Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geology
Oligocene – Miocene Tectono-Stratigraphic Development of the Southern Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean
Published: 2024-11-20
Subjects: Geology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
The Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean, has a complex geological history. The separation of Africa from Arabia, and the collision of the latter with Eurasia during the Oligocene – Miocene had significant implications for the tectono-stratigraphy of the region, as recorded in the thick, siliciclastic-dominated sequence preserved in the Levant Basin. Previous studies mostly focused on either [...]
Numerical modelling of lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction and intraplate deformation in the Gulf of Guinea
Published: 2024-11-01
Subjects: Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
To present day, the phenomenon of intraplate deformation and its associated earthquakes remain elusive. In this work, we argue that intraplate deformation may result from the interaction between lithospheric and upper mantle dynamic processes. To this extent, we targeted the Gulf of Guinea and adjacent Western Africa, a region with both low plate velocities and clear asthenosphere dynamics, [...]
Geological and Environmental Implications of Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques: Balancing Efficiency with Sustainability
Published: 2024-10-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This research paper explores the geological and environmental impacts of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology, focusing on the balance between efficiency and sustainability in fossil fuel extraction. EOR methods, including thermal recovery, gas injection, and chemical flooding, are critical to maximizing reservoir recovery, especially as global energy demand increases and conventional reserves [...]
Phase-equilibrium geobarometers for silicic rocks based on rhyolite-MELTS. Part 5: Principles for multiple-phase geobarometry with examples from plagioclase + orthopyroxene ± quartz ± magnetite assemblages
Published: 2024-10-30
Subjects: Geology
The quartz + feldspar rhyolite-MELTS phase-equilibrium geobarometer is a useful tool for calculating equilibration pressures of rhyolitic magmas. However, it is limited by requiring quartz saturation in magma. Here, we employ the principles from Parts 1-4 to move beyond modeling a specific mineral assemblage. We demonstrate methods for carefully interpreting the rhyolite-MELTS geobarometry [...]
Discussion of Košťák et al. (2021), Fossil evidence for vampire squid inhabiting oxygen-depleted ocean zones since at least the Oligocene.
Published: 2024-10-23
Subjects: Geology, Paleontology
Košťák et al. (2021) is important in presenting the first known Cenozoic fossil of a vampyromorph. Some modifications to the interpretations are needed, however. The first concerns inferring water depth habitat of non-benthic animals from fossils found in deep water sediments. The second concerns the water depth estimates for the La Voulte-sur-Rhône exceptionally preserved biota (La Voulte EPB), [...]
deeptime: an R package that facilitates highly customizable visualizations of data over geological time intervals
Published: 2024-10-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Stratigraphy
Data visualization is a key component of any scientific data analysis workflow and is vital for the summarization and dissemination of complex ideas and results. One common hurdle across the Earth Sciences and other scientific fields remains the effective and reproducible visualization of data over long time intervals (104 – 107 years). Here I introduce the R package deeptime, which provides [...]
Interseismic deformation fingerprints on the hyperarid coastal landscape in North Chilean subduction
Published: 2024-10-11
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
Along-strike seismotectonic behavior of subduction megathrusts feeds back into the forearc deformation as elastic and permanent deformation. However, whether and how short-term elastic deformation reflects long-term permanent deformation in the forearc and shapes the coastal region remains unclear. To evaluate the forearc deformation, we analyze the interseismic surface deformation obtained from [...]
Efficiency and heat transport processes of low-temperature aquifer thermal energy storage systems: new insights from global sensitivity analyses
Published: 2024-10-07
Subjects: Geology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Sustainability
Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) has great potential to mitigate CO2 emissions associated with the heating and cooling of buildings and offers wide applicability. Thick productive aquifer layers have been targeted first, as these are the most promising areas for ATES. Regardless, there is currently an increasing trend to target more complex aquifers such as low-transmissivity and alluvial [...]
Questioning Dark Oxygen Production in the Deep-sea Ferromanganese Nodule Field
Published: 2024-10-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Oceanography
Previous studies have concluded that the natural process where oxygen is consumed as decomposition of organic matter that supplied from shallow waters occurs on the deep-sea floor. Sweetman et al.1 presented the surprising observation that deep-sea ferromanganese nodules generate oxygen, which they labelled as dark oxygen production. The authors claimed that oxygen was generated through the [...]
Integration of Deterministic Seismic inversion with Machine Learning for Reservoir Characterization
Published: 2024-10-04
Subjects: Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Stratigraphy
Seismic inversion plays a key role in reservoir characterization. The inversion allows interpreters to transfer data from interface properties to layers and physical properties. Various deterministic approaches are available for interpreters to achieve this objective, including model-based, trace-based, recursive approaches, etc. Machine learning methods are increasingly adopted in reservoir [...]
Seafloor character of the Roman Rock area in False Bay, South Africa
Published: 2024-10-04
Subjects: Geology, Sedimentology
A 12 km2 area off Simon's Town in NW False Bay, South Africa, was surveyed using side-scan sonar and a single-beam echosounder. The survey revealed six distinct patterns of acoustic reflectivity or acoustic facies. The first facies show Cape Peninsula Granite outcrops, matching onshore patterns, with lineaments reflecting the principal WNW-ESE joint direction. The second facies indicate [...]
Seismic Characterization of Carbonate Stringers using Machine Learning techniques: an example from the Western Flank of South Oman Salt Basin
Published: 2024-10-04
Subjects: Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Sedimentology
Carbonate stringers are defined as a slab of carbonate bodies encased inside salt. In Oman, the intra-salt carbonate stringers are a very common target, especially in South Oman Salt Basin (SOSB). These stringers contain a large amount of hydrocarbon resources. In this study, the behavior of carbonate stringer bodies hosted in Ara salt structures from the SOSB is investigated. Both synthetic and [...]
Hadean-aged felsic sediments recycled through the deep mantle by early plate tectonics
Published: 2024-10-02
Subjects: Geochemistry, Geology
The unresolved question of when modern tectonic processes arose on Earth has restricted our understanding of how and how quickly Earth reached its present, habitable form. Plate tectonics, and in particular deep subduction, is central to many facets of habitability: it controls heat flow, biogeochemical cycling, and creates a variety of marine and terrestrial biomes that are crucial for [...]
Assessing the timing of deep ocean oxygenation from uranium elemental and isotopic compositions of ophiolites
Published: 2024-09-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology
The concentration of dissolved oxygen in the deep oceans has varied over Earth History, with the timing of the transition from anoxic to oxic deep oceans debated. Under modern-day, oxic, deep ocean conditions, alteration of the upper sections of mafic oceanic crust with U-rich seawater leads to U enrichment, low Th/U ratios, and heterogeneous 238U/235U ratios relative to fresh mid-ocean ridge [...]
Al Hawi, a 4-km-wide impact structure in northern Saudi Arabia
Published: 2024-09-24
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences, The Sun and the Solar System
The northern region of Saudi Arabia hosts several impact craters and structures. This paper describes the discovery of a 4-km-wide complex impact structure located in the paleozoic sedimentary rocks of northern Saudi Arabia 210 kilometers north east of the city of Tabuk. The impact structure is composed of a central peak displaying intense folding and shock metamorphism surrounded by an inner [...]