Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geophysics and Seismology
The remote reference as an instrumental variable in model space: time-series magnetotelluric inversion with noisy magnetic fields
Published: 2026-10-31
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Noise in the local magnetic field biases magnetotelluric (MT) responses, and a relevant, valid remote magnetic record removes the bias. For an earth model inverted from time series, remote referencing becomes estimating equations: the residual formed with the local field is orthogonal to the sensitivities driven by its projection on the remote field. Their solution, relevance and validity must be [...]
Prospectivity model for magmatic Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, and Platinum-Group Elements in the Midcontinent Rift
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Volcanology
Much of the Midcontinent Rift is concealed beneath glacial sediment, which limits direct geological observation and makes it difficult to evaluate the potential for undiscovered magmatic Ni–Cu–PGE deposits with publicly available data. The 1.1 Ga rift hosts the Eagle Ni–Cu–PGE deposit of northern Michigan, one of the few domestic sources of nickel, a critical mineral of the United States. We [...]
Explainable and Uncertainty-Aware Computational Geodetic Inversion: A Review and Framework for Multi-Source Earth Observation
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Geophysics and Seismology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing
Geodetic inversion converts surface and remote sensing data into estimates of concealed Earth system parameters, including fault slip, magma-source geometry, subsurface mass changes, crustal strain, and time-dependent geohazard activities. This review explores geodetic inversion as a computational challenge that involves combining diverse data, optimizing and quantifying uncertainty, and [...]
Dehydration of Serpentinized Ultramafic Rocks as a Candidate Deep Crustal Source of Natural Hydrogen and Hydrocarbons: Experimental Evidence from the Lesser Caucasus
Published: 2026-10-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology
Natural hydrogen generated by serpentinization — the hydration of ultramafic rocks, in which ferrous iron is oxidised and molecular hydrogen is liberated from water — has recently been shown to proceed at rates of only 0.1 to 0.5 tonnes H₂ yr⁻¹ km⁻³ of reactive rock, implying that economically significant accumulations would require 10³ to 10⁴ years to develop [1]. A complementary process [...]
Laboratory Spectroradiometric Temperature Retrieval of Silicates Using Linearized Wien Approximations and Polynomial Regression
Published: 2026-10-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geophysics and Seismology, Mineral Physics
Thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing provides critical diagnostic capabilities for surface temperature and spectral emissivity retrieval. However, extracting these parameters from at-target radiance measurements is fundamentally ill-posed because Planck's radiation law non-linearly couples kinetic temperature and spectral emissivity, creating an underdetermined system of N spectral bands with [...]
Seismic Discrimination of Natural and Anthropogenic Events Near Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Published: 2026-10-27
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Distinguishing small earthquakes from anthropogenic seismic sources is important for accurate fault characterization and seismic hazard assessment, yet remains challenging in regions with sparse seismic networks and frequent quarry activities. Around Atlanta, Georgia, only a small number of local natural earthquakes and one operator-confirmed quarry blast in July 2026 are reported in regional [...]
Geodetic and gravimetric constraints on regional glacier mass changes in High Mountain Asia
Published: 2026-10-27
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Hydrology
Regional glacier assessments often require mass-change estimates over periods that differ from the intervals measured geodetically. We quantify how native cumulative-mass adjustments and within-interval variation contribute to the regional estimates obtained by adding GRACE. A linear joint inversion represents glacier, lake, non-glacier and exterior mass across High Mountain Asia. Geodetic-only, [...]
Assessing Basin Amplification and Rupture Directivity Effects Using Physics-Based Ground Motion Simulations in Wellington
Published: 2026-10-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology
Near-surface velocity structure plays a crucial role in modulating ground motion, and, in turn, contributes to seismic risk. However, a complete understanding of the basin effect is limited, owing to the paucity of detailed shallow basin structure, geological structures and near-field seismic sources. In this study, we perform physics-based simulations of ground motions incorporating the [...]
Integrating rapid 3D structural validation into interpretation: forward modelling of the Katnook Graben, Otway Basin
Published: 2026-10-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Structural validation of a prospect is invariably applied after the interpretation is finished, by restoring one or two key lines in 2D or, rarely, by a full 3D restoration that needs finished horizons and a specialist. The authors propose that a simple 3D kinematic forward model, built in minutes using a few explicit structural rules, fully restorable and scaled onto the mapped horizons, is a [...]
On-Fault Parameters and Fault Connectivity Control Synthetic Earthquake Catalogs and 30-Year Rupture Probabilities in RSQSim Simulations of the Eastern San Francisco Bay Area
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The faults in the Eastern San Francisco Bay Area in California have long been known as a source of seismic hazard. This potential for large earthquakes, paired with high population density and economic activity leads to high seismic risk in the Bay Area. In this study we utilize the physics-based earthquake simulator RSQSim to generate synthetic earthquake catalogs for the San Francisco East Bay. [...]
Relationship between Meteorological Parameters and Temporal Variations of Microseismic Processes at the Belarusian Antarctic Research Station
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Meteorology, Oceanography
This study involved an analysis of seismic data acquired in the surrounding area of the Belarusian Antarctic research station “Mount Vechernyaya” in February, 2023 to identify a possible relationship between the seismic noises and local meteorological parameters. Probability density functions of power spectral densities histograms were constructed using the ObsPy framework based on the source [...]
A retrodictive theory of the origin of the Moon: a secondary circumterrestrial disk redistributed by the retrograde flyby of a rocky planet
Published: 2026-10-21
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geochemistry, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences, The Sun and the Solar System
The Moon is a datum, and the question is retrodictive: which physical pathways lead to it without a giant impact? The pathway examined starts from a young, hot proto-Earth, soft but never liquid, flattened and inflated by a 6 h rotation, surrounded by a disk of material that has not yet formed a satellite. A second rocky planet, planet B, passes close to the Earth against its rotation, without [...]
Robust clustering of variable-duration seismic waveforms using an incremental dynamic time warping framework
Published: 2026-10-21
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Different geophysical processes generate characteristic seismic waveforms. Identifying similar waveforms therefore helps to distinguish between different source mechanisms and to monitor seismic activity in settings ranging from volcanoes and glaciers to urban environments. In many applications, however, the seismic event types are unknown and no labelled training data is available. Then, [...]
3D inversions of magnetic and gravity data for the Yaouré region, Ivory Coast: a greenstone belt characterization
Published: 2026-10-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology
We carried out 3D inverse modeling of full tensor gravity gradiometry data, its derived products (Tz and Tz residual), and magnetic data to recover the density and magnetic susceptibility distributions of the Yaouré Greenstone Belt in Ivory Coast, West Africa. The study area presents significant challenges: it lacks well-defined stratigraphy and structural measurements, and it lies close to the [...]
A static arrest criterion classifies some fault-spanning ruptures as arrested
Published: 2026-10-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A static arrest length and a fully dynamic rupture are compared, one rupture at a time, for 60 antiplane and 60 in-plane cases on one 120 km fault with linear slip weakening and one correlation length of the initial stress. The standard deviations were fixed before those ruptures were drawn. The comparison tests the rule, used to build earthquake populations, that a rupture stops where its static [...]