Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geology
Was the Pre-Event SWIR Anomaly at Tsangbu Ri a Genuine Glacier-Collapse Precursor? A Calibrated Multi-Glacier Test of the 2026 Case
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Geographic Information Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Planetary Geology, Planetary Glaciology, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science, Tectonics and Structure
On 26 August 2026 a compound bedrock-and-glacier failure on the northern flank of the Langtang Lirung–Tsangbu Ri (Kimshung) massif, Nepal–China border, generated a rock–ice avalanche and a catastrophic downstream flood along the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli river system. A pre-event Sentinel-2 shortwave-infrared (SWIR2–NIR–Red) composite (12 August 2026) shows a sharply bounded, strongly saturated [...]
Biomarkers Thermal Maturity Parameters in Bitumen as a Proxy for Seismic vs. Aseismic Mirror-like Fault Surfaces
Published: 2026-09-18
Subjects: Geology
Mirror-like Surfaces (MSs) are ultra-polished fault surfaces that experimental studies have shown can form during seismic and aseismic deformation (slip rates ≈1 m/s vs. <0.0001 m/s). To determine which MSs form during seismic (rapid temperature increase) or aseismic (negligible temperature increase) slip along the fault, we measured sterane and hopane thermal maturity parameters in bituminous [...]
New insights into rift evolution from data-constrained burial and thermal histories at the northern South China Sea margin
Published: 2026-09-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology
The evolution of the rifted margin of the northern South China Sea challenges predictions of previous models but a knowledge gap still exists regarding how thermal history varies at different locations and times of rifting. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expeditions 367/368/368X collected samples of sediment that can be used to model the thermal evolution at different rifting stages [...]
Global isotopic proxy records for Ordovician temperature reconstruction
Published: 2026-09-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The Ordovician represents a critical interval in the Phanerozoic, marked by two profound biological events: the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), with an unprecedented tenfold increase in marine species diversity, which was abruptly terminated by the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME), one of the most severe extinction events in Earth's history, wiping out approximately 85% of [...]
The depths and thicknesses of the magma bodies that fed some of the largest Quaternary eruptions on Earth
Published: 2026-09-14
Subjects: Geology, Volcanology
Volcanic systems are critical for the evolution and dynamics of the Earth; yet, our understanding of the plumbing systems that feed eruptions is hampered by our inability to directly observe magmas at depth. We present a compilation of matrix-glass data and rhyolite-MELTS pre-eruptive storage pressures for eleven Quaternary VEI 6+ caldera-forming eruptions worldwide with volumes ranging from 35 [...]
From an everyday device to professional instrumentation. A framework for Portable Geoscience Learning Infrastructure and its illustrative application to ITA ARANDU MS
Published: 2026-09-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology
Geoscience education depends on practices that connect classroom learning with field settings: observing, locating, measuring, recording, comparing evidence, reasoning under uncertainty, and constructing interpretations. Digital fieldwork allows some of these practices to be undertaken with mobile devices, yet digital convenience, instrumental accuracy, and learning are not equivalent. This paper [...]
Deglacial Mass-Movement Floods as a Potential Source of Catastrophic Flood Traditions: A Testable Geomythological Hypothesis
Published: 2026-09-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Hydrology
Catastrophic flood traditions occur in many geographically separated cultures, but their possible geological substrates need not be uniform. Existing explanations include river floods, earthquake and volcanic tsunamis, glacial-lake outburst floods, postglacial sea-level rise, and cultural transmission. This paper proposes a complementary, explicitly testable hypothesis: during the terminal [...]
A global assessment of effective fracture porosity and density in crystalline rocks
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Geology
Knowledge of effective fracture porosity in crystalline rocks is important for water resources, geological storage and subsurface biogeochemistry, but remains poorly constrained due to limited and regionally biased data. Here, we use global permeability datasets and equations that relate effective porosity and permeability to estimate effective porosity and hydraulically active fracture density [...]
Estimating CO2 Leakage Fluxes along Legacy Wells Using a Rapid Physics-Based Screening Approach
Published: 2026-09-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Petroleum Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Achieving net-zero targets demands the rapid expansion of CO2 geological storage, but legacy wells in mature petroleum provinces represent a significant containment risk when engineered barriers degrade. At the early assessment stage, storage projects need to rapidly bound plausible leakage magnitudes across large legacy-well inventories when integrity data are sparse; however, suitable modelling [...]
Global limits on CO2 geological storage deployment using a coupled industry growth - pressure constrained model
Published: 2026-08-31
Subjects: Geology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering
Geological storage of CO2 at scale is critical to meeting climate objectives, yet deployment targets often rely on top-down climate pathways that overlook the coupled constraints of subsurface pressure buildup and realistic industry drilling rates. Here we map global limits on CO2 storage deployment using CO2LOGIX 2.0, an improved model coupling subsurface pressure evolution with country-level [...]
An Open-Source, Data-Driven Interactive Web Framework for 3D Visualization of Geoheritage Sites: A Case Study of the Grand Canyon Arizona, United States
Published: 2026-08-28
Subjects: Computer and Systems Architecture, Geology, Geomorphology
Effective dissemination, public engagement, and educational utilization of prominent geoheritage sites are often hindered by the steep learning curves, high computational requirements, and licensing costs inherent to professional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and 3D geological modeling software. To bridge this accessibility gap and democratize spatial data, we present a universal, [...]
CRS Methodology to the Realmonte Salt mine, southwestern Sicily: an application for hydrogen storage potential site in Italy.
Published: 2026-08-23
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Geology, Mining Engineering, Multivariate Analysis, Risk Analysis, Sustainability
As Sicily expands its renewable energy portfolio, the need for large-scale energy storage becomes increasingly urgent to ensure supply-demand balance. Hydrogen storage in salt caverns represents a promising solution in this context. This study presents the first real-world application of the Common Risk Segment (CRS) methodology, originally developed for oil and gas exploration and recently [...]
Mineral stability and porosity dynamics in Halite- and Kainite-bearing rocks after hydrogen batch reaction test: a case study of Realmonte mine, Sicily (Italy)
Published: 2026-08-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Mineral Physics, Mining Engineering, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Risk Analysis, Stratigraphy, Sustainability
Underground hydrogen storage in salt caverns is among the most mature geological storage options, yet the behaviour of potash-salt lithologies under hydrogen exposure remains entirely uncharacterised. This study presents a multi-technique characterisation, performed on selected representative samples, of Messinian halite and kainite-bearing evaporites from the Realmonte mine (Sicily) subjected to [...]
Comparing UNet and HRNet for Geomorphic Feature Extraction from Digital Terrain Model-Derived Land Surface Parameters
Published: 2026-08-21
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Geology, Geomorphology, Remote Sensing
Automated extraction of geomorphic features from high spatial resolution terrain data is important for environmental monitoring, geohazard assessment, and landscape change analysis. This study compares two convolutional neural network architectures, UNet and High-Resolution Network (HRNet), for semantic segmentation of mine benches and sinkholes from lidar-derived digital terrain models and land [...]
A heuristic approach to structural consistency of a horizon surface with tectonic faults based on Mallet's discrete model
Published: 2026-08-21
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Mining Engineering, Theory and Algorithms
The paper addresses the problem of automating the consistency process between reflecting horizon surfaces and the network of tectonic faults in the construction of three-dimensional digital geological models within the explicit (surface-based) approach. The problem is formalized on the basis of Mallet's discrete model (Discrete Smooth Interpolation, DSI). It is shown that the classical [...]