Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Feedback-Controlled Linear Actuator System to Simulate Laboratory Analogs of Landslides
Published: 2026-07-24
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
This study describes a scientific apparatus that induces granular flow by tilting an acrylic sample container under user-prescribed constant angular velocity and acceleration profiles. The system consists of a transparent sample container mounted within a motorized frame driven by a linear actuator that we control using pulse-width modulation with feed-forward compensation. Additional components [...]
Fabric and strain analyses support a unified framework for sediment deposition, relaxation, and glass formation
Published: 2026-07-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physics, Sedimentology, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
The kinetic energy of particles at deposition Ek is a distinguishing feature of all near-surface environments, varying due to particle mass and local stress field within the fluid that transports the particles. Once deposited, a granular fabric emerges that exerts control on the subsequent relaxation processes, including on whether, when, and how granular sediments catastrophically fail. Despite [...]
Rapid Fault Leakage Screening for CO₂ Storage Under Uncertainty: Application to a Faulted Miocene Aquifer in the Malay Basin
Published: 2026-07-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Other Engineering, Other Environmental Sciences, Transport Phenomena
Geological CO2 storage is critical for mitigating climate change, yet the risk of leakage along faults poses significant challenges. Faults function as structural traps or preferential CO2 migration pathways depending on their sealing capacity. This study applies a computationally efficient rapid fault leakage analysis tool that combines a vertically integrated reservoir model with an upscaled [...]
A Late Miocene Reduction in the Spatial Breadth of Marine Tephra Occurrence: A Five-Basin Test of the Volcanic-Pulse Hypothesis
Published: 2026-07-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Stratigraphy, Volcanology
Episodic "pulses" of explosive volcanism have been widely invoked to explain climatic and biotic events across the Phanerozoic, but rarely tested against a high-resolution, multi-basin occurrence record. I tested for non-random temporal clustering of explosive volcanism using VOLCORE, a compilation of 34,696 visible tephra layers recovered by ocean drilling from across the world’s ocean basins. [...]
Multi-scale constraints resolve the 2025 Kamchatka megathrust rupture in a 3D heterogeneous Earth
Published: 2026-07-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Great megathrust earthquakes produce deformation over a wide range of spatial scales, yet how near‑trench, near‑field, and far‑field static displacements collectively constrain the same rupture remains poorly understood. Here we analyze the 29 July 2025 Mw 8.8 Kamchatka earthquake using spatially multi-scale observations: tsunami-derived initial uplift models for near-trench offshore deformation, [...]
Joint falsification of gravity, magnetotelluric and surface-wave data resolves a fertile-corridor discriminator: the Al Amar suture, Arabian Shield
Published: 2026-07-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A prospective mineral province is defined by deep structure that is known only from sparse geophysical data, and any one dataset permits several geological interpretations. This paper describes a prototype that converts a geologist's written tectonic history into a falsifiable prior on deep petrophysical structure and asks which measurements separate geologically distinct histories. A language [...]
Fluvial response and recovery after the Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction revealed through quantitative paleohydrology
Published: 2026-07-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Anthropogenic climate change represents the greatest modern forcing on global river dynamics. Investigating the sensitivity of rivers to past climate in the geological record is thus crucial in understanding future landscapes in a warming world. The Sherwood Sandstone Group, UK, a unit of early-middle Triassic (c. 248-239 Ma) dryland fluvial deposits, records events during and after the [...]
Improving PM2.5 Estimation from Satellite Aerosol Optical Depth Using Boundary Layer Height and Meteorological Variables
Published: 2026-07-15
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Accurate estimation of surface particulate matter (PM2.5) from satellite observations remains challenging because aerosol optical depth (AOD) represents column-integrated aerosol loading and is strongly influenced by meteorological conditions. This study investigates the relationship between satellite-derived AOD, meteorological variables, and surface PM2.5 concentrations over Mumbai, India, [...]
The tidal-force theory of the Indian summer monsoon
Published: 2026-07-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Science and Mathematics Education
This article elaborates on the theory that both lunar and solar tractive tidal forces generate the wind flows responsible for the ISMR. Monsoon variability shows that the monsoon (ISMR) is not periodic simply on the tropical year or the Gregorian calendar. However, it was observed that the seemingly delayed monsoons of 2004 and 2026 came right on time for the rainy season on the traditional [...]
Inferring the sub-surface connectivity and structural maturity of the Roccapreturo normal fault system, Central Apeninnes, Italy, using high-resolution structural mapping
Published: 2026-07-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Constraining how active faults link together in the sub-surface and understanding how fault geometry and structural maturity affect earthquake propagation are key tools for understanding earthquake behaviour and seismic hazard. We use the Roccapreturo fault system, from the Central Apennines, Italy, which has three closely spaced normal faults mapped at the surface as a case study to explore [...]
Thermodynamic modeling tools for the interpretation of melt inclusions and volcanic gases
Published: 2026-07-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Volcanology
H2O, CO2, and S are the most abundant volatiles in basaltic magmatic systems and are critical to understanding magma storage and the size and style of volcanic eruptions. Models for calculating melt–vapor (±mineral) equilibria are abundant in the literature but are not interoperable. Consequently, few comparisons of model outputs have been performed. To address this, we comprehensively compare [...]
Beyond a Single Risk Score: Posterior Rank Uncertainty in Wildfire Exposure of Transmission Corridors
Published: 2026-07-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Risk Analysis
Transmission-line wildfire risk management frequently demands segment-level priority triage, whereas records regarding equipment status, power outages and routine inspections remain non-public. This study establishes a reproducible framework relying solely on publicly accessible datasets to conduct retrospective external wildfire exposure ranking for transmission line segments across California. [...]
The Rise of Diamond Open Access Journals in Earth Sciences: Past Developments, Present Tensions, and Future Pathways
Published: 2026-07-08
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Library and Information Science, Paleontology, Planetary Sciences, Sedimentology, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Over roughly the last decade, a visible, community-led Diamond Open Access (OA) ecosystem has emerged in the Earth sciences, not as a departure from tradition, but as the latest expression of a long-standing culture of open, society-supported scholarly communication. While free-to-read, fee-free publishing initiatives have deep roots in the field, predating the Diamond terminology by decades and [...]
Well-log Analysis of Shale Gas Reservoirs
Published: 2026-07-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Well-logs provide continuous information about rocks and their pore fluid properties. Typical well-logs such as gamma-ray, density, neutron, sonic, and resistivity logs have been traditionally used to estimate shale volume, porosity, lithology, and fluid saturation in conventional oil and gas exploration, where shale formations are treated as hydrocarbon source rock and sandstone and carbonate [...]
CSUFlow25: Colorado Streamflow Ungaged Prediction Models
Published: 2026-07-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
CSUFlow25 is an updated set of statistical models for predicting streamflow in ungaged basins in Colorado, USA. It builds on the earlier CSUFlow18 models (Eurich et al., 2021) by extending the streamflow record from water years 2001–2018 to 2001–2024, expanding the pool of candidate predictor variables, and increasing the number of streamflow metrics predicted. Models were developed from a [...]