Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Hydrogeology and Water Quality of the Unconsolidated Aquifer System in the Lower Fall Creek Valley, Tompkins County, New York
Published: 2026-09-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Tompkins County and the Town of Dryden, conducted a hydrogeologic investigation of the lower Fall Creek unconsolidated aquifer system in Tompkins County, New York. This study is part of an ongoing effort to characterize major valley-fill aquifers in the region to support sustainable groundwater management. The lower Fall Creek valley, encompassing [...]
New mapping along Ishtar Terra margins: use and limits of Magellan SAR data for testing Venus crustal plateau formation models
Published: 2026-09-24
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The origins of crustal plateaus on Venus are poorly understood. Several formation models have been proposed, including four previously explored models: downwelling, upwelling, pulsating continents, and bolide impact models; as well as a waning heat-pipe model. Key predictions which vary across models include surface deformation, marginal deformation, and the tessera-plain onlapping relationships. [...]
Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling of Glacier Flow and U-Shaped Valley Evolution in Subtropical Taiwan
Published: 2026-09-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Glacial erosion plays a critical role in shaping alpine topography,yet the coupled effects of ice deformation, basal sliding, andbedrock erosion on millennial-scale valley morphodynamics remainchallenging to quantify. This study presents three-dimensionalsimulations of glacier dynamics and bed evolution in Xue MountainGlacial Cirque No.~2, Taiwan, over an effective glaciation timescaleof 9~ka. [...]
P-T-t-d history of the Greater Himalayan Sequence in the Zanskar Shear Zone, NW India
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
We present a synthesis of pressure-temperature-time-deformation (P-T-t-d) conditions that track the evolution of the Greater Himalaya Sequence (GHS) exhumed along the Zanskar Shear Zone (ZSZ), the western arm of the South Tibetan Detachment and that spans the entirety of the Himalayan range. The dominant mineralogy is Qz + Kfs + Pl + Bt + Grt + Ilm + Sil(Fi) ± Ms ± Ky ± St. P-T paths constructed [...]
Urban Sprawl and Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Greater Gaborone: A Spatial Analysis of the Land Use–Transport–Environment Relationship
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Rapid urban sprawl in many Sub-Saharan African cities has significantly reshaped urban mobility patterns, resulting in longer commuting distances, increased private vehicle dependence, and growing pressure on major transport corridors. These trends have important implications for environmental quality, urban sustainability, and climate resilience. This paper investigates the spatial relationship [...]
Changes to the Madden-Julian Oscillation with Surface Temperature Warming in Aquaplanet Simulations
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Interactions between waves and the mean-state in the tropics are of fundamental importance for reliable future projection of tropical waves and their impacts under anthropogenic climate change. The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is the dominant source of weather variability over many parts of the globe on intraseasonal timescales. In this study, we investigate the influence of mean-state changes [...]
Assessment of methods for collection, preservation, and storage of water samples for dissolved methane and nitrous oxide concentration measurements
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) are potent greenhouse gases produced and consumed in freshwater and marine systems. Their measurement in water is challenging due to contamination risks at various sampling, storage, and analysis stages. Samples that are stored before analysis are commonly preserved with mercuric chloride (HgCl2), which is highly toxic. To date, no studies have conducted a [...]
DispSAC: Surface-wave dispersion inversion using soft actor-critic reinforcement learning
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Surface-wave inversion (SWI) is widely used to image shear-wave velocity structure in the crust and upper mantle. Locally linearized methods offer computational efficiency but can be sensitive to the initial model and regularization, whereas Bayesian sampling methods can characterize model uncertainty at substantial computational cost. Neural networks provide another route to efficient inversion, [...]
Skillful Seasonal Tropical Cyclone Prediction with AI Weather--Climate Models Forced by Dynamically Predicted SSTs
Published: 2026-09-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
AI weather-climate models are far cheaper than dynamical seasonal prediction models and have shown skillful tropical cyclone (TC) prediction under persisted sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies, but their skill under dynamically predicted ocean boundary conditions, benchmarked against an established dynamical seasonal prediction system, is untested. We evaluate eight seasonal hindcast [...]
Topology-Aware Quality Control of Triangulated Terrain Models Using Local Euler Curvature and Elevation-Filtration Curves
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geomorphology, Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Triangulated irregular networks (TINs) are widely used to represent topography and bathymetry, but their quali-ty control is usually dominated by geometric criteria such as minimum angle and aspect ratio, which do not test whether connectivity errors have changed the topology of the mesh. We present a topology-aware quali-ty-control framework based on a local Euler-curvature identity and on [...]
One Plate to find Them, How a unique surviving photograph confirmed the Hochstetter Paradigm and located the White Terrace—Eighth Wonder of the World
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This empirical research analyses a unique vintage photographic plate that confirms the location of a lost Wonder of the World, the Pink and White Terraces. Their location has been debated since 1886 when they were buried in a volcanic eruption. The paper is a meta-analysis that develops a Parallax Effect methodology with a Skyline Gauge to consolidate and test all 1886–2024 claims to the White [...]
Pareidolia in the Taupō volcanic zone: How misconstructed survey cartography condemned the white terrace, wonder of the world
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Chaotic conditions prevailed after the 1886 Tarawera eruption, when the loss of the Pink and White Terraces, New Zealand’s Eighth Wonder of the World, was rapidly declared. Four days after the eruption, surveyor Percy Smith approached about four kilometres from his supposed site of the White Terrace and mistakenly identified what he described as a “west opening horseshoe bay” adjacent to a hill, [...]
Reconstructing a 140-Year Historiography of Misinterpretation: A Forensic Reassessment of the Tarawera Eruption and the Pink and White Terraces
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The eruption of Mount Tarawera on 10 June 1886 devastated the region and buried one of the Victorian world’s natural wonders, prompting widespread concern across the British Empire. The fate of the Pink and White Terraces has long been treated as settled: that both formations were destroyed. This paper re-examines that conclusion through an historiographic and spatial analysis of the [...]
The BLiSS model: Four-way triangulation of a buried 293-m horizon at the White Terrace site, Taupō Volcanic Zone
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Following the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption, the Pink and White Terraces, New Zealand’s Eighth Wonder of the World, were widely assumed to have been destroyed and/or submerged in the new Lake Rotomahana, which formed in the Rotomahana crater. This research records how independent historical, geological, topographic, and geophysical evidence can be combined to solve a problem that none of these [...]
Compound Supershear Rupture During the 2026 Venezuela Earthquake Doublet
Published: 2026-09-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The 24 June 2026 Venezuela earthquake doublet occurred along a complex transform-fault system. Teleseismic P waves encompassing both cataloged events were analyzed using potency density tensor inversion with seven structure models. All models indicate predominantly eastward rupture over approximately 220 km, including several stages of supershear propagation. Three apparent rupture stalls [...]