Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Radiolysis via radioactivity is not responsible for rapid methane oxidation in subterranean air
Published: 2018-10-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Atmospheric methane is rapidly lost when it enters humid subterranean critical and vadose zones (e.g., air in soils and caves). Because methane is a source of carbon and energy, it can be consumed by methanotrophic methane-oxidizing bacteria. As an additional subterranean sink, it has been hypothesized that methane is oxidized by natural radioactivity-induced radiolysis that produces energetic [...]
Wind tunnel tests inform Ammophila planting spacing for dune management
Published: 2018-09-24
Subjects: Biology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Life Sciences, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Coastal dunes are invaluable natural resources that bu er upland areas. Vegetation is key in dune development and stabilization. Dunes form with sufficient wind, sand source, and obstruction; plants are the ideal obstruction. Storms o en erode foredunes and coastal managers replant vegetation to re-establish the necessary obstruction for sand accretion and dune growth. We used a wind tunnel to [...]
Reactionary fence installation for post-Superstorm Sandy dune recovery
Published: 2018-09-24
Subjects: Biology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Sustainability
Dunes are invaluable to coastal areas as dynamic buffers to erosion during high tides and storms, but do not accrue naturally in developed areas without assistance. Wood paling fencing is commonly used to cultivate dune development and thereby increase the protection afforded to coastal areas. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy devastated the mid-Atlantic, especially New Jersey where many areas are still [...]
A New Mechanism for Terrace Formation in Submarine Canyons
Published: 2018-09-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Engineering, Geology, Geomorphology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Sciences, Planetary Sedimentology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Deep canyons on Earth occur in both terrestrial and submarine environments, where they are carved by actively incising channels. Apparently similar flights of unpaired terraces, seen at the inside of bends in incised sinuous channels, are also common in both environments. Here we demonstrate a new mechanism for terrace formation that we believe is unique to settings where sediment transporting [...]
The origin and role of biological rock crusts in rocky desert weathering
Published: 2018-09-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Geomorphology, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In drylands, microbes that colonise rock surfaces were linked to erosion because water scarcity excludes traditional weathering mechanisms. We studied the origin and role of rock biofilms in geomorphic processes of hard lime and dolomitic rocks that feature comparable weathering morphologies though originating from arid and hyperarid environments, respectively. We hypothesised that weathering [...]
To be or not to be: Prospects for rice self-sufficiency in China
Published: 2018-08-29
Subjects: Agronomy and Crop Sciences Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
China produces 28% of global rice supply and is currently self-sufficient despite a massive rural to urban demographic transition that drives intense competition for land and water resources. At issue is whether to remain self-sufficient, which depends on the potential to raise yields on existing rice land. Here we report the first high-resolution spatial analysis of rice production potential in [...]
Powers of 10: cross-scale optimization of social agencies for rapid climate and sustainability action
Published: 2018-08-27
Subjects: Education, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, International and Area Studies, Library and Information Science, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability
Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and related sustainability initiatives will require halving of greenhouse gas emissions each decade from now on through to 2050, when net zero emissions should be achieved. To reach such significant reductions requires a rapid and strategic scaling of existing and emerging technologies and practices, coupled with economic and social transformation and [...]
Earthquake Swarms and Slow Slip on a Sliver Fault in the Mexican Subduction Zone
Published: 2018-08-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Mexican Subduction Zone is an ideal location for studying subduction processes due to the short trench-to-coast distances that bring broad portions of the seismogenic and transition zones of the plate interface inland. Using a recently generated seismicity catalog from a local network in Oaxaca, we identified 20 swarms of earthquakes (M<5) from 2006-2012. Swarms outline what appears to be [...]
Fluid inclusions from the deep Dead Sea sediment provide new insights on Holocene extreme microbial life
Published: 2018-07-24
Subjects: Biology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Paleobiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project allowed to retrieve a continuous sedimentary record spanning the two last glacial cycles. This unique archive, in such an extreme environment, has allowed for the development of new proxies and the refinement of already available paleoenvironmental studies. In particular, the interaction of the lake and sediment biosphere with elements and minerals that [...]
Terrestrial Gross Primary Production: Using NIRv to Scale from Site to Globe
Published: 2018-07-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Physiology, Plant Sciences
Terrestrial photosynthesis is the largest and one of the most uncertain fluxes in the global carbon cycle. We find that NIRv, a remotely sensed measure of canopy structure, accurately predicts photosynthesis at FLUXNET validation sites at monthly to annual timescales (R2 = 0.68), without the need for difficult to acquire information about environmental factors that constrain photosynthesis at [...]
Testing for the effects of pre-season temperature and winter-chilling on land-surface phenology of coniferous and broadleaved forests in Central Europe
Published: 2018-07-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Phenology is an important indicator of climate change impacts on vegetated ecosystems. Changes in leaf unfolding dates in response to changing temperatures have been well documented from in-situ phenological measurements across Central Europe. However, it is unclear whether those processes can be scaled to the landscape scale, which is important to accurately represent phenology in (global) [...]
Geostatistical Earth Modelling of Cyclic Depositional Facies and Diagenesis
Published: 2018-07-02
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
In siliciclastic and carbonate reservoirs, depositional facies are often described as being organized in cyclic successions that are overprinted by diagenesis. Most reservoir modelling workflows are not able to reproduce stochastically such patterns. Herein, a novel geostatistical method is developed to model depositional facies architectures that are rhythmic and cyclic, together with [...]
Micromorphological report of Hof ter Coign
Published: 2018-06-28
Subjects: Agriculture, Earth Sciences, Education, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Geology, Life Sciences, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Soil Science
Micromorphological report of the Hof ter Coign site (Belgium)
Evaluation of open-access global digital elevation models (AW3D30, SRTM and ASTER) for flood modelling purposes
Published: 2018-06-25
Subjects: Aerospace Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computational Engineering, Computer Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
Digital Elevation Models (DEM) are a key piece of information for the accurate representation of topographic controls exerted in hydrologic and hydraulic models. Many practitioners rely on open-access global datasets usually obtained from space-borne survey due to the cost and sparse coverage of sources of higher resolution. In may 2016 the Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency publicly released an [...]
Quantifying the Fate of Wastewater Nitrogen Discharged to a Canadian River
Published: 2018-06-21
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Systems Biology, Water Resource Management
Addition of nutrients, such as nitrogen, can degrade water quality in lakes, rivers, and estuaries. To predict the fate of nutrient inputs, an understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients is needed. We develop and employ a novel, parsimonious, process-based model of nitrogen concentrations and stable isotopes that quantifies the competing processes of volatilization, uptake, [...]