Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Ancient siderites reveal hot and humid super-greenhouse climate
Published: 2020-06-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ancient siderites reveal hot and humid super-greenhouse climate
Potential environmental hazard due to tailings dam failure in Minnesota iron range and safety concern of the Dams in the US
Published: 2020-06-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
An ongoing debate centered around mining operations and tailings dam usage near the Minnesota mining range led to an investigation of potential environmental hazards near the cities of Hoyt Lakes and Embarrass. Topographic data from Satellite observations made available by USGS and HEC-RAS developed by US Engineer Corp are used to simulate the extent of mud flow from a hypothetical tailings dam [...]
Nonlinear stochastic dissipation in turbulent geophysical flows
Published: 2020-06-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
The purpose of this study is to further investigate the assumption that geophysical flows can be described and simulated by direct sampling from a dynamically constrained probability distribution, with a reversible formulation of dissipation. This is done by making the probability of the flow decrease with the deviation of entropy with respect to local equilibrium, and by assuming that this [...]
Sampling geophysical flows from a dynamically constrained probability distribution
Published: 2020-06-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
The purpose of this study is to further investigate the problem of explicitly simulating uncertainties in geophysical models. Rather than introducing stochastic processes in forward-in-time partial differential equations, this is done here by reformulating the dynamical equations governing the time evolution of the flow as a probability distribution. Flows can then be drawn directly from the [...]
Tectonic-Sedimentary Interplay of a Multi-Sourced, Structurally-Confined Turbidite System in a Foreland Basin Setting: The Pennsylvanian Lower Atoka Formation, Ouachita Mountains, USA
Published: 2020-06-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Submarine fans deposited in structurally complex settings record important information on basin evolution and tectonic-sedimentary relationships but are often poorly preserved in outcrops due to post-depositional deformation. This study integrates both new field data as well as data compiled from literature to demonstrate the spatial facies variability of the deep-water lower Atoka formation [...]
Women from some under-represented minorities are given too few talks at worlds largest Earth-science conference
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Presenting at scientific conferences is key to academic career progression. Scientists don’t just communicate results; they also develop relationships with collaborators and mentors, and identify job and funding opportunities. Giving a talk confers recognition and prestige, particularly for students and early-career researchers. Despite historical inequities, women are now presenting more at [...]
Sensing earth and environment dynamics by telecommunication fiber-optic sensors: An urban experiment in Pennsylvania USA
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Continuous seismic monitoring of the Earths near surface (top 100 meters), especially with improving the resolution and extent of data both in space and time, would yield more accurate insights about the effect of extreme weather events (e.g. flooding or drought) and climate change on the Earths surface and subsurface systems. However, continuous long-term seismic monitoring, especially in urban [...]
Suitability Analysis of Remote Sensing Techniques for Shoreline Extraction of Global River Deltas
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
High frequency flooding, sea level rise and changes to riverine sediment fluxes have threatened the habitable land area of river deltas, where close to half a billion people live, globally. Understanding shoreline positions is important for overall sustainable planning of deltaic communities and delta evolution predictive modeling. However, a gap in literature is recognized where there is a) no [...]
Turbulent flow effects in a slickwater fracture propagation in permeable rock
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
This work is devoted to an analysis of the near-tip region of a hydraulic fracture driven by slickwater in a permeable saturated rock. We consider a steady-state problem of a semi-infinite fracture propagating with constant velocity. The host rock is elastic and homogeneous, and fracture propagates according to linear elastic fracture mechanics. The fluid exchange between the fracture and [...]
Antarctic Ice Shelves Lose Most of Their Mass From Shallow Depths
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Understanding the processes involved in basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves is important to quantify the rate at which Antarctica will lose mass. Current research of of ice shelf-ocean interaction is almost exclusively guided by satellite derived estimates of Antarctic-wide ice shelf melting, which highlight deep warm water intrusions and melting along ice shelf grounding lines. Here we [...]
A First Constraint on Basal Melt-water Production of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Greenland ice sheet is one of the largest sources of sea-level rise since the early 2000s. Basal melt has not been included explicitly in assessments of ice-sheet mass loss so far. Here, we present the first full-coverage estimate of the ice-sheet wide basal melt in Greenland and its recent change through time. We find that presently basal melting contributes at least 22.3 +5/-3 Gt per year [...]
Across-strike asymmetry of the Andes orogen linked to the age and geometry of the Nazca plate
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The spine of Andes – the trace of the highest mountain topography – weaves back and forth, in places near the coastline, in others farther inland. Its position is thought to be partially influenced by the asymmetric distribution of rainfall causing the migration of the topographic divide (i.e. mountain peaks) in favor of the more erosive (wetter) side and consuming the less erosive (drier) side. [...]
Deformation controlled Long-Period seismicity in low cohesion volcanic sediments
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Volcano seismicity is an important tool in remotely monitoring and forecasting activity at volcanoes around the world. Volcanic earthquakes show diverse spectral characteristics, with shallow Long Period (Low Frequency) seismicity and long duration tremor generally interpreted as indicators of fluid migration, and as potential precursors to eruption. Here we show that a common low-cohesion [...]
Methane concentrations in streams reveal gas leak discharges in regions of oil, gas, and coal development
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
As natural gas has grown in importance as a global energy source, leakage of methane (CH4) from wells has sometimes been noted. Leakage of this greenhouse gas is important because it affects groundwater quality and, when emitted to the atmosphere, climate. We hypothesized that streams might be most contaminated by CH4 in the northern Appalachian Basin in regions with the longest history of [...]
The social-ecological dimensions of changing global freshwater availability
Published: 2020-06-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Quantifying physical water security at the global scale remains hampered by a lack of systematically produced observational data. Here we combine the observed trends in global freshwater availability from the recently completed Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite mission1 with more than a dozen other global datasets and provide the missing observational basis to numerous existing [...]