Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Late Quaternary climatic histories from the Hermes Cave, Corinth Rift, Greece
Published: 2021-06-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Speleology
The Greek peninsula is located at the crossroads of several major atmospheric circulation patterns and is consequently characterized by high variability in climatic conditions, making it an important location to examine past climate variability. Over the last decades, the focus of many studies in the region has been to unravel Holocene paleoclimatic oscillations and their impact on the [...]
Rift kinematics preserved in deep-time erosional landscape below the northern North Sea
Published: 2021-06-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Our understanding of continental rifting is, in large parts, derived from the stratigraphic record. This record is, however, incomplete as it does not often capture the geomorphic and erosional signal of rifting. New 3D seismic reflection data reveals a Late Permian-Early Triassic landscape incised into the pre-rift basement of the northern North Sea. This landscape, which covers at least 542 [...]
Emergent simplicity despite local complexity in eroding fluvial landscapes
Published: 2021-06-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Much understanding of continental topographic evolution is rooted in measuring and predicting rates at which rivers erode. Flume tank and field observations indicate that stochasticity and local conditions play important roles in determining rates at small scales (e.g. < 10 km, thousands of years). Obversely, preserved river profiles and common shapes of rivers atop uplifting topography indicate [...]
A Multiphysics approach to constrain the dynamics of the Altiplano-Puna magmatic system
Published: 2021-06-25
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Volcanology
Continuous Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) monitoring (> 25 years) has revealed a concentric surface deformation pattern above the Altiplano-Puna magma body (APMB) in the central Andes. Here, we use a joint interpretation of seismic imaging, gravity anomalies and InSAR data to constrain location, 3D geometry and density of the magma body. By combining gravity modelling, [...]
On the Efficacy of Compact Radar Transponders for InSAR Geodesy: Results of Multi-year Field Tests
Published: 2021-06-25
Subjects: Aerospace Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Compact and low-cost radar transponders are an attractive alternative to corner reflectors (CR) for SAR interferometric (InSAR) deformation monitoring, datum connection, and geodetic data integration. Recently, such transponders have become commercially available for C-band sensors, which poses relevant questions on their characteristics in terms of radiometric, geometric, and phase stability. [...]
Environmental variability at the margin of the South American Monsoon System recorded by a high-resolution sediment record from Lagoa Dourada (South Brazil)
Published: 2021-06-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Sedimentology
High-resolution geochemical and sedimentological data have been obtained for a lacustrine sediment record from Lagoa Dourada (South Brazil). Four distinctly different depositional processes were determined: (1) Suspension fallout of fine-grained minerogenic particles transferred via fluvial activity dominates the Early Holocene and relates to open grassland in the catchment area; (2) Activation [...]
Pleistocene-Holocene crustal deformation in the far-Western Himalaya
Published: 2021-06-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We present new Late Pleistocene-Holocene shortening rates across the frontal fold-and-thrust belt, namely as, the Sub-Himalaya (SH) from the far-western Himalayan sector of Jammu. OSL-dated offset/ folded fluvial strath terraces suggest that the intraplate convergence is partitioned among several active structures in the SH. Estimated cumulative Late Pleistocene- Holocene shortening rate in the [...]
Post-LGM glacial retreat drives aggradation in the interiors of the Kashmir Himalaya
Published: 2021-06-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Understanding the response of glaciated catchments to climate change is fundamental for assessing sediment transport from the high-elevation, semi-arid to arid sectors in the Himalaya to the foreland basin. The fluvioglacial sediments stored in the semi-arid Padder valley in the Kashmir Himalaya record valley aggradation during ~19-11 ka. We relate the valley aggradation to increased sediment [...]
An autonomous petrological database for geodynamic simulations of magmatic systems
Published: 2021-06-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Self-consistent modelling of magmatic systems is challenging as the melt continuously changes its chemical composition upon crystallization, which may affect the mechanical behaviour of the system. Melt extraction and subsequent crystallization create new rocks while depleting the source region. As the chemistry of the source rocks changes locally due to melt extraction, new calculations of the [...]
Colonial history and global economics distort our understanding of deep-time biodiversity
Published: 2021-06-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Sampling variations in the fossil record distort estimates of past biodiversity. However, compilations of global fossil occurrences used in these analyses not only reflect the geological and spatial aspects of the fossil record, but also the historical collation of these data. Here, we demonstrate how the legacy of colonialism as well as socio-economic factors such as wealth, education and [...]
Determining the absolute sustainability of products with case studies on laundry and food production
Published: 2021-06-22
Subjects: Agriculture, Earth Sciences
In this work, a new metric called ‘Service-weighted Product Level Absolute Sustainability’ is proposed as a numerical indicator to determine if a product is sustainable. The service offered by a product was found to be crucial to normalize its environmental impact and permit comparisons between products. Service-weighted Product Level Absolute Sustainability is demonstrated here with examples of [...]
Modeling P waves in seismic noise correlations: Advancing fault monitoring using train traffic sources
Published: 2021-06-19
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physics
The theory of Green's function retrieval essentially requires homogeneously distributed noise sources. Even though these conditions are not fulfilled in nature, low-frequency (<1 Hz) surface waves generated by ocean-crust interactions have been used successfully to image the crust with unprecedented spatial resolution. In contrast to low-frequency surface waves, high-frequency (>1 Hz) body waves [...]
30-year record of Himalaya mass-wasting reveals landscape perturbations by extreme events
Published: 2021-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology
In mountainous environments, quantifying the drivers of mass-wasting is fundamental for understanding landscape evolution and improving hazard management. Here, we quantify the magnitudes of mass-wasting caused by the Asia Summer Monsoon (ASM), extreme rainfall and earthquakes in the Nepal Himalayas. Using a newly compiled 30-year mass-wasting inventory, we establish empirical relationships [...]
Characteristics of landslide path dependency revealed through multiple resolution landslide inventories in the Nepal Himalaya
Published: 2021-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology
Recent research in Umbria, Italy, has shown that landslide susceptibility is controlled by a process called path-dependency, which describes how past landslides control the locations of future landslides. To date, landslide path-dependency has only been characterised in Italy. This raises the question of whether this process occurs in other geomorphic settings, and thus whether path-dependency [...]
Geodynamic, geodetic, and seismic constraints favour deflated and dense-cored LLVPs
Published: 2021-06-18
Subjects: Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geophysics and Seismology, Mineral Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Two continent-sized features in the deep mantle, the large low-velocity provinces (LLVPs), influence Earth's supercontinent cycles, mantle plume generation, and its geochemical budget. Seismological advances have steadily improved LLVP imaging, but several fundamental questions remain unanswered, including: What is their vertical extent? And, are they purely thermal anomalies, or are they also [...]