Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Grain friction controls characteristics of seismic cycle in rough faults with granular gouge
Published: 2018-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Mature faults with rough surface at their core contain granular gouge, however, the presence of fault gouge is mostly disregarded in the analysis of effect of fault’s surface roughness on the mechanics and stability of faults. In this work, we consider a rough fault system with constant roughness at the wall-gouge interaction and study the effect of grain friction on the characteristics of [...]
Burial-related Compaction Modifies Intrusion-induced Forced Folds: Implications for Reconciling Roof Uplift Mechanisms using Seismic Reflection Data
Published: 2018-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Space for shallow-level sills and laccoliths is commonly generated by bending and uplift of overlying rock and sediment. This so-called ‘roof uplift’ produces forced folds, the shape and amplitude of which reflect the geometry of underlying intrusions. The surface expression of forced folds can therefore be inverted to constrain intruding magma body properties, whilst ancient forced folds provide [...]
Implications of ambiguity in Antarctic ice sheet dynamics for future coastal erosion estimates: a probabilistic assessment
Published: 2018-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Probability, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability
Sea-level rise (SLR) can amplify the episodic erosion from storms and drive chronic erosion on sandy shorelines, threatening many coastal communities. One of the major uncertainties in SLR projections is the potential rapid disintegration of large fractions of the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS). Quantifying this uncertainty is essential to support sound risk management of coastal areas, although it is [...]
Preservation of autogenic processes and allogenic forcings within set-scale aeolian architecture I: numerical experiments
Published: 2018-10-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Stratigraphy
A reduced complexity aeolian dune stratification model is developed and applied to explore the role of dune morphodynamics in the creation of synthetic sections of aeolian stratigraphy originating from three sets of environmental forcing: 1) steady wind transport capacity, 2) steady bed aggradation and variable wind transport capacity, and 3) steady wind transport capacity and bed aggradation. In [...]
New constraints from Central Chile on the origins of enriched continental compositions in thick-crusted arc magmas
Published: 2018-10-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Magmas from continental arcs built on thick crust have elevated incompatible element abundances and “enriched” radiogenic isotope ratios compared to magmas erupted in island and continental arcs overlying thinner crust. The relative influence of the slab, mantle, and upper plate on this variability is heavily debated. The Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ; 33-46° S) is an ideal setting to [...]
Overpressure Transfer Through Interconnected Igneous Intrusions
Published: 2018-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Paper looking at the transference of overpressure through interconnected igneous intrusions within sedimentary basins. The manuscript highlights the current under-recognized hazard in both scientific and hydrocarbon drilling in vicinity of subsurface igneous complexes.
Intermediate-magnitude postseismic slip follows intermediate-magnitude (M 4 to 5) earthquakes in California
Published: 2018-10-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The magnitude of postseismic slip is useful for constraining physical models of fault slip. Here we examine the postseismic slip following intermediate-magnitude (M 4 to 5) earthquakes by systematically analyzing data from borehole strainmeters in central and northern California. We assess the noise in the data and identify 36 records from 12 earthquakes that can be interpreted. We estimate [...]
Radiolysis via radioactivity is not responsible for rapid methane oxidation in subterranean air
Published: 2018-10-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Atmospheric methane is rapidly lost when it enters humid subterranean critical and vadose zones (e.g., air in soils and caves). Because methane is a source of carbon and energy, it can be consumed by methanotrophic methane-oxidizing bacteria. As an additional subterranean sink, it has been hypothesized that methane is oxidized by natural radioactivity-induced radiolysis that produces energetic [...]
Mangrove pollen of Indonesia and its suitability as a sea-level indicator
Published: 2018-10-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geography, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
We investigated the mangroves of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, to assess their potential as proxies for reconstructing sea level during the Holocene. Initial investigations confirmed that the mangrove species demonstrate zonations parallel to the shoreline and are dominated by the family Rhizophoraceae with Avicennia, Heritiera and Sonneratia also important constituents of the mangroves. We [...]
Spectral Mixture Analysis as a Unified Framework for the Remote Sensing of Evapotranspiration
Published: 2018-10-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
This analysis proposes a unified framework for estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) using spectral mixture analysis (SMA) based on globally standardized substrate, vegetation, and dark (SVD) endmembers (EMs). Using all available Landsat 8 scenes from a month in the peak growing season (June) in a diverse 90 x 120 km region in northern California, we characterize the relationship between each of [...]
Flow-Substrate Interactions in Aggrading and Degrading Submarine Channels
Published: 2018-10-24
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Geomorphology, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Connecting real time measurements of current-bed interactions to the temporal evolution of submarine channels can be extremely challenging in natural settings. We present a suite of physical experiments that offer insight into the spectrum of interactions between turbidity currents and their channels, from (i) detachment-limited erosion to (ii) transport-limited erosion to (iii) pure deposition. [...]
Initiation and Arrest of Earthquake Ruptures due to Elongated Overstressed Regions
Published: 2018-10-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The initiation of natural and induced earthquakes is promoted in fault areas where the shear stress is close to fault strength. In many important situations, these overstressed fault areas (or “asperities”) are very elongated; for example, in the case of a fault intersecting a reservoir subject to fluid-injection, or the stress concentration along the bottom of a seismogenic zone induced by deep [...]
An Evaluation between Time-term, Reciprocal Time and Refraction Tomography Analysis Methods for obtaining 2-D shallow Seismic Velocity Models over Synthetic Traveltimes
Published: 2018-10-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Shallow seismic refraction is the principal geophysical method for environmental and engineering site investigations to image the shallow subsurface. We present an assessment of three inversion methods, namely Time-Term inversion, Reciprocal Time methods and Refraction tomography inversion by using commercial software (SeisImager™) by using a synthetic first-arrival-time dataset that was made by [...]
Disruption of Long-Term Effusive-Explosive Activity at Santiaguito, Guatemala
Published: 2018-10-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Rapid transitions in eruptive activity during lava dome eruptions pose significant challenges for monitoring and hazard assessment efforts. A comprehensive understanding of the dynamic evolution of active lava dome systems requires extensive multi-parametric datasets to fully constrain and understand rapid shifts in eruptive behavior, but few such datasets have been compiled. The Santiaguito lava [...]
Advancing global flood hazard simulations by improving comparability, benchmarking, and integration of global flood models
Published: 2018-10-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In recent years, a range of global flood models (GFMs) were developed, each utilizing different process descriptions as well as validation data sets and methods. To quantify the magnitude of these differences, studies assessed the performance of GFMs on the continental and catchment level. Since the default models set-ups resulted in locally marked [...]