Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Is Net Zero Necessary? Meeting the Paris Agreement Temperature Target with 39% Global Emissions Reductions by the 2070s
Published: 2024-04-30
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Global Carbon Project (GCP) data shows that natural processes have been sequestering atmospheric CO2 on a yearly basis in proportion to how much the atmospheric CO2 concentration has risen above pre-Industrial levels, the so-called CO2 “sink rate”. Here it is argued that the future trajectory of the sink rate has not been adequately addressed, which has led to overestimation of future atmospheric [...]
The linked complexity of coseismic and postseismic faulting revealed by seismo-geodetic dynamic inversion of the 2004 Parkfield earthquake
Published: 2024-04-27
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Several regularly recurring moderate-size earthquakes motivated dense instrumentation of the Parkfield section of the San Andreas fault, providing an invaluable near-fault observatory. We present a seismo-geodetic dynamic inversion of the 2004 Parkfield earthquake, which illuminates the interlinked complexity of faulting across time scales. Using fast-velocity-weakening rate-and-state friction, [...]
A Review of the Migration of Hydrogen from the Planetary to Basin Scale
Published: 2024-04-25
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The occurrence of natural hydrogen and its sources have been reviewed extensively in the literature over the last few years, with current research across both academia and industry focused on assessing the feasibility of utilising natural hydrogen as an energy resource. However, gaps remain in our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the large-scale transport of hydrogen and migration [...]
Quantifying water availability in basins holding the majority of global lithium resources
Published: 2024-04-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Demand for lithium is expected to increase by as much as 40 times over the coming decades. More than half the world’s lithium resources are found in brine aquifers at the intersection of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. As lithium exploration increases, accurate estimates of water availability are critical for water management decisions, particularly in this region home to communities and [...]
The application of MEMS seismometers to regional-scale passive seismology: a case study of the Sercel WiNG nodes.
Published: 2024-04-24
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Micro ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers have become increasingly common in geophysical studies. Despite this, no work has been done to assess the suitability of an array of MEMS sensors to low-frequency, regional-scale passive seismic studies. Consequently, a month’s-long deployment of twenty MEMS-based Sercel WING nodes, two Güralp CMG-ESPCDS and one 4.5 Hz geophone-Reftek system [...]
Dynamics of Aggregates and Sinking Carbon Fluxes in a Turbulent Ocean
Published: 2024-04-23
Subjects: Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The ocean's biological pump, a critical component of the Earth's carbon cycle, transports organic matter from the surface ocean to depth, which is dominated by the sinking particles, often in the form of large (>1 mm) marine snow aggregates. Controls on carbon export are thought to be driven solely by ecological processes that produce and repackage sinking particles. Here, we present [...]
Simulated sea surface temperatures around New Zealand from 1982-2015 compared to three ground truth datasets
Published: 2024-04-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In this brief note, I show the extent of global warming, as exemplified by sea surface temperature - SST - around New Zealand from 1982-2015. We use 16 members of the UKESM historical simulations from the sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change. These model data are compared to ground truth data from three observational datasets. All data is plotted with respect [...]
Sill propagation and climbing in layered crystalline host-rocks: Examples from saucer-shaped sills of the Faroe Islands
Published: 2024-04-20
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Mafic sills/dolerites, commonly occurring in layered sedimentary and crystalline settings worldwide, may occur as sub-lateral sheets or as saucer-shaped bodies. Values and distributions of Young’s Modulus within their ambient host-rocks determine their mode of emplacement. Current models on development of saucer-shaped sills depict either melt propagation from single sources along [...]
Degree of sector zoning in clinopyroxene records dynamic magma recharge and ascent
Published: 2024-04-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A model of elastic softening and second order phase transitions in anisotropic phases, with application to stishovite and post-stishovite
Published: 2024-04-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This paper presents a Landau framework for describing instantaneous and time-dependent elastic softening in anisotropic solid solutions. As with previous Landau models, the framework minimizes a thermodynamic potential by varying isochemical parameters (q) that describe changes in structural, ordering or electronic spin state. Unlike previous models, no coupling terms are used; strain is not a [...]
Chemical potentials in non-hydrostatically stressed anisotropic phases
Published: 2024-04-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This paper presents expressions for chemical potentials in non-hydrostatically stressed anisotropic phases. Chemical potentials are defined here as the derivative of the Helmholtz energy with respect to the addition of a single chemical component to a material while preserving total volume, temperature and shape of the microscopic domain. An entire class of chemical potentials can be defined [...]
An anisotropic equation of state for solid solutions, with application to plagioclase
Published: 2024-04-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This paper presents a framework for building anisotropic equations of state for solid solutions. The framework satisfies the connections between elastic and thermodynamic properties required by Maxwell’s reciprocal relations. It builds on a recent anisotropic equation of state for pure phases under small deviatoric stresses, adding a dependence on a vector n, whose components ni contain the [...]
Narrow, fast, and "cool" mantle plumes caused by strain-weakening rheology in Earth's lower mantle
Published: 2024-04-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The rheological properties of Earth's lower mantle are key for mantle dynamics and planetary evolution. The main rock-forming minerals in the lower mantle are bridgmanite (Br) and smaller amounts of ferropericlase (Fp). Previous work has suggested that the large differences in viscosity between these minerals greatly affect the bulk rock rheology. The resulting effective rheology becomes highly [...]
Systematic Review of the Geothermal Potential in Colombia: Implications as an Alternative Energy Source
Published: 2024-04-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Through literature review and information processing, the current state of geothermal energy in Colombia, its limitations, possible future uses, environmental impact and the current legal framework were described and analyzed. Approximations were made regarding the sustainability of geothermal energy in the country and its implications. Some of the projects, studies, and research that have been [...]
Linking the oxygen-17 compositions of water and carbonate reference materials using infrared absorption spectroscopy of carbon dioxide
Published: 2024-04-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Joint measurements of the 18O/16O and 17O/16O ratios of carbonate minerals and waters are increasingly used to investigate various geochemical, physical and biological processes. Diverse analytical methods, each of them technically challenging in one way or another, have been developed or refined in recent years to measure oxygen-17 anomalies (Δ17O) with instrumental precisions of 10 ppm or [...]