Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Time-Dependent Decrease in Fault Strength in the 2011--2016 Ibaraki-Fukushima Earthquake Sequence
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Tectonics and Structure
Two near-identical Mw 5.8 earthquakes in 2011 and 2016 ruptured the Mochiyama Fault in the Ibaraki-Fukushima region of Japan. The unusually short repeat time between the two earthquakes provides a rare opportunity to estimate the evolution of stress on a fault through an earthquake cycle, as the stress drop in the first earthquake provides a reference value from which we can infer variations [...]
Caravan - A global community dataset for large-sample hydrology
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
High-quality datasets are essential to support hydrological science and modeling. Several CAMELS (Catchment Attributes and Meteorology for Large-sample Studies) datasets exist for specific countries or regions, however these datasets lack standardization, which makes global studies difficult. This paper introduces a dataset called Caravan (a series of CAMELS) that standardizes and aggregates [...]
Defining renewable groundwater use and its relevance to sustainable groundwater management
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Groundwater systems are commonly, but variously, defined as renewable or non-renewable based on natural fluxes of recharge or on estimates of aquifer storage and groundwater residence time. However, we show here that the principle of capture challenges simple definitions so that a groundwater system cannot be renewable or non-renewable in and of itself, but only with reference to how the [...]
A Practical Guide to Virtual Outcrop Photogrammetry in Earth Science
Published: 2022-05-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In 2021, a photogrammetric model of a 7 km coastal cliff section of the Tjörnes Peninsula, NE Iceland was constructed to provide a “virtual geological outcrop” at a spatial resolution of approximately 5 cm or less. Field expedition planning and post-expedition processing were somewhat hampered by a lack of freely accessible guiding resources. This document presents a first-hand case study of [...]
Sorption vs Adsorption: the words they are a-changin', not the phenomena
Published: 2022-05-17
Subjects: Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
In this discussion, we highlight that the terms sorption and adsorption are often confused and misused in many articles. Even if one thought their formal definition is well known, this does not appear to be the case. We recommend encouragement to adopt the word adsorption only when fully supported by appropriate data and using the sorption terminology when it is more speculative, typically in [...]
Quantifying excess heavy metal concentrations in drainage basins using conservative mixing models
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
High concentrations of heavy metals and other pollutants in river sediments can have detrimental effects on the ecosystem and humans. The composition of river sediments throughout drainage basins therefore provides important information for environmental monitoring. An obvious first step for using river sediment compositions for monitoring is to quantify natural baseline concentrations. Once [...]
Hydraulic fracturing: Laboratory evidence of the brittle-to-ductile transition with depth
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Petroleum Engineering
Understanding the propagation of hydraulic fracture (HF) is essential for effectively stimulating the hydrocarbon production of unconventional reservoirs. Hydraulic fracturing may induce distinct failure modes within the formation, depending on the rheology of the solid and the in-situ stresses. A brittle-to-ductile transition of HF is thus anticipated with increasing depth, although only scarce [...]
Building New Tools Outside the Browser: A New Look at Custom Stand-Alone Applications for Earth Data Access and Visualization
Published: 2022-05-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Today, the debate between online services and installable applications is often characterized as an either-or, winner-take-all situation. In the earth sciences, how-ever, due to data handing and visualization needs, a combination of online, service-oriented architecture (SOA) tools and custom installable applications holds the most promise if these data resources are to be used by a greater and [...]
The signature of lithospheric anisotropy at post-subduction continental margins: new insight from XKS splitting analysis in northern Borneo
Published: 2022-05-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The relative paucity of recent post-subduction environments globally has meant that, so far, little is known about tectonic processes that occur during and after subduction termination, as previously convergent tectonic plates adjust to the new stress regime. The region of Southeast Asia that now encompasses northern Borneo has been host to two sequential episodes of subduction—both now [...]
Radiogenic isotope: not just about words
Published: 2022-04-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry
This viewpoint is a short comment on gender issues with isotope terminology. The terms "parent"/"daughter" should be avoided in favor of the more descriptive "precursor ion" and "product ion" terms.
Magnetic fabrics reveal three-dimensional flow processes within elongate magma fingers at the margin of the Shonkin Sag laccolith (MT, USA)
Published: 2022-04-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Unravelling magma flow in ancient sheet intrusions is critical to understanding how magma pathways develop and feed volcanic eruptions. Analyzing the shape preferred orientation of minerals in intrusive rocks can provide information on magma flow, because crystals may align parallel to the primary flow direction. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) is an established method to quantify [...]
Uncertainty quantification of multi-modal surface wave inversion using artificial neural networks
Published: 2022-04-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
An inversion of surface waves dispersion curves is a non-unique and ill-conditioned problem. The inversion result has a probabilistic nature, which becomes apparent when simultaneously restoring the shear wave (S-wave) velocity and layer thickness. Therefore, the problem of uncertainty quantification is relevant. Existing methods through deterministic or global optimization approaches of [...]
Global dynamics of the offshore wind energy sector monitored with Sentinel-1: Turbine count, installed capacity and site specifications
Published: 2022-04-26
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Statistics and Probability
With the promotion of renewable energy production and a planned phaseout of fossil fuels until 2040, the offshore wind energy sector has started to expand and will continue to increase its capacity in the upcoming decades. This study presents how the installed capacity can be derived from radar imagery provided by the Sentinel-1 mission for all offshore wind turbines on the entire Earth. By [...]
Fluorescence microscopy versus Raman spectroscopy for direct identification of small (< 2 µm) microplastics in soils
Published: 2022-04-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Soil Science
Research on microplastics (MP) in soils is much complicated due to the lack of dedicated (extraction) methodologies and the strong matrix interferences for MP detection, and there is almost no research on the dynamics of the smallest MP in soil. Here we compared the possible detection of the smallest MP fraction (1-2 µm) by µ-Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy in matrices of highly [...]
The relation between European heat waves and North Atlantic SSTs: a two-sided composite analysis
Published: 2022-04-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences
The occurrence of European heat waves has increased during the two last decades. European heat waves are responsible for social, economic and environmental damage and are projected to increase in magnitude, frequency and duration under global warming, heightening the interest about the contribution of different drivers. By using the ERA5 Re-analysis product, we performed a two-sided composite [...]