Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Physicochemical and Urban Land-Use Characteristics Associated with Resistance to Precipitation in Estuaries Vary Across Scales
Published: 2024-02-06
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Estuaries are subject to frequent stressors, including elevated nutrient loading and extreme hydrologic events, which impact water quality and disrupt ecosystem stability and health. The capacity of an estuary to resist changes in function in response to precipitation events is a key component of maintaining estuarine health in our changing climate. However, generalizable patterns in factors [...]
Possible Mechanisms for Tsunami-like Surge Deposits Due to the Chicxulub Impact at the K-Pg Boundary at the Tanis Site, North Dakota
Published: 2024-02-02
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
At Tanis, a unique bi-directional sediment package occurs precisely at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) boundary, recording the first hours of the Paleogene in uncommonly fine temporal detail. The impact ejecta-bearing sediment package was rapidly emplaced by two massive, ~10-meter-high, potentially impact-triggered surges, that inundated a steep, deeply incised paleo river valley from the [...]
Characteristics of dynamic thickness change across diverse outlet glacier geometries and basal conditions
Published: 2024-01-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Outlet glaciers in Greenland are undergoing retreat and diffusive thinning in response to external forcings, but the rates and magnitudes of these responses differ from glacier to glacier for unclear reasons. We test how changes in ice overburden pressure and basal lubrication affect diffusive thinning rates and their spatial patterns by conducting numerical experiments over various idealized [...]
Unexpected anthropogenic emission decreases explain recent atmospheric mercury concentration declines
Published: 2024-01-30
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Anthropogenic activities emit ~2000 Mg yr-1 of the toxic pollutant mercury (Hg) into the atmosphere, leading to long-range transport and deposition to remote ecosystems. Global anthropogenic emissions inventories report increases in Northern Hemispheric (NH) Hg emissions during the last three decades, in contradiction with the observed decline in atmospheric Hg concentrations at NH measurement [...]
Femtosecond laser texturing as a tool to increase the hydrophobicity of ornamental stone: The influence of lithology and texture
Published: 2024-01-28
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In the field of stone conservation, a very common direct intervention seeks to increase the water repellence of objects. By limiting the interaction between the solid and the water, the possibility of alteration due to the action of the water (liquid or solid) as well as that related to the colonisation of surfaces by organisms is reduced. To decrease wettability, chemicals are often applied to [...]
River Floodplains, Organic Carbon, and Paleoclimate: How River Dynamics Impart Biases in the Biogeochemical Climate Record of Terrestrial Landscapes
Published: 2024-01-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
River floodplains can be both sources and sinks for organic carbon. In the sedimentary record, geochemical signatures of terrestrial water availability record climate and ecology along river corridors in deep time. However, paleoenvironmental reconstructions are often confounded by the complex dynamics of organic carbon residence, entrainment, and deposition in a fluvial system. As alluvial [...]
Non-target screening analysis reveals changes in the molecular composition of the Belukha Ice Core between the pre-industrial and industrial periods (1830-1980 CE)
Published: 2024-01-28
Subjects: Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ice cores are environmental archives that are used to reconstruct past changes in the atmospheric aerosol composition. Most ice-core studies have focused mainly on inorganic species and a few dozen organic molecules. However, organic compounds can account for up to 90% of the aerosol composition, meaning that only a fraction of the organic constituents has been studied, limiting our understanding [...]
Coping with Information Extraction from In-Situ Data Acquired in Natural Streams
Published: 2024-01-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Flood waves propagating in natural streams are highly complex flow situations with intricate dependencies among flow variables that are still not well understood. The most relevant information for deciphering these dependencies is extracted from continuous in-situ measurements acquired through high sampling frequency with special attention to the magnitude and timing of the hydrograph peaks. The [...]
Experimental Modelling of Water-Wave Interactions with a Flexible Beam
Published: 2024-01-19
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A series of fluid-structure-interaction (FSI) experiments is presented for studying water-wave interactions with a flexible beam in a wide range of sea conditions, thereby yielding a repository of FSI test-case data. The aim is to use these experimental data in order to validate FSI solvers commonly employed by the maritime industry in the design of fixed-foundation, offshore wind turbines. The [...]
Seismic stratigraphy of the Guinea Plateau before, during and after the opening of the Equatorial Atlantic Gateway
Published: 2024-01-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Guinea Plateau contains a ~200-million-year stratigraphic record, encompassing the mid-Cretaceous opening of the Equatorial Atlantic Gateway (EAG). Here we present new 2D seismic data to constrain the structural and stratigraphic evolution of the plateau. Seismic stratigraphic analysis reveals five megasequences of ~25-65 My duration: M1, a Jurassic syn-rift sequence with prominent [...]
A new structure determination of the magnesium phosphate mineral struvite (MgNH4PO4· 6H2O) at 100 K
Published: 2024-01-17
Subjects: Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The magnesium phosphate mineral struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) is of interest for the recovery of phosphorus from wastewaters and for use as a fertilizer in agriculture, yet its structure is still debated. The structure of synthetic single crystals of struvite was characterized through refinement of a single-crystal X-ray diffraction pattern acquired at 100 K with the positions of all hydrogen atoms [...]
Assessment of Hydrochemistry and Groundwater Quality in Ijokodo and It’s Environment, Ibadan, Nigeria
Published: 2024-01-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The study area occurs within the Precambrian basement complex composed of quartzite, quartz-schist, biotite-andbiotite-hornblende-gneiss (migmatite) as the main rock units. Physiochemical assessment of shallow groundwater in Ijokodo area was carried out to determine its suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes. Thirteen (13) groundwater samples were collected and subjected field [...]
Fast relocking and afterslip-seismicity evolution following the 2015 Mw 8.3 Illapel earthquake in Chile
Published: 2024-01-15
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Large subduction earthquakes induce complex postseismic deformation, primarily driven by afterslip and viscoelastic relaxation, in addition to interplate relocking processes. However, these signals are intricately intertwined, posing challenges in determining the timing and nature of relocking. Here, we use six years of continuous GNSS measurements (2015-2021) to study the spatio-temporal [...]
B-value variations in the Central Chile seismic gap assessed by a Bayesian transdimensional approach
Published: 2024-01-15
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The b-value can be used to characterize the seismic activity for a given earthquake catalog and provide information on the stress level accumulated at active faults. Here we develop an algorithm to objectively estimate variations of b-value along one arbitrary dimension. To this end, we employ a Bayesian transdimensional approach where the seismic domains will be self-defined according to [...]
Retrogressive thaw slump activity in the western Canadian Arctic (1984-2016)
Published: 2024-01-15
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The spatial distribution and links to climate of retrogressive thaw slump (RTS) activity over 32 years were examined using Google Earth Engine Timelapse videos for five areas in the western Canadian Arctic totalling 150 000 km2, each previously identified as having a high spatial concentration of these thermokarst landforms. Four spatial datasets run from 1984 to 2016 (Banks Island, northwest [...]