Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Predictive modelling of seismic properties in single-foliated slates
Published: 2024-06-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology
Slates play a key role in understanding the seismic anisotropy of the continental crust, a crucial aspect of geophysical interpretation. Using a comprehensive set of high-quality single-foliated chlorite-bearing roofing slates, we determined their typical seismic properties via mineral fractions and orientation distribution functions using the geometric mean averaging method. Our study focused on [...]
Modeling the Impact of Storm Surge Flooding and Associated Costs on North Carolina Coastal Region Corn and Soybean Fields via Remote Sensing
Published: 2024-06-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Hurricane and tropical storm-driven storm surge flooding places coastal farmlands at high risk of crop damage and soil salinization. The damage can total to millions of dollars in costs and force farmers to abandon coastal fields. Additionally, many agricultural, and often rural, areas are unable to access accurate and reliable flood-risk projection maps and analyses that can inform prevention [...]
Evolution of Fluvial Landscapes during the Eocene-Oligocene Transition in Central North America: Reconstructions from Toadstool Geologic Park, Nebraska, U. S. A.
Published: 2024-06-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Rivers drive geomorphic change at Earth’s surface by transporting sediment from mountains to sedimentary basins. They are sensitive to changes in water and sediment flux driven by tectonism, climatic perturbation and or volcanism. We characterized changes in fluvial landscapes during a major Cenozoic cooling event, the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) at 33.9 Ma. The EOT is characterized by a [...]
Paleohydrology of North American Catchments and Rivers at the Onset of the Eocene-Oligocene Climate Transition: Reconstructions from Fluvial Strata of the White River Group, Toadstool Geologic Park, Nebraska
Published: 2024-06-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Member of the Brule Formation of the White River Group at Toadstool Geologic Park in Nebraska. Our approach combined descriptive and quantitative methods to reconstruct river flow, sediment transport, channel dynamics, floodplain behavior, and catchment-scale moisture variability and ecosystem function. We found that rivers were ephemeral, with peak flow depths and widths of approximately 2.5 m [...]
Repurposing idle wells in the North German Basin as deep borehole heat exchangers
Published: 2024-06-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences
This study investigates the feasibility to repurpose wells from gas produc-tion for geothermal closed loop application in the North German Basin (NGB). The objective is to extend the value-added chain of idle wells by re-completion as coaxial deep borehole heat exchangers as an efficient way to produce green energy without drilling new wells by saving the carbon emis-sion and costs of building a [...]
Exploring coastal climate adaptation through storylines: Insights from Cyclone Idai in Beira, Mozambique
Published: 2024-06-10
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Meteorology, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Water Resource Management
Coastal settlements, facing increasing flood risk from Tropical Cyclones (TCs) under climate change, need local and detailed climate information for effective adaptation. Analysis of historical events and their impacts provides such information. This study uses storylines to evaluate adaptation strategies, focusing on Cyclone Idai’s impact on Beira, Mozambique, under different climate [...]
Linking petrographic and geochemical indicators of melt reactions in pelitic migmatites and leucogranites
Published: 2024-05-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Anatexis in orogenic systems has wide-reaching implications for the structure, mechanical strength, and later exhumation of the middle crust during orogeny. Previous studies of melt reactions in metapelitic rocks have identified three major melt-producing reactions: fluid-present incongruent melting, fluid-absent muscovite dehydration melting, and fluid-absent biotite dehydration melting. Due to [...]
Opening Doors to Physical Sample Data Discovery, Integration, and Credit
Published: 2024-05-30
Subjects: Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Systems Biology
Physical samples and their associated (meta)data underpin scientific discoveries across disciplines, and can enable new science when appropriately archived. However, there are significant gaps in community practices and infrastructure that currently prevent accurate provenance tracking, reproducibility, and attribution. For the vast majority of samples, descriptive metadata is often sparse, [...]
Unique composition and evolutionary histories of large low velocity provinces
Published: 2024-05-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The two ``large low velocity provinces'' (LLVPs) are broad, low seismic wave speed anomalies in Earth's lower mantle beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean. Recent research suggests they contain relatively dense subducted oceanic crust (SOC), but the relative concentration of this recycled material within them is an open question. Using simulations of 3-D global mantle circulation over the past 1 [...]
Predictable recovery rates in near-surface materials after earthquake damage
Published: 2024-05-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Earthquakes introduce transient mechanical damage in the subsurface, which causes postseismic hazards and can take years to recover. This observation has been linked to relaxation, a phenomenon observed in a wide class of materials after straining perturbations, but its duration after earthquake ground shaking has not been constrained. Here, we analyse the effects of two successive large [...]
Evolution and architecture of an overbank in an ocean-facing canyon-fill.
Published: 2024-05-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Sedimentology
Submarine canyon-fills comprise substantial volumes of thin-bedded successions deposited by sediment gravity flows that are either stripped or overspill from adjacent channels into highly confined, topographically complex overbank settings. Here, we document the Punta Baja Formation, a rare example of an exhumed canyon-confined overbank succession with good 3D constraints from the Mesozoic [...]
At the Sharp End of Fractured Granites: A Critical Geology for Critical Times
Published: 2024-05-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Human Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
The geosciences have been positioned as integral to a ‘whole society’ transition that includes the decarbonisation of energy systems. Geothermal energy - which relies on a knowledge of the dynamism of rocks in the subsurface including the movement of fluids through fractures, physio-chemical interactions, and thermal gradients – has been offered as a potential route forward. Its realisation [...]
A model of near-sea ice phytoplankton blooms
Published: 2024-05-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Arctic spring blooms of phytoplankton mark the annual emergence of the region’s ecosystem from winter dormancy. Satellite observations show that these blooms have increased in size and magnitude in recent years. While this may be expected to be a result of generally warmer conditions, it has been found that near-ice blooms are spatially correlated with cold and fresh surface water [...]
Bayesian Inversion with TimeOptMCMC
Published: 2024-05-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology, Stratigraphy
TimeOptMCMC (Meyers and Malinverno, 2018) is a Bayesian approach for evaluating cyclostratigraphic records that quantitatively links geologic data with astronomical theory. This manuscript provides an introductory guide for conducting a TimeOptMCMC Bayesian inversion, following the approach of Meyers and Malinverno (2018). The purpose of this guide is to help users identify an appropriate data [...]
Synchrotron radiation reveals transient weakening during mineral phase transformations
Published: 2024-05-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Mineral Physics, Tectonics and Structure
Phase transformations are widely invoked as a source of rheological weakening during subduction, continental collision, mantle convection, and various other geodynamic phenomena. However, the likelihood and magnitude of such weakening in nature remains undetermined. Here, experiments performed on a synchrotron beamline reveal dramatic weakening across the polymorphic quartz↔coesite phase [...]