Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Investigating the role of faults in fluid migration and gas hydrate formation along the southern Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand
Published: 2019-07-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Hikurangi Margin off the east coast of the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) is a tectonically active subduction zone and the location of New Zealand’s largest gas hydrate province. Faults are internally complex volumetric zones that may play a significant role in the migration of fluids beneath the seafloor. The combined processes of deformation and fluid migration result in the formation of [...]
Are we in the right path in using early warning systems?
Published: 2019-07-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This article focusses on the recent tsunami in Indonesia, and the factors led to a large number of fatalities. We also discussed the failure of early warning systems, steps, methods and technologies, in general, to improve the early warning systems in the future to mitigate the loss of lives and property during these impending disasters. This article is timely as Indonesia has seen one of the [...]
Base-Salt Relief Controls Salt-Related Deformation in the Outer Kwanza Basin, offshore Angola
Published: 2019-07-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
We use a 3D seismic dataset from Offshore Angola to document the salt-influenced translation and evolution of structures on the margin.
What is Trishear?
Published: 2019-07-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The kinematics of fault-propagation folds, formed above the tips of upward propagating normal faults, is typically inferred from numerical and physical models. Trishear is a forward kinematic model in which deformation occurs in a triangular zone in front of the propagating fault tip, with the geometry of this zone, and the geometry and growth of the resulting fold, related to several parameters [...]
Contrasting TiO2 compositions in Early Cenozoic mafic sills of the Faroe Islands: an example of basalt formation from distinct melting regimes
Published: 2019-07-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Abstract: The Paleocene lava succession of the Faroe Islands Basalt Group (FIBG), which is a part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP), is intruded by numerous basaltic sills. These can be grouped into three main categories according to their geochemical characteristics: A low-TiO2 sill category (TiO2 = 0.7-0.9), a relatively high-TiO2 sill category (TiO2 = 1.95-2.6) and an [...]
Interaction of Sea-Level Pulses with Periodically Retreating Barrier Islands
Published: 2019-07-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Barrier deposits preserved on continental shelf seabeds provide a record of the paleocoastal environment from the last glacial maximum through the Holocene. The formation of these offshore deposits is often attributed to intermittent periods of rapidly rising sea levels, especially glacial meltwater pulses, which are expected to lead to partial or complete drowning—overstepping—of migrating [...]
Can barrier islands survive sea-level rise? Quantifying the relative role of tidal deltas and overwash deposition
Published: 2019-07-18
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geology, Geomorphology, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Accepted open-access publication available at: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085524 Barrier island response to sea-level rise depends on their ability to transgress and move sediment onto and behind the barrier, either through flood-tidal delta deposition, or via overwash. Our understanding of these processes over decadal or longer timescales, however, is limited. Here we [...]
Evolution of a shear zone before, during and after melting
Published: 2019-07-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Partial melt in the deforming mid/lower continental crust causes a strength decrease and drives formation of lithological heterogeneities. However, mechanisms of formation of syn-melt deformation zones and strain partitioning in partially molten rock remain poorly understood. We use field and microstructural observations to unravel the evolution of a partial melt shear zone, Seiland Igneous [...]
Evaluating precipitation datasets for large-scale distributed hydrological modelling
Published: 2019-07-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Over the past decades, a variety of valuable research studies has helped to advance our understanding of the advantages and limitations of satellite derived precipitation datasets as a forcing to hydrological models, in combination with or as an alternative to gauge data. However, most studies have assessed the performance of only one single dataset (or a few), have used global precipitation [...]
Relationships between soil chemical properties and rare earth element concentrations in the aboveground biomass of a tropical herbaceous plant
Published: 2019-07-18
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The geochemical behavior of rare earth elements (REE) has been mainly investigated in geological systems where they represent the best proxies for processes occurring at the interface between different media. REE concentrations, normalized with respect to the upper continental crust, were used to assess their behavior. In this study, REE geochemical behavior was investigated in plant shoots of a [...]
Pan-European groundwater to atmosphere terrestrial systems climatology from a physically consistent simulation
Published: 2019-07-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Applying the Terrestrial Systems Modeling Platform, TSMP, this study provides the first simulated long-term (1996-2018), high-resolution (~12.5km) terrestrial system climatology over Europe, which comprises variables from groundwater across the land surface to the top of the atmosphere (G2A). The data set offers an unprecedented opportunity to test hypotheses related to short- and long-range [...]
Urban Seismic Site Characterization by Fiber-Optic Seismology
Published: 2019-07-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Accurate ground-motion prediction requires detailed site effect assessment, but in urban areas where such assessments are most important, geotechnical surveys are difficult to perform, limiting their availability. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) offers an appealing alternative by repurposing existing fiber-optic cables, normally employed for telecommunication, as an array of seismic sensors. [...]
The Baltic TRANSCOAST approach – investigating shallow coasts as terrestrial-marine interface of water and matter fluxes
Published: 2019-07-16
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Biology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Plant Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Plant Sciences, Soil Science
In Baltic TRANSCOAST we study the physical, biogeochemical, and biological processes at the land-ocean interface. The coastal zone is heavily impacted by various human activities as well as by geomorphological and climatic processes – on both the land and the sea side. Land-sea interactions at low lying coastal areas that are often dominated by peatlands, and are a common feature along the Baltic [...]
The moment duration scaling relation for slow rupture arises from transient rupture speeds
Published: 2019-07-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The relation between seismic moment and earthquake duration for slow rupture follows a different power law exponent than sub-shear rupture. The origin of this difference in exponents remains unclear. Here, we introduce a minimal one-dimensional Burridge-Knopoff model which contains slow, sub-shear and super-shear rupture, and demonstrate that different power law exponents occur because the [...]
Assessing Climate Model Projections of Anthropogenic Warming Patterns
Published: 2019-07-16
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Projections of future anthropogenic climate change and their uncertainties are determined by analyzing large ensembles of numerical climate models. Since the late 1980s, transient climate models have projected a pronounced global warming, with relatively high warming in the Arctic and over land and low warming over the Southern Ocean. In general, confidence in climate model projections is based [...]