Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Geological Pathway Diversity Model (GPDM): A Unified Classification and Predictive Framework for Anomalous Luminous Phenomena
Published: 2026-04-16
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Other Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Atmospheric plasma phenomena — persistent luminous orbs, recurrent earth lights, and earthquake lights observed at geographically distributed sites worldwide — share a common mechanism family rooted in stress-activated electronic charge carrier physics. The Geological Pathway Diversity Model (GPDM) formally classifies six geological activation pathways. Version 2.4 introduces four new Variable 3 [...]
Width-Saturated Fault Scaling and AI-Driven Seismic Hazard: A Global First-Principles Machine Learning Framework
Published: 2026-04-16
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Traditional probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) relies on empirical magnitude-area scaling relationships that systematically overestimate energy release in large, geometrically saturated fault systems. This study presents a dynamic, data-driven framework integrating first-principles geophysics with Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) to produce a physics-informed global seismic hazard [...]
A Google Earth Engine Tool for Mapping Key Metrics of Glacier Health from Space
Published: 2026-04-14
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Satellite-based observations enable monitoring of glacier health metrics, essential for assessing glacier response to climate change and the environmental services they provide. Here, we present a Google Earth Engine tool for automated mapping of key climate- and mass balance- modulated parameters, including total visible ice area, snow-covered area (SCA), accumulation-area ratio, and snowline [...]
Estimating the ice thickness and water depth of a frozen lake using flexural waves recorded by distributed acoustic sensing
Published: 2026-04-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Information about frozen lakes, including ice rigidity, ice thickness, and water depth, is essential for both environmental studies and practical applications. Although these properties can be measured in the field, such measurements are labor-intensive and spatially limited, motivating the development of alternative observation methods. Seismic waves offer an alternative approach to studying [...]
Geospatial Machine Learning for Predicting Flash Flood Response at Ungauged Appalachian Watersheds: Terrain, Soil, and Land Cover Controls
Published: 2026-04-14
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Flash floods remain among the deadliest weather hazards in the United States, yet the majority of flood-prone watersheds in the Appalachian region lack streamflow monitoring. Predicting flood response characteristics at these ungauged sites requires understanding which landscape properties control hydrologic behavior. This study evaluates whether geospatial basin descriptors derived from [...]
Paleoarchean seawater and seafloor hydrothermal processes: insights from 3.5 to 3.3 Ga carbonate geochemistry
Published: 2026-04-13
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Carbonates (3.5 to 3.3 Ga) in the East Pilbara Terrane (EPT), Western Australia, including interstitial carbonate between pillow basalts, fracture-filling calcite, sedimentary carbonates and carbonate associated with stromatolites, provide valuable geochemical archives for reconstructing Early Earth environments. This study highlights three key findings: (1) Fracture-filling calcite D-2-W from [...]
Agent-based Modelling of Microbialite Formation through Sedimentation and Precipitation Dynamics
Published: 2026-04-13
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Other Earth Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Fossil microbialites resulting from the interplay of sedimentation and microbially induced precipitation are among the oldest evidence of life on Earth and help geobiologists interpret many sedimentary environments. However, the factors governing their internal structure and external morphology are still poorly understood. Additionally, abiotic processes can mimic the morphology of some [...]
Learning-Based Methods and the Future of Numerical Ocean and Sea Ice Modeling
Published: 2026-04-11
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The field of operational oceanography is undergoing a significant evolution with the increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) methods, which are complementing and, in some cases, redefining traditional numerical modeling approaches. This review explores how AI methods—particularly model-based autoregressive emulators, hybrid modeling, and end-to-end model-free approaches—are [...]
Fractal Tomography and the Fisher Information Barrier of Seismicity: Addressing the Origin of Dual Paradoxes via Precision-Calibrated Bayesian Inference
Published: 2026-04-10
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Non-linear Dynamics, Other Statistics and Probability, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology, Statistics and Probability, Tectonics and Structure
The spatial organization of seismicity presents dual multi-decade paradoxes: (1) earthquake catalogs exhibit quasi-planar correlation dimensions (D2 ≈ 2.0–2.6) despite volumetric lithospheric deformation (geometric projection paradox), and (2) Bayesian inference systematically yields D3 ≈ 3.0 contradicting structural geology (Bayesian saturation paradox). We address both through the Fractal [...]
Climate variability introduces uncertainty into future emissions pathways
Published: 2026-04-10
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Uncertainty in long-term climate outcomes arises not only from physical processes but also from societal responses to climate variability and change. Here we embed a range of temperature anomalies into an empirically-informed, coupled climate–social model to investigate how natural temperature variability shapes global emissions trajectories. Using Monte Carlo ensembles spanning social, [...]
Persistent Geochemical Zonation (“Striping”) within the Galápagos Mantle Plume
Published: 2026-04-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Some hotspot tracks, such as those formed by the Hawai’i and Galápagos mantle plumes, exhibit long-lived cross-track isotopic zonation, thought to reflect the streaking out of heterogeneous material in the plume conduit during upwelling. In lavas associated with the Galápagos mantle plume, three geochemical domains, present for at least 15 Myr, have been identified: northern, southern and [...]
HydroScholar AI: A Collaborative Agent for End-to-End Automated Hydrological Research Lifecycle
Published: 2026-04-09
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Hydrological research relies on multi-stage computational workflows that are often slow, fragmented across disparate tools, and inconsistently documented, limiting reproducibility. This study presents HydroScholar AI, an agentic, human-in-the-loop platform that consolidates the plan-to-paper research lifecycle into a single interactive automated framework. From a natural-language prompt, the [...]
Modeling PDC cutter-rock interactions using finite discrete element method for geothermal drilling applications
Published: 2026-04-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutters are used in geothermal energy drilling operations as they are exceptionally effective due to their strength and resistance to abrasion. It is important to understand the effect of downhole conditions to accurately model rock-cutter-rock interactions, as well as wear on the bit and drilling efficiency. Cutting efficiency is determined through the [...]
Automated Detection of Slow Slip Events from InSAR: Application to the North Anatolian Fault
Published: 2026-04-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The growing volume of InSAR time series offers new opportunities to systematically detect transient aseismic deformation, but identifying low-amplitude slow slip events (SSEs) remains challenging due to noise and limited temporal resolution. Here, we adapt the geodetic matched filter, originally developed for GNSS data, to InSAR displacement time series in the context of shallow strike-slip [...]
Simulation of Groundwater Flow To Evaluate Hydrogeologic Controls on a PFAS Plume, Coakley Landfill Superfund Site, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Published: 2026-04-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), have been detected at combined concentrations above 2,000 nanograms per liter (ng/L) at groundwater seep locations near the Coakley Landfill Superfund site, in North Hampton, New Hampshire. The landfill was active from 1972 to 1985. An impermeable cap was placed on the [...]