Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Geology

Will the ‘Anthropocene’ finally be formalized?

Valentí Rull

Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Geology, Stratigraphy

A proposal for the formalization of the ‘Anthropocene’ as a new geological epoch following the Holocene has just been submitted (31 October 2023) to the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). This proposal, prepared by the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) after 13 years of discussions, places the beginning of the ‘Anthropocene’ in the mid-20th century, and considers that the [...]

A Compilation of Benchmark Pluvial Flood Datasets

Sara Ghalandari

Published: 2023-11-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology

urban pluvial flooding is a dangerous natural hazard that has become more common in recent years, making it a global threat to metropolitan areas. Surface water floods and flash floods are two common types of pluvial flooding that the second one is extremely hazardous and damaging due to both the power of the water and the debris that is frequently swept up in the flow. Buildings and their [...]

Medieval and recent SO2 budgets in the Reykjanes Peninsula: implication for future hazard

Alberto Caracciolo, Eniko Bali, Eemu Ranta, et al.

Published: 2023-11-23
Subjects: Geochemistry, Geology, Volcanology

Exposure to volcanic SO2 can have adverse effects on human health, with severe respiratory disorders documented on short- and long-term timescales. Here, we use melt inclusion and groundmass glass data to calculate potential syn-eruptive SO2 emissions during the medieval and the recent 2021-2024 eruptions across the Reykjanes peninsula, the most populated area of Iceland that has recently [...]

Plagioclase-saturated melt hygrothermobarometry and plagioclase-melt equilibria using machine learning

Kyra S. Cutler, Mike Cassidy, Jon Blundy

Published: 2023-11-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology

Compositions of plagioclase-melt pairs are commonly used to constrain temperatures (T), water contents (H2O) and pressures (P) of pre-eruptive magma storage. However, previous plagioclase-based thermometers, hygrometers, and barometers can have significant uncertainties, mainly resulting from the lack of error propagation of independently-constrained input variables (i.e., T/ H2O/P), leading to [...]

Downsystem Grain-Size Trends and Mass Balance of an Ancient Wave-Influenced Sediment Routing System: Middle Jurassic Brent Delta, Northern North Sea, Offshore UK and Norway

Ikenna Okwara, Gary J Hampson, Alexander C Whittaker, et al.

Published: 2023-11-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy

We reconstruct upsystem-to-downsystem grain-size variations in the sediment routing systems of the data-rich Middle Jurassic Brent Group of the northern North Sea, using published stratigraphic, thickness, palaeogeographic, provenance and age constraints combined with representative core and wireline-log data. Facies associations provide a textural proxy for gravel, sand and mud grain-size [...]

Transgression–regression cycles drive correlations in Ediacaran–Cambrian rock and fossil records

Daniel C Segessenman, Shanan E Peters

Published: 2023-11-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Statistical Methodology, Statistics and Probability, Stratigraphy

Strata of the Ediacaran Period (635–538.8 Ma) yield the oldest known fossils of complex, macroscopic organisms in the geologic record. These “Ediacaran-type” macrofossils (known as the Ediacaran biota) first appear in mid-Ediacaran strata, experience an apparent decline through the terminal Ediacaran, and directly precede the Cambrian (538.8–485.4 Ma) radiation of animals. Existing hypotheses for [...]

Petrological Evolution and Mass Redistribution in Basaltic Fault Zones: An Example from the Faroe Islands, North Atlantic Igneous Province

Bob Bamberg, Marc Reichow, Richard Walker, et al.

Published: 2023-11-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Tectonics and Structure

Fault rock petrology exerts an important control on the permeability structure and mechanical properties of fault zones. Slip-related deformation on upper-crustal faults in basaltic rocks is closely associated with fluid-rock interaction, altering the distribution of physical properties within the fault. Here we present quantitative descriptions of the geochemical and petrological evolution of [...]

Observations of beach cusp morphodynamics on a composite beach

Sebastian Pitman, Giovanni Coco, Deirdre Hart, et al.

Published: 2023-11-02
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology

Substantial volumes of sediment are moved on coarse grained beaches through the formation and destruction of beach cusps, yet the processes governing cusp behaviour remain poorly understood. Here, we combine continuous 2D LiDAR scan data with daily UAV topographic surveys and RGB imagery to provide detailed morphological measurements of beach cusps on a composite beach with the aim to investigate [...]

Quantifying fault interpretation uncertainties and their impact on fault seal and seismic hazard analysis

Billy Andrews, Zoe K Mildon, Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson, et al.

Published: 2023-10-31
Subjects: Geology, Tectonics and Structure

Fault-horizon cut-off data extracted from seismic reflection datasets are used to study the geometry, displacement distribution, and growth history of normal faults. Our study assesses the influence of three fault interpretation factors (repeatability, measurement obliquity, and cut-off type) on derived fault properties. We investigate uncertainties in throw, heave, displacement, and dip, [...]

New insights into the Upper Pleistocene directed blast eruption, Popocatépetl volcano, México

R. Marcela Lira Beltrán, Lizeth Caballero, Delphine Sourisseau, et al.

Published: 2023-10-30
Subjects: Geology, Stratigraphy, Volcanology

Volcanic eruptions of the directed blast type can affect areas of hundreds of square kilometres and reach more than 25 km from the crater, as observed in the directed explosions of the Bezymianny (1956) and Mt. St. Helens (1980) volcanoes. These directed eruptions are characterized by powerful explosions with a significant lateral component that can travel at speeds above 100 m/s, which includes [...]

Sediment supply controls on Early Eocene delta sequences (South Pyrenean Foreland Basin; Spain)

Romain Vaucher, Claire Musajo, Jorge E. Spangenberg, et al.

Published: 2023-10-13
Subjects: Climate, Geochemistry, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy

Sediment supply variations are often overlooked when interpreting depositional sequences, which tend to emphasize changes in accommodation. Here, we focus on a temporally well-constrained shallow-marine succession in the South Pyrenean Foreland Basin to test the control of sediment supply on the development of deltaic sequences during the Early Eocene. We analyzed the paleoenvironmental record [...]

The Heavy Mineral Map of Australia Project: A Novel, Rapid, Automated Quantitative Mineralogy Workflow

Alexander Thomas Walker, Brent McInnes, Patrice de Caritat, et al.

Published: 2023-10-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The Heavy Mineral Map of Australia (HMMA) is the world’s first project aiming to define a continental heavy mineral baseline. It utilises a novel sample processing workflow and automated mineralogy techniques to rapidly generate and analyse mineralogical data from 1315 archived samples of catchment outlet sediments collected from 1186 catchments across the Australian continent. Heavy [...]

Continental scale hydrostratigraphy: comparing geologically informed data products to analytical solutions

Jackson Swilley, Danielle Tijerina-Kreuzer, Hoang Tran, et al.

Published: 2023-09-12
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Geology, Hydrology

This study synthesizes two different methods for estimating hydraulic conductivity (K) at large scales. We derive analytical approaches that estimate K and apply them to the contiguous US. We then compare these analytical approaches to three-dimensional, national gridded K data products and three transmissivity (T) data products developed from publicly available sources. We evaluate these data [...]

The Role of Normal Fault Growth History in Influencing Fault Seal Potential, Samson Dome, Offshore Norway

Ahmed Alghuraybi, Rebecca E. Bell, Christopher Jackson

Published: 2023-09-02
Subjects: Geology

The growth of normal faults can influence subsurface fluid flow and entrapment within rift basins. However, fault seal studies typically view faults as static structures, with their growth and the potential related temporal changes in hydraulic properties being ignored. In this study, we use borehole data and a high-quality 3D full-stack depth migrated seismic reflection volume to analyse the [...]

Full-waveform inversion as a tool to predict fault zone properties

Ahmed Alghuraybi, Rebecca E. Bell, Christopher Jackson, et al.

Published: 2023-09-02
Subjects: Geology

Understanding the physical properties of fault zones is essential for various subsurface applications, including carbon capture and geologic storage, geothermal energy, and seismic hazard assessment. Despite improvements in fault imaging and visualisation, predicting the physical properties of faults and fault zones in the subsurface remains challenging, even with high-quality seismic reflection [...]

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