distributary channel deposits and palaeovalley fills can form major, multi-storey sand bodies with similar thicknesses, and with lateral extents often greater than a single exposure. Consequently, they can be difficult to tell apart from one another using outcrop data. This study addresses this problem by quantitatively analysing the architecture of five stacked fluvial [...]
The role of natural clays in the sustainability of landfill liners
Published: 2020-01-10
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Engineered synthetic liners on their own are not the ideal solution to protect land, water and living beings against landfill leachate pollution. Despite their impermeability, engineered liners are susceptible to fail during installation and after a few years of landfill operation, and have no attenuation properties. Conversely, natural clay liners can attenuate leachate pollutants by reactions [...]
Risk Assessment for Scientific Data
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Library and Information Science, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
This is a preprint draft of the paper that was officially published in the Data Science Journal. Please quote from the published version: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-010. Abstract: Ongoing stewardship is required to keep data collections and archives in existence. Scientific data collections may face a range of risk factors that could hinder, constrain, or limit current or future data use. [...]
Tectono-magmatic, sedimentary and hydrothermal history of Arsinoes and Pyrrhae Chaos, Mars
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences
Arsinoes and Pyrrhae Chaos are two adjacent chaotic terrains located east of Valles Marineris and west of Arabia Terra, on Mars. In this work we produced a morpho‐stratigraphic map of the area, characterized by a volcanic bedrock disrupted into polygonal mesas and knobs (Chaotic Terrain Unit) and two non‐disrupted units. The latter present a spectral variation, likely associated with hydrated [...]
On the changing role of the stratosphere on the tropospheric ozone budget: 1979-2010
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We study the evolution of tropospheric ozone over the period 1979-2010 using a chemistry-climate model employing a stratosphere-troposphere chemistry scheme. By running with specified dynamics, the key feedback of composition on meteorology is constrained, isolating the chemical response. By using historical forcings and emissions representative, interactions between processes are realistically [...]
Rainfall and rainfall erosivity time series analysis of a small semi-arid watershed of the American Southwest
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The long-term dense precipitation records provide important information to understand rainfall erosivity and soil erosion in semi-arid rangelands. This paper investigates the temporal trends of changes in rainfall, rainfall erosivity, and the responses of runoff and sediment on the WS103 watershed, a small semiarid rangeland watershed in the Walnut gulch Experimental Watershed, Tombstone, [...]
Hydro-morphodynamics 2D modelling using a discontinuous Galerkin discretisation
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Numerical Analysis and Computation, Partial Differential Equations, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
The development of morphodynamic models to simulate sediment transport accurately is a challenging process that is becoming ever more important because of our increasing exploitation of the coastal zone, as well as sea-level rise and the potential increase in strength and frequency of storms due to a changing climate. Morphodynamic models are highly complex given the non-linear and coupled nature [...]
Lessons learned from monitoring of turbidity currents and guidance for future platform designs
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Turbidity currents transport globally significant volumes of sediment and organic carbon into the deep-sea and pose a hazard to critical infrastructure. Despite advances in technology, their powerful nature often damages expensive instruments placed in their path. These challenges mean that turbidity currents have only been measured in a few locations worldwide, in relatively shallow water depths [...]
Detection of VLF attenuation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide caused by X-class solar flares using a global lightning location network
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Other Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, The Sun and the Solar System
Solar flares, energetic particles and Earth-impacting coronal mass ejections enhance ionization in the lower ionosphere, inhibiting radio wave propagation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide (EIWG). This enhanced ionization is observed locally by ionosondes and GPS/GNSS receivers, but spatial coverage of these observations is limited by receiver location. VLF propagation studies have previously [...]
Impact of nested moisture cycles on coastal chalk cliff failure revealed by multi seasonal seismic and topographic surveys
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Cliff failure is a fundamental process shaping many coastlines worldwide. Improved insight into direct links between cliff failure and forcing mechanisms requires precise information on the timing of individual failures, which is difficult to obtain with conventional observation methods for longer stretches of coastline. Here we use seismic records and auxiliary data spanning 25 months to [...]
Uncertainty in the response of sudden stratospheric warmings and stratosphere-troposphere coupling to quadrupled CO2 concentrations in CMIP6 models
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Major sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs), vortex formation and final breakdown dates are key highlight points of the stratospheric polar vortex. These phenomena are relevant for stratosphere-troposphere coupling, which explains the interest in understanding their future changes. However, up to now, there is not a clear consensus on which projected changes to the polar vortex are robust, [...]
Magnetite biomineralization in ferruginous waters and early Earth evolution
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Burial of large quantities of magnetite (Fe(II)Fe(III)2O4) in iron formations (IFs) likely contributed to the protracted oxidation of Earth’s surface during the Precambrian Eons. Magnetite can form through a diversity of biological and abiotic pathways and its preservation in IFs may thus be variably interpreted as the result of some combination of these processes. Such interpretations thus give [...]
Modelling the ecological impacts of tidal energy barrages
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Tidal energy has the potential to form a key component of the energy mix of a number of countries, including the UK. Nonetheless, the deployment of tidal energy systems is associated with potential environmental impacts as prime resource sites often coincide with unique ecosystems inhabited by sensitive organisms. Preceding studies have generally focused on the hydrodynamic impact of tidal energy [...]
Feedback between drought and deforestation in the Amazon
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability
Deforestation and drought are among the greatest environmental pressures on the Amazon rainforest, possibly destabilizing the forest-climate system. Deforestation in the Amazon reduces rainfall regionally, while this deforestation itself has been reported to be facilitated by droughts. Here we quantify the interactions between drought and deforestation spatially across the Amazon during the early [...]
Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Microseismic Sources and Wave Propagation in Glaciated Terrain
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Records of Alpine microseismicity are a powerful tool to study landscape-shaping processes and warn against hazardous mass movements. Unfortunately, seismic sensor coverage in Alpine regions is typically insufficient. Here we show that distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) bridges critical observational gaps of seismogenic processes in Alpine terrain. Dynamic strain measurements in a 1 km long fiber [...]