Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
rmacrostrat: An R package for accessing and retrieving data from the Macrostrat geological database
Published: 2024-07-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The geological record is a vast archive of information that provides the only empirical data about the evolution of the Earth. In recent years, concentrated efforts have been made to compile macrostratigraphic data into the online centralized database Macrostrat (https://macrostrat.org). Macrostrat is a global stratigraphic database containing information regarding surface and subsurface rock [...]
Relating Multi-Scale Plume Detection and Area Estimates of Methane Emissions: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis
Published: 2024-07-23
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Methodologies for inferring surface emissions of atmospheric trace gases can be categorized into plume detection and area-scale estimation. Plume detections are observations of emissions from either individual or clustered point sources. Area estimates are derived from top-down atmospheric flux inversion models or bottom-up inventories, which infer mean emissions typically over spatial scales [...]
Sensitivity of modelled mass balance and runoff to representations of debris and accumulation on the Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon, Canada
Published: 2024-07-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Runoff contributions from glacierized catchments are changing in response to accelerating mass loss. We reconstruct the 1980-2022 mass balance, runoff and water budget of the ~70% glacierized Kaskawulsh River headwaters in Yukon, Canada, using an enhanced temperature-index model driven by downscaled and bias-corrected reanalysis data. Debris is treated using melt-scaling factors based on [...]
TROPICAL STORM SURGE: FORMATION, IMPACT, AND RECENT ADVANCES IN ITS PREDICTION TOWARDS DEVELOPING MITIGATION STRATEGIES
Published: 2024-07-19
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Planetary Sciences
Tropical storm surge poses significant risks to coastal areas, necessitating precise prediction for effective emergency preparedness and mitigation. Recent advances in numerical models such as SLOSH, ADCIRC, and FVCOM have revolutionized storm surge forecasting by accurately simulating complex hydrodynamic processes, bolstered by ADCIRC's use of high-resolution grids and parallel computing for [...]
Equality, diversity and inclusion recommendations and best practice from NERC Doctoral Training Partnerships & Centers for Doctoral Training: DEI Forum Report 2023
Published: 2024-07-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Education, Environmental Sciences, Higher Education
This report represents the collective voice of NERC DTPs & CDTs, demonstrating the reality of nurturing Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the ground level from the perspectives of staff and students. Individually, we have faced common barriers towards improving DEI within our host universities and honed our expertise in realising DEI through extensive research and [...]
Volcanic arc structure controlled by liquid focusing from the slab — evidence from boron isotopes and trace elements
Published: 2024-07-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
The rates and pathways of material transport from subducting plates to arc volcanoes control the long-term chemical evolution of the atmosphere, continents, and mantle. Arc magma compositions are commonly used as proxies for the state of the slab directly below a volcanic vent, under the assumption of vertical transport from the slab to the surface. Here, we present new boron (B) isotope and [...]
Modeling sediment compaction beneath ice lenses during frost heave
Published: 2024-07-13
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Soil Science
Frost heave occurs when the ground swells during freezing conditions due to the growth of ice lenses in the subsurface. The mechanics of ice-infiltrated sediment, or frozen fringe, influences the formation and evolution of ice lenses. As the frozen fringe thickens during freezing, progressive unloading can result in dilation of the pore space and the formation of new ice lenses. Compaction can [...]
Seamounts control subducted carbonate recycling in Central America – evidence from stable Sr isotopes
Published: 2024-07-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Accurate estimates of carbon recycling efficiency at subduction zones are crucial for understanding the long-term evolution of the planet’s climate. Estimating subducting carbon recycling efficiency is difficult, however, due to magmatic degassing deep within the crust. Stable strontium (δ88Sr) isotopes have the potential to serve as an additional proxy for carbonate recycling due to carbonate’s [...]
Interdiffusion of major elements at 1 atmosphere between natural shoshonitic and rhyolitic melts
Published: 2024-07-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Volcanology
The diffusive mass exchange of eight major elements (Si, Ti, Al, Fe, Mg, Ca, Na, and K) between natural, nominally dry shoshonitic and rhyolitic melts was studied at atmospheric pressure and temperatures between 1230 and 1413 °C using the diffusion couple method. For six elements, effective binary diffusion coefficients were calculated by means of a concentration-dependent method to obtain an [...]
Coupled, decoupled, and abrupt responses of vegetation to climate across timescales
Published: 2024-07-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Climate and ecosystem dynamics vary across timescales, but research into climate-driven vegetation dynamics usually focuses on singular timescales. We develop a spectral analysis- based approach that provides detailed estimates of the timescales at which vegetation tracks climate change, from 10^1 to 10^5 years. We report similarity ofvegetation and climate even at centennial frequencies (149^-1 [...]
A non-equilibrium slurry model for planetary cores with application to Earth’s F-layer
Published: 2024-07-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Geophysics and Seismology, Mineral Physics
Slurry regions may exist in the cores of several terrestrial bodies and are expected to influence the dynamics of deep planetary interiors and the viability of maintaining global magnetic fields. Here we develop a two-component slurry model of the lowermost outer core of the Earth (the F-layer). In contrast to most previous models of slurries in planetary cores, we explicitly model the [...]
Building quantitative skills with a simplified physical model of coastal storm deposition
Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Educational Methods, Geomorphology, Higher Education, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
This article describes an exercise for a physical laboratory experiment designed to enable physical geography students to practice transferrable quantitative skills through inquiry-based learning. The exercise is a deliberately simplified physical model of storm-driven coastal overwash typical of low-lying coastal barrier systems. The experiment can be trialled in anything from a baking pan or [...]
Uranium-series isotopes as tracers of physical and chemical weathering in glacial sediments from Taylor Valley, Antarctica
Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Glaciology, Soil Science
The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica formed by extensive glacial erosion, yet currently exhibit hyperarid polar conditions characterized by limited chemical and physical weathering. Efficient chemical weathering occurs when moisture is available, and polythermal subglacial conditions may accommodate ongoing mechanical weathering and valley incision. Taylor Valley hosts several Pleistocene [...]
Littoral activity in the lava deltas of 2021 eruption on Cumbre Vieja Volcanic Rift, La Palma (Canary Islands): constraints on explosive water-magma interaction
Published: 2024-07-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Tephra jets are a characteristic explosive phenomenon of lava deltas built by pāhoehoe or ‘a‘ā lava flows. Field observations made during the growth of the 2021 South Lava Delta (La Palma island), emplaced under a 100–150 m high marine cliff, show tephra jets driven by penetration of seawater through the external lava breccia into the interior of ‘a‘ā lava flows entering the ocean. However, this [...]
An Initial Approach of Multiple Linear Regression in CO2-water Relative Permeability Prediction for Carbon Storage Projects
Published: 2024-06-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences
This work discusses the feasibility of multiple linear regression in predicting water/CO2 relative permeability using training and testing datasets from two nearby wells, separately, of the Lower Cretaceous Lakota Sandstone, Jurassic Hulett Sandstone, and Pennsylvanian Minnelusa Formation at the Dry Fork Station site. The outcome is promising as the predicted and measured relative permeability [...]