Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Palynofacies And Paleoenvironmental Studies of TDA-1 Well, Niger Delta Basin, Nigeria
Published: 2025-11-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The palynofacies and paleoenvironmental study of TDA-1 well, Niger Delta Basin, Nigeria between intervals of 6160 to 14470 feet (1878 to 4410 meter). The Niger Delta Basin is a crucial geological formation that has significant hydrocarbon reserves and supports diverse ecosystems where three main formations in ascending order are formed including the Paleocene Akata Formation, Eocene Agbada [...]
Crystalline silica content of natural, engineered, and synthetic stone products and their relation to silicosis policy development
Published: 2025-11-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Materials Science and Engineering, Public Health
Crystalline silica minerals – quartz, cristobalite, and tridymite – are hazardous when inhaled. They are at least an order of magnitude more toxic than crystalline silica-free inert mineral dusts. Workplace exposure to hazardous levels of crystalline silica is entirely preventable, yet accelerated silicosis is emerging in developed countries, from the fabrication of crystalline silica-rich [...]
Extratropical forcing of low-latitude subsurface oxygenation under future warming
Published: 2025-11-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
The global ocean is losing oxygen under climate warming, yet most climate models project rising oxygen levels in low-latitude subsurface waters (~100–500 m), partly due to their enhanced ventilation. However, underlying drivers for the enhanced ventilation remain unclear. Here we demonstrate that the enhanced tropical subsurface ventilation is driven by extratropical forcing. While extratropical [...]
The Anthropocene: epoch, event, historical phase or nothing at all?
Published: 2025-11-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences
After its recent rejection as a geological epoch of the Geological Time Scale, t he Anthropocene is a concept in search of a definition, and action in this regard is urgently needed. Following its rejection, we can no longer speak of the Anthropocene in a general sense, as if everyone understood what it means. The greatest precision we can currently achieve is to state that the term refers to the [...]
Flood Radar: Multi-Sensor SAR-Based Flood Mapping and Evacuation Modeling — A Case Study of the July 2025 Texas Flood
Published: 2025-11-08
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Planetary Sciences
Floods remain among the most destructive natural hazards worldwide, causing an average of USD 40 billion in annual damage and affecting more than 2.5 billion people between 1994 and 2014. The Central Texas flood of July 2025 was one of the most catastrophic in recent decades, triggered by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry that delivered over 508 mm of rain within two days. This study presents [...]
Multi-Agent Geophysical AI Workflow for Automated Reservoir Characterization
Published: 2025-11-07
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computational Engineering, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology
Traditional geophysical workflows like reservoir characterization are driven in a collaborative manner where teams of geoscientists share their individual analyses to inform key decisions made by executives. However, these workflows are repetitive, time-consuming, prone to human error, and introduce subjective bias. While researchers have used automation to address these limitations via deep [...]
Relict landscapes and fluvial landforms: Catastrophic outflow following a major Late Messinian base-level fall
Published: 2025-11-06
Subjects: Analysis, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Mathematics, Physics, Stratigraphy
During the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), the entire Mediterranean basin experienced deep canyon incision along its margins as the result of sea-level variations and rapidly increasing salinity. Yet, the processes and water sources capable of generating such dramatic incision have never been quantitatively demonstrated. Using high-resolution 3-D seismic reflection data and paleo-stream network [...]
Effect of chemical disequilibrium during metal-silicate partitioning on the thermal state of the early core and implications on the dynamics of metal/silicate segregation
Published: 2025-11-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Geology, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology
In this study, we improved a previously published numerical model linking the core composition to the core temperature during accretion by introducing some amount of chemical disequilibrium during the segregation of the core in the magma ocean phase. At the minimum equilibrium rate in metal and silicate phases, the final temperature of the core by $\sim$ 250 K compared to the fully equilibrated [...]
Modelling the transport and dispersion of volcanic co-PDC ash clouds using NAME: an evaluation of source geometry and mass eruption rate
Published: 2025-11-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) are gravity currents that frequently form during explosive volcanic eruptions. These ground-hugging density currents consist of high-temperature mixtures of pyroclasts (e.g., ash, pumice), lithics, and gas. They have the potential to generate co-PDC plumes, which detach from the underlying PDC as they buoyantly rise into the atmosphere. Co-PDC plumes, composed [...]
Bending the Sierra Madre Oriental: A Paleocene Orocline
Published: 2025-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Tectonics and Structure
The Sierra Madre Oriental belt of the Mexican thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt, which formed during the Late Cretaceous due to the subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath North America, exhibits a pronounced curvature of approximately 100°, concave to the southwest. A recent paleomagnetic study in Jurassic rocks has classified the curvature of the Sierra Madre Oriental as an orocline. However, [...]
Arctic Plastification: Climate-driven amplification of plastic pollution through accumulation and fragmentation
Published: 2025-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Rapid warming of the Arctic, known as Arctic Amplification, is reshaping ice, ocean, and coastal systems in ways that alter how plastic pollution accumulates and transforms in the region. As global plastic emissions continue to rise, more debris is transported northward by rivers and ocean currents. At the same time, the loss of sea ice, coastal erosion, and the formation of new shorelines are [...]
Emerging Remote Sensing Tools for Comprehensive Cryosphere Assessment
Published: 2025-10-27
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This review synthesizes current remote sensing (RS) applications for monitoring Earth's cryosphere, encompassing ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, snow cover, permafrost, and mountain ice features. It examines how satellite-based technologies, including radar interferometry, laser altimetry, passive microwave sensors, and optical imagery, have revolutionized cryospheric science by enabling [...]
A Static Enthalpy Equilibrium Approach to the Stability of Saturated Sands (Version 2)
Published: 2025-10-25
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Construction Engineering and Management, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Mineral Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
This preprint presents a physical formulaton for the stability of saturated granular systems based on a static enthalpy equilibrium. The approach definnes equilibrium as the balance between the gravitationel potential of the granular framework and the hydraulic work of the pore water. From this energetic condition, the limit state and the transition between stable, metastable, and liquefied [...]
Global presence and absence of ultra-low velocity zones as seen by Sdiff postcursors
Published: 2025-10-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology
The core-mantle boundary is a region of significant lateral heterogeneity. Two antipodal large low-velocity provinces (LLVPs) dominate the lower mantle, while smaller but more extreme ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs) pepper the lowermost mantle in a variety of morphologies. These ULVZs have been linked to both the edges of LLVPs and to plume-related hotspots, the latter of which may plausibly be [...]
Global Alpine Treeline Elevational Transects
Published: 2025-10-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Forest Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The Alpine Treeline Ecotone (ATE) is an important ecological transition zone at the juncture of montane forests and alpine tundra. It serves as a crucial habitat for diverse species and a sensitive indicator of climate change. Consistent characterization of the elevational gradients of ATE is challenging due to complex topography and data limitations. This study introduces a comprehensive [...]