Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
ACCE DTP EDI Report 2023
Published: 2023-11-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Education, Environmental Sciences, Higher Education
Underrepresentation of minoritised and historically disadvantaged groups is prevalent in PhD recruitment, particularly in environmental sciences. The environmental science focussed ‘Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment’ Doctoral Training Partnership (ACCE DTP) was awarded funding from the Natural Environment Research Council for an EDI-centred project. This project aimed to [...]
Transgression–regression cycles drive correlations in Ediacaran–Cambrian rock and fossil records
Published: 2023-11-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Statistical Methodology, Statistics and Probability, Stratigraphy
Strata of the Ediacaran Period (635–538.8 Ma) yield the oldest known fossils of complex, macroscopic organisms in the geologic record. These “Ediacaran-type” macrofossils (known as the Ediacaran biota) first appear in mid-Ediacaran strata, experience an apparent decline through the terminal Ediacaran, and directly precede the Cambrian (538.8–485.4 Ma) radiation of animals. Existing hypotheses for [...]
Petrological Evolution and Mass Redistribution in Basaltic Fault Zones: An Example from the Faroe Islands, North Atlantic Igneous Province
Published: 2023-11-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Tectonics and Structure
Fault rock petrology exerts an important control on the permeability structure and mechanical properties of fault zones. Slip-related deformation on upper-crustal faults in basaltic rocks is closely associated with fluid-rock interaction, altering the distribution of physical properties within the fault. Here we present quantitative descriptions of the geochemical and petrological evolution of [...]
Deep Learning for Deep Earthquakes: Insights from OBS Observations of the Tonga Subduction Zone
Published: 2023-11-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Applications of machine learning in seismology have greatly improved our capability of detecting earthquakes in large seismic data archives. Most of these efforts have been focused on continental shallow earthquakes, but here we introduce an integrated deep-learning-based workflow to detect deep earthquakes recorded by a temporary array of ocean-bottom seismographs (OBSs) and land-based stations [...]
Excited state lifetime of electron trapping centres in alkali feldspars
Published: 2023-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Mineral Physics, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
The development of the infrared photoluminescence (IRPL) signal enables the direct non-destructive probing of the trapped electron population in feldspars. Whilst IRPL offers new perspectives for luminescence dating, it also enables detailed, site-selective measurements of the dosimetric defects emitting IRPL at 880 nm (IRPL880) and 955 nm (IRPL955), allowing improved understanding of [...]
Sounding out the river: Seismic and hydroacoustic monitoring of bedload transport in an alluvial river
Published: 2023-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Seismological observations provide a non-invasive and continuous means of indirect measurement of fluvial bedload transport (i.e. the transport of coarse granular material, as a function of water depth, in rivers). However, a significant challenge remains in independently characterising the seismic signature of bedload transport from other sources, such as turbulence. Previous research suggested [...]
PyIRoGlass: An Open-Source, Bayesian MCMC Algorithm for Fitting Baselines to FTIR Spectra of Basaltic-Andesitic Glasses
Published: 2023-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Quantifying volatile concentrations in magmas is critical for understanding magma storage, phase equilibria, and eruption processes. We present PyIRoGlass, an open-source Python package for quantifying H2O and CO2 species concentrations in the transmission FTIR spectra of basaltic to andesitic glasses. We leverage a database of naturally degassed melt inclusions and back-arc basin basalts to [...]
Petrographic and geochemical evidence for a complex magmatic plumbing system beneath Bagana volcano, Papua New Guinea
Published: 2023-10-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Volcanology
Bagana is a persistently active stratovolcano located on Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. Characteristic activity consists of prolonged lava effusion over months to years, with occasional shifts to explosive vulcanian or subplinian eruptions which threaten surrounding communities. Satellite observations have shown that Bagana is a major SO2 emitter, particularly during eruptive intervals. [...]
Pacific shoreline erosion and accretion patterns controlled by El Niño/Southern Oscillation
Published: 2023-10-27
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Climate, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geomorphology, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In the Pacific Basin, the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant mode of interannual climate variability, driving substantial changes in oceanographic forcing and impacting Pacific coastlines. Yet, how sandy coasts respond to these basin-scale changes has to date been limited to a few long-term beach monitoring sites, predominantly on developed coasts. Here we use 38 years of Landsat [...]
Testing the applicability of standardised growth curves for chemically heterogeneous single-grain feldspars from the Atacama Desert, Chile
Published: 2023-10-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences
The Atacama Desert is generally considered the driest non-polar desert on Earth and is therefore an ideal study area for exploring the water and biota free endmember of Earth’s Critical Zone (ECZ). Single grain (SG) luminescence dating has successfully identified processes in the ECZ. However, SG luminescence dating of Atacama Desert feldspars is challenging and time consuming since only a small [...]
Last millennium climate variability in the Romanian Carpathians: a synthesis
Published: 2023-10-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
The Carpathian Mountains span Central and Eastern Europe and provide vital ecosystem functions and services. For this reason, the conservation status of the Carpathians is critical due to environmental pressures such as deforestation and the impacts of climate change, which has significantly affected the region's ecosystem dynamics and communities through increased frequency of floods and [...]
A Novel Approach for Predicting Large Wildfires Using Machine Learning Towards Environmental Justice via Environmental Remote Sensing and Atmospheric Reanalysis Data across the United States
Published: 2023-10-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Large wildfires (>125 hectares) in the United States account for over 95% of the burned area each year. Predicting large wildfires is imperative, however, current wildfire predictive models are region-based and computationally intensive. Using a scalable model based on easily available environmental and atmospheric data, this research aims to accurately predict across the United States whether [...]
Impacts of the African Humid Period termination may have been delayed in the Atlantic Sahara
Published: 2023-10-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
The paleoenvironmental changes recorded at the Khnifiss Lagoon, on the Saharan Atlantic coast, southern Morocco, during the last 3.5 kyrs BP puts another piece to the puzzle on the intricate relationship between North Atlantic climate patterns and climate variations in Northwest Africa. This study shed light on the hydroclimatic dynamics during a pivotal climatic period: the transition from the [...]
Pygoda: a graphical interface to efficiently visualise and explore large sets of geolocated time series
Published: 2023-10-24
Subjects: Categorical Data Analysis, Climate, Computer Sciences, Databases and Information Systems, Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Fresh Water Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces, Hydrology, Longitudinal Data Analysis and Time Series, Meteorology, Other Earth Sciences, Other Statistics and Probability, Spatial Science
Modern-day data sets in geosciences may comprise hundreds or thousands of geolocated time series. Despite all the automated tools and new algorithms now available to process and prepare those data before using them in research projects, it can be useful or even necessary to visualise and investigate them manually. Whether it be for data quality assessment, for the preparation of a training data [...]
Hydrological model skills change with drought severity; insights from multi-variable evaluation
Published: 2023-10-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Hydrological models often do not properly simulate streamflow (Q) during extreme events, including droughts. Limited abilities in simulating Q during droughts may arise from a misrepresentation of Q generating processes during these periods, but little research has focused on distributed, process-based models over human-affected areas and extreme events. To shed more light into model consistency [...]