Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The effects of boundary proximity on Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and turbulence
Published: 2023-05-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Studies of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability have typically modelled the initial flow as an isolated shear layer. In geophysical cases, however, the instability often occurs near boundaries and may therefore be influenced by boundary proximity effects. Ensembles of direct numerical simulations are conducted to understand the effect of boundary proximity on the evolution of the instability and [...]
MinDet1: A Deep Learning-enabled Approach for Plagioclase Textural Studies
Published: 2023-05-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Textural information, such as crystal size distributions (CSDs) or crystal aspect ratios are powerful tools in igneous petrography for interrogating the thermal history of rocks. They facilitate the investigation of crystal nucleation, growth and mixing as well as the cooling rate of the rock. However, they require large volumes of crystal segmentations and measurements that are often obtained [...]
Dynamic hydrological niche segregation: how plants compete for water in a semiarid ecosystem
Published: 2023-05-14
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Hydrological niche segregation (HNS), which refers to differences in root water uptake depth and physiological traits among coexisting species, remains poorly understood especially with respect to moisture changes and diverse water use strategies. This is particularly the case in regions with a seasonally dry climate where plants must constantly adapt to water stress. Over a 2-year period, we [...]
Complex networks for analyzing the urban acoustic environment
Published: 2023-05-12
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The urban acoustic environment (AE) provides comprehensive acoustic information related to the diverse systems of urban areas, such as traffic, the built environment, or biodiversity. The decreasing cost of acoustic sensors and rapid growth of storage space and computational power have fostered the collection of large amounts of acoustical data to be processed. However, despite the extensive [...]
Do slow slip earthquakes inhibit catastrophes? Geologic evidence from the Guerrero segment, Mexican subduction zone
Published: 2023-05-12
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Globally, the largest tsunamigenic earthquakes have occurred along subduction zones. The Mw>9 devasting events in Chile, Sumatra, and Japan struck in areas where no instrumental records reported similar events. The one-thousand kilometer-long Mexican subduction zone (MSZ), where the Rivera-Cocos plates subduct under the North American plate, has no records of events of such magnitude. Historical [...]
Different mechanisms of Arctic first-year sea-ice ridge consolidation observed during the MOSAiC expedition
Published: 2023-05-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Sea-ice ridges constitute a large fraction of the ice volume in the Arctic Ocean, yet we know little about the evolution of these ice masses. Here we examine the thermal and morphological evolution of an Arctic first-year sea-ice ridge, from its formation to advanced melt. Initially the mean keel depth was 5.6 m and mean sail height was 0.7 m. The initial rubble macroporosity (fraction of [...]
Glacial Isostatic Adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost
Published: 2023-05-10
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ∼1.8 million km^2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control subsea permafrost distribution and thickness, yet no permafrost model has accounted for glacial isostatic adjustment [...]
Slip-stuck kinematics of fault surfaces in laboratory experiments: implications for heterogeneous slip distributions during earthquake events
Published: 2023-05-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Combining field observations with analogue laboratory experiments, this study aims to use surface-roughness characteristics as an indicator of the heterogeneous slip partitioning along shear surfaces. We investigated the roughness of shear surfaces in sheared quartzite of the Singhbhum Shear Zone, eastern India, and identified two distinct kinematic domains: slip zone and stuck zone, marked by [...]
Subsurface storage capacity in underexplored sedimentary basins: Hydrogen and carbon dioxide storage on the Irish Atlantic margin
Published: 2023-05-05
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
As Ireland looks westwards to its Atlantic coastline to develop its renewable energy ambitions, offshore sedimentary basins on the Irish Atlantic margin offer significant potential for either collaborative energy (e.g. hydrogen, H2) or carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. Methodologies for subsurface storage assessment developed for basins with dense data coverage are typically less applicable to [...]
Geophysical and Geochemical Constraints on Magma Storage Depths along the Cascade Arc: Knowns and Unknowns
Published: 2023-05-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
The iconic volcanoes of the Cascade arc stretch from Lassen Volcanic Center in northern California, through Oregon and Washington, to the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt in British Columbia. Recent studies have reviewed differences in the distribution and eruptive volumes of vents, as well as variations in geochemical compositions and heat flux along strike (amongst other characteristics). We investigate [...]
Dynamics of episodic supershear in the 2023 M7.8 Kahramanmaraş/Pazarcik Earthquake, revealed by near-field records and computational modeling
Published: 2023-05-03
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The 2023 M7.8 Kahramanmaraş/Pazarcik earthquake was larger and more destructive than what had been expected. Here we analyzed near-field seismic records and developed a dynamic rupture model that reconciles different currently conflicting inversion results and reveals spatially non-uniform propagation speeds in this earthquake, with predominantly supershear speeds observed along the Narli fault [...]
Soil pore water evaporation and temperature influences on clay mineral paleothermometry
Published: 2023-05-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Clay mineral isotope paleothermometry is fundamental to understanding Earth's climate system and landscape evolution. Status quo methods, however, assume constant factors, such as temperature and water isotopic compositions, and ignore seasonality, soil water evaporation and depth dependent temperature changes. We propose first-order modifications to address these factors and test them in a [...]
Linear analysis of ice-shelf topography response to basal melting and freezing
Published: 2023-04-28
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Dynamic Systems, Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
Floating ice shelves in Antarctica and Greenland limit land-ice contributions to sea level rise by resisting the flow of grounded ice. Melting at the surface and base of ice shelves can lead to destabilisation by promoting thinning and fracturing. Basal melting often results in channelised features that manifest as surface topography due to buoyancy. The assumption of hydrostatic flotation [...]
How particle shape affects granular segregation in industrial and geophysical flows
Published: 2023-04-28
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Industrial and environmental granular flows commonly exhibit a phenomenon known as ``granular segregation," in which grains separate according to physical characteristics (size, shape, density), interfering with industrial applications (cement mixing, medicine and food production) and fundamentally altering the behavior of geophysical flows (landslides, debris flows, pyroclastic flows, [...]
APWP-online.org: a global reference database and open-source tools for calculating apparent polar wander paths and relative paleomagnetic displacements
Published: 2023-04-28
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Paleomagnetism provides a quantitative tool for estimating paleogeographic displacements of rock units relative to the Earth’s spin axis and is widely used to determine relative tectonic displacements (vertical-axis rotations and paleolatitudinal motions). These relative displacements are commonly determined by comparing a study-mean paleomagnetic pole with a reference pole provided by an [...]