Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Formation of back-arc basins by lithospheric warping: examples of the Andaman, Bismarck and Banda Sea basins
Published: 2023-06-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Back-arc basins represent an intriguing phenomenon of the lithospheric evolution. They are the places of potential subduction initiation, what makes them highly important features within the theory of plate tectonics. The circumstances of their origin and life cycle are not well understood and whether the retreat of subduction is a cause or consequence of back-arc basin development remains an [...]
Diamond open access with preregistration: a new publishing model for palaeontology
Published: 2023-06-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Paleontology
The current academic publishing model is systemically unfit for purpose. The academic publishing ecosystem is dominated by a few large for-profit publishing houses which, at every stage of the publication process, transform academic work and public resources into private profit. Although extracting substantial profits, these publishing houses themselves add little value to the final published [...]
A new OSL dose model to account for post-depositional mixing of sediments
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability
In applications of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to unconsolidated sediments, the burial age of a sample of grains is estimated using statistical models of the distribution of the experimentally determined equivalent doses of the grains, together with estimates of the environmental dose rate. For grains that have been vertically mixed after deposition (e.g., due to bioturbation), [...]
Automated shear-wave splitting analysis for single- and multi- layer anisotropic media
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Shear-wave velocity anisotropy is present throughout the earth. The strength and orientation of anisotropy can be observed by shear-wave splitting (birefringence) accumulated between earthquake sources and receivers. Seismic deployments are getting ever larger, increasing the number of earthquakes detected and the number of source-receiver pairs. Here, we present a new software package, SWSPy, [...]
Diamond open access with preregistration: a new publishing model for palaeontology
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Paleontology
The current academic publishing model is systemically unfit for purpose. The academic publishing ecosystem is dominated by a few large for-profit publishing houses which, at every stage of the publication process, transform academic work and public resources into private profit. Although extracting substantial profits, these publishing houses themselves add little value to the final published [...]
Despite a century of warming, increased snowfall has buffered the ice phenology of North America’s largest high-elevation lake against climate change
Published: 2023-06-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Lakes are sentinels of environmental change. In cold climates, lake ice phenology—the timing and duration of ice cover during winter—is a key control on ecosystem function. Ice phenology is likely driven by a complex interplay between physical characteristics and climatic conditions. Under climate change, lakes are generally freezing later, melting out earlier, and experiencing a shorter duration [...]
California margin temperatures modulate regional circulation and extreme summer precipitation in the desert Southwest
Published: 2023-06-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
In August 2022, Death Valley, the driest place in North America, experienced record flooding from summertime rainfall associated with the North American monsoon (NAM). Given the socioeconomic cost of these type of events, there is a dire need to understand their drivers and future statistics. Existing theory predicts that increases in the intensity of precipitation is a robust response to [...]
A diffuse interface method for earthquake rupture dynamics based on a phase-field model
Published: 2023-06-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In traditional modeling approaches, earthquakes are often depicted as displacement discontinuities across zero-thickness surfaces embedded within a linear elastodynamic continuum. This simplification, however, overlooks the intricate nature of natural fault zones and may fail to capture key physical phenomena integral to fault processes. Here, we propose a diffuse interface description for [...]
Full vector inversion of magnetic microscopy images using Euler deconvolution as a priori information
Published: 2023-06-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Paleomagnetic data are usually obtained from whole cylindric samples, where the signal results from the sum of magnetic moments from hundreds of thousands to millions of magnetic particles within the sample volume. This usually includes both stable and unstable remanence carriers. Recently, magnetic microscopy techniques allowed the investigation of individual grains by directly imaging their [...]
Causes of Late Cretaceous subduction termination below South China and Borneo: Was the Proto-South China Sea underlain by an oceanic plateau?
Published: 2023-05-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences
The South China, Indochina, and Borneo margins surrounding the South China Sea contain long-lived arcs that became inactive at approximately 85 Ma, even though an embayment of oceanic crust (the ‘Proto-South China Sea’) remained in the intervening region. This oceanic crust eventually subducted in the Cenozoic below Borneo and the Cagayan arc, while the modern South China Sea opened in its wake. [...]
A critical reappraisal of paleomagnetic evidence for Philippine Sea Plate rotation
Published: 2023-05-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences
The kinematic history of the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) is crucial for interpreting its geological record related to subduction initiation processes and the paleogeography of the junction between the Paleo-Pacific and Tethyan oceanic realms. However, reconstructing PSP’s kinematic history is difficult because the plate has been surrounded by subduction zones for most of its history. In absence of [...]
Listening to Manchester: Using citizen science Raspberry Shake seismometers to quantify road traffic
Published: 2023-05-31
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Environmental Public Health, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Human Geography
Road traffic is a major contributor to greenhouse gases in our cities. This study has been designed to test whether low-cost citizen science seismometers (Raspberry Shakes) can be used to quantify temporal and spatial variations in road traffic. I used a network of seismometers installed around Greater Manchester to record signals in the frequency range 1-50 Hz. Data were processed using the open [...]
Decompression and Fracturing Caused by Magmatically Induced Thermal Stresses
Published: 2023-05-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Studies of host rock deformation around magmatic intrusions usually focus on the development of stresses directly related to the intrusion process. This is done either by considering an inflating region that represents the intruding body, or by considering multiphase deformation. Thermal processes, especially volume changes caused by thermal expansion are typically ignored. We show that thermal [...]
Discovery of a 15-kilometer-wide impact crater candidate in western Saudi Arabia
Published: 2023-05-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geology
There are few reports on impact craters in Saudi Arabia. This paper aims to fill a gap in the literature in this area. Using satellite imaging, a circular structure with a diameter of approximately 15 kilometers was detected on the edge of Harrat Rahat volcanic field in western Saudi Arabia. Fieldwork showed that the circular structure is a newly-discovered comet impact crater candidate, this [...]
Comment on ‘The magmatic architecture and evolution of the Chang’e-5 lunar basalts’ Penny E. Wieser1, Christy Till2, Adam Kent3, Matthew Gleeson1
Published: 2023-05-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Luo et al.1 present exciting new data on lunar basalt samples erupted at ~2 Ga, and brought to Earth by the Chang’e-5 (CE-5) mission. These samples offer important new opportunities to understand lunar magmatic systems. Luo et al.1 use Clinopyroxene-Liquid (Cpx-Liq) thermobarometry and pMELTS modelling of mineral compositions to determine the pressures (P) and temperatures (T) of magma storage on [...]