Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geophysics and Seismology
A preliminary seismic catalog for the Mozambique Channel
Published: 2026-02-12
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
The Mozambique Channel is a 1,600-km long, 950 – 1,000-km wide deep-water arm of southwestern Indian Ocean, located between Mozambique and Madagascar Island. The channel hosts the offshore continuation of the East African Rift System, an active divergent plate boundary that has propagated from the African continent, across Mesozoic continental rifted margins, into Mesozoic oceanic lithosphere. [...]
Scholte-wave Adjoint Tomography for Building Low-frequency, Offshore Shear-wave Velocity Models
Published: 2026-02-12
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Field observations have shown that low-frequency (sub-1 Hz) Scholte waves retrieved from ocean-bottom node (OBN) data are strongly influenced by large-scale velocity heterogeneities such as salt bodies, underscoring their potential for offshore model building. However, procedures for translating this sensitivity into reliable subsur- face velocity models remains poorly understood. Motivated by [...]
Did Seattle go silent during the Superbowl?
Published: 2026-02-12
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Large-scale cultural events such as sports games and music concerts are known to cause localised seismic excitation above background noise levels. In this paper we investigate whether a comparable far-field 'quietening' could be observed during Superbowl LX (February 8, 2026) in the city of Seattle, hometown of the Seattle Seahawks, as people stayed indoors to watch the game. We find that a [...]
Accelerating 3D Magnetotelluric Forward Modelling with Domain Decomposition and Order-Reduction Methods
Published: 2026-02-06
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Geophysics and Seismology
Three-dimensional (3D) magnetotelluric (MT) forward modelling is computationally demanding, limiting its use in global uncertainty quantification and sampling-based probabilistic inversion. Here, we introduce a novel forward-modelling framework that combines an iterative domain decomposition (DD) formulation with proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) reduced-order modelling to enable scalable and [...]
Evidence of a ULVZ near Vanuatu from Sdiff postcursors
Published: 2026-02-06
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Thin anomalous structures known as ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs) have been found on the core-mantle boundary (CMB) and have extreme velocity reductions. These features are detected due to their effect on seismic waves that travel through them, typically producing precursors or postcursors. In this study we use postcursors to shear core-diffracted waves (Sdiff+) that sample the CMB near Vanuatu [...]
Elevated in-situ Vp/Vs preceding hydraulic-fracturing-induced earthquakes
Published: 2026-02-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Effective management of seismic hazard in geo-energy development demands real-time estimates of subsurface fault instability. However, real-time monitoring of pore pressure change during subsurface fluid injection remains challenging. Here, we present a novel high-resolution, non-tomographic monitoring strategy that tracks the ratio of seismic wave speeds (Vp/Vs) as a proxy for pore pressure [...]
3-D Elastic Time-Reverse Imaging of a Linear Void Anomaly
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Imaging meter-scale subsurface heterogeneities such as void spaces remains a difficult task for most established near-surface seismic methods. One strategy for addressing this challenge is to isolate and use surface waves backscattered from lateral heterogeneities to identify and characterize the sources of scattered energy. Seismic methods associated with this strategy, though, often require [...]
INTEGRATE - a Python package for fast localized probabilistic inversion using informed priors, applied to EM data
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
We present INTEGRATE, a Python package for fast localized probabilistic inversion of geophysical data. The framework provides a general approach for Bayesian inference in localized inverse problems, where the same prior information applies to many independent datasets. INTEGRATE implements an extended rejection sampling algorithm with temperature annealing for efficient posterior sampling. The [...]
A detailed picture of Haiti’s seismicity given by deep learning and template matching
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Haiti regularly experiences destructive earthquakes, but seismic monitoring in the region has historically been limited. Recent deployments of citizen-hosted RaspberryShake seismometers and temporary seismic deployment following the 2021 Mw 7.2 earthquake provide new data to study the region’s seismotectonics. However, high noise levels at many stations, in particular the RaspberryShake ones, [...]
Last Interglacial shoreline successions in southeastern Australia: A framework for identifying a waning mantle plume, neotectonic movements and sea-level change
Published: 2026-01-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
Relict shoreline successions are critically important for investigations of recent tectonism, as they are commonly amenable to dating and may provide information about surface displacement and changes in sea level since their deposition. In this study, Last Interglacial (MIS 5e; 128–116 ka) shoreline successions from 47 locations across southeastern Australia are reviewed. The surface [...]
Role of Lithospheric and Upper-Mantle Heterogeneities in Controlling Intraplate Seismicity in Central and Southeastern Brazil
Published: 2026-01-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology
Seismicity in Central and Southeastern Brazil is spatially heterogeneous, with active zones showing little correspondence to major geological provinces, a pattern typical of many intraplate settings worldwide. While previous studies have explored possible controls using geophysical observations, the relative roles of crustal and upper-mantle heterogeneities in shaping the regional stress fields [...]
Comment on Rodríguez Collantes et al. A New Earth Crustal Velocity Field Estimation from ROA cGNSS Station Networks in the South of Spain and North Africa. Remote Sens. 2025, 17, 704
Published: 2026-01-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
In their recent study, Rodríguez Collantes et al. presented a new GNSS velocity field from the Royal Institute and Observatory of the Spanish Navy (ROA) network, deployed in southern Spain and northern Africa. However, their claims regarding the novelty of certain results and the precision of their findings compared to recent publications are questionable. I present previous studies not cited by [...]
High-resolution seismic reservoir monitoring with multitask and transfer learning
Published: 2026-01-02
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computational Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Sustainability
High-resolution real-time monitoring of reservoir changes is essential during CO2 injection or hydrocarbon production. Here, we leverage convolutional neural networks (CNNs) that employ multitask (MTL) and transfer (TL) learning to accurately predict relevant reservoir parameters from time-lapse seismic data. CNNs are initially trained to estimate the P-wave velocity from 2D multicomponent [...]
Liquefaction as an energetic instability of saturated granular systems – Density control and static enthalpy equilibrium
Published: 2025-12-27
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Materials Science and Engineering, Mining Engineering, Other Materials Science and Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Liquefaction of saturated granular materials is commonly interpreted within stress-based frameworks that rely on the existence of an intact grain skeleton. At the onset of liquefaction, however, the contact network collapses and effective stress ceases to be a meaningful state variable. This work reformulates liquefaction as an enthalpy-driven instability of the coupled grain–water system and [...]
Large Earthquakes: a Way of Formation and Prediction
Published: 2025-12-26
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
It is believed that the accumulation of small fractures (small earthquakes) in the crust is one of many ways for the formation of large fractures (large earthquakes). In such cases, the temporal variations in the accumulation number of small earthquakes can be used to predict future seismic activity in the region. To do so, a structural system of the crust is constructed using the logarithmic [...]