Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Shallow water benthic imaging and substrate characterization using recreational-grade sidescan-sonar
Published: 2017-10-31
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geomorphology, Hydraulic Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
In recent years, lightweight, inexpensive, vessel-mounted ‘recreational grade’ sonar systems have rapidly grown in popularity among aquatic scientists, for swath imaging of benthic substrates. To promote an ongoing ‘democratization’ of acoustical imaging of shallow water environments, methods to carry out geometric and radiometric correction and georectification of sonar echograms are presented, [...]
Development of cutoff-related knickpoints during early evolution of submarine channels
Published: 2017-10-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Submarine channels are often thought of as having relatively simple geometries, with significant along-channel morphologic and stratigraphic continuity. Using high-resolution seismic reflection data from offshore Angola and a kinematic model of channel evolution, we present evidence that channels on the seafloor can develop slope variability as a result of meander cutoff events. When cutoffs [...]
SRTM-based morphotectonic analysis of the Poços de Caldas Alkaline Massif, southeastern Brazil
Published: 2017-10-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Tectonics and Structure
An evaluation of SRTM 03” data applicability in geomorphology and morphotectonics analysis is proposed, considering the morphometric parameters slope, aspect, surface roughness and isobase surface. The study area, in southeastern Brazil, comprises the Poços de Caldas Alkaline Massif, a 33km-diameter Late Cretaceous collapsed volcanic caldera. Morphometric indices evaluated showed the correlation [...]
Resampling SRTM 03”-data with kriging
Published: 2017-10-31
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science
The purpose of this article is to present the steps necessary to improve the resolution of a DEM us- ing variogram modelling and kriging, as well as a brief comparison of the results with those obtained with interpolation by Regularised Splines with Ten- sion (RST).
r.roughness – a new tool for morphometric analysis in GRASS
Published: 2017-10-31
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Theory and Algorithms
This article briefly describes r.roughness, a shell script written to calculate the surface roughness of raster surfaces. The method is based on Hobson (1972), where roughness is defined as the ratio be- tween surface and plan area of square cells.
Trend-surfaces analysis of morphometric parameters: A case-study in southearstern Brazil
Published: 2017-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Geomorphology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Tectonics and Structure
Trend-surface analysis was carried out on data from morphometric parameters isobase and hydraulic gradient. The study area, located in the eastern border of Quadrilátero Ferrífero, southeastern Brazil, presents four main geomorphological units, one characterized by fluvial dissection, two of mountainous relief, with a scarp of hundreds of meters of fall between them, and a flat plateau in the [...]
Morphometric analysis in Geographic Information Systems: applications of free software GRASS and R
Published: 2017-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Geomorphology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Tectonics and Structure
Development and interpretation of morphometric maps are important tools in studies related to neotectonics and geomorphology; Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows speed and precision to this process, but applied methodology will vary according to available tools and degree of knowledge of each researcher about involved software. A methodology to integrate GIS and statistics in morphometric [...]
Normal fault growth in layered basaltic rocks: the role of strain rate in fault evolution
Published: 2017-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Conceptual models for the evolution of dilatant faults in volcanic rift settings involve a step-wise growth pattern, involving upward propagation of subsurface faults, surface monocline formation, which are breached by subvertical, open faults. Immature, discontinuous normal faults are considered representative of the early stages of mature, linked faults that accommodate extensional strains. We [...]
Seismic Interpretation of Sill-Complexes in Sedimentary Basins: The ‘Sub-Sill Imaging Problem’
Published: 2017-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Application of 3D-seismic reflection-data to igneous systems in sedimentary basins has led to a revolution in the understanding of mafic sill-complexes. However, there is considerable uncertainty on how geometries and architecture of sill complexes within the subsurface relates those imaged in seismic reflection-data. To provide constraints on how sill complexes in seismic data should be [...]
On the scales of dynamic topography in whole-mantle convection models - preprint version
Published: 2017-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Mantle convection shapes Earths surface by generating dynamic topography. Observational constraints and regional convection models suggest that surface topography could be sensitive to mantle flow for wavelengths as short as 1,000 km and 250 km, respectively. At these spatial scales, surface processes including sedimentation and relative sea-level change occur on million year timescales. [...]
A Bayesian Method to Quantify Azimuthal Anisotropy Model Uncertainties: Application to Global Azimuthal Anisotropy in the Upper Mantle and Transition Zone
Published: 2017-10-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Seismic anisotropy is a powerful tool to constrain mantle deformation, but its existence in the deep upper mantle and topmost lower mantle is still uncertain. Recent results from higher mode Rayleigh waves have, however, revealed the presence of 1% azimuthal anisotropy between 300 km and 800 km depth, and changes in azimuthal anisotropy across the mantle transition zone boundaries. This has [...]
Igneous sills record far-field and near-field stress interactions during volcano construction: Isle of Mull, Scotland
Published: 2017-10-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Sill emplacement is typically associated with horizontally mechanically layered host rocks in a near-hydrostatic far-field stress state, where contrasting mechanical properties across the layers promote transitions from dykes, or inclined sheets, to sills. We used detailed field observations from the Loch Scridain Sill Complex (Isle of Mull, UK), and mechanical models to show that layering is not [...]
Influence of fault reactivation during multiphase rifting: the Oseberg area, Northern North Sea rift
Published: 2017-10-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Multiphase rifts tend to produce fault populations that evolve by the formation of new faults and reactivation of earlier faults. The resulting fault patterns tend to be complex and difficult to decipher. In this work we use seismic reflection data to examine the evolution of a normal fault network in the Oseberg Fault Block in the northern North Sea Rift System – a rift system that experienced [...]
Pre-existing normal faults have limited control on the rift geometry of the northern North Sea
Published: 2017-10-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Many rifts develop in response to multiphase extension with numerical and physical models suggesting that reactivation of first-phase normal faults and rift-related variations in bulk crustal rheology control the evolution and final geometry of subsequent rifts. However, many natural multiphase rifts are deeply buried and thus poorly exposed in the field and poorly imaged in seismic reflection [...]
Balancing sub- and supra-salt strain in salt-influenced rifts: Implications for extension estimates
Published: 2017-10-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The structural style of salt-influenced rifts may differ from those formed in predominantly brittle crust. Salt can decouple sub- and supra-salt strain, causing sub-salt faults to be geometrically decoupled from, but kinematically coupled to and responsible for, supra-salt forced folding. Salt-influenced rifts thus contain more folds than their brittle counterparts, an observation often ignored [...]