Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geology
A Vision for the Future Low-Temperature Geochemical Data-scape
Published: 2020-11-21
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Computer Sciences, Databases and Information Systems, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Other Computer Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Soil Science
Data sharing benefits the researcher, the scientific community, and most importantly, the public by enabling more impactful analysis of data and greater transparency in scientific research. However, like many other scientists, the low-temperature geochemistry (LTG) community has generally not developed protocols and standards for publishing, citing, and versioning datasets. This paper is the [...]
Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta – implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis
Published: 2020-11-18
Subjects: Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The Eastern and Western Mediterranean are separated by an elevated plateau that regulates water exchange between these two basins. The Maltese archipelago, situated atop this topographic high, offers a unique window into the evolution of this plateau in the lead up to the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). The Upper Coralline Limestone formation was deposited between the late Tortonian and the [...]
Boron isotopic signatures of melt inclusions from North Iceland reveal recycled material in the Icelandic mantle source
Published: 2020-11-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Trace element and volatile heterogeneity in the Earth's mantle is in uenced by the recycling of oceanic lithosphere through subduction. Oceanic island basalts commonly have high concentrations of volatiles compared to mid-ocean ridge basalts, but the extent to which this enrichment is linked to recycled mantle domains remains unclear. Boron is an ideal tracer of recycled subducted material, [...]
Segment tip geometry of sheet intrusions, II: Field observations of tip geometries and a model for evolving emplacement mechanisms
Published: 2020-11-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Volcanology
Igneous sheet intrusions are segmented across several orders of magnitude, with segment tip geometry commonly considered indicative of the propagation mechanism (brittle or non-brittle). Proposed propagation mechanisms are inferred to represent host rock mechanical properties during initial magma emplacement; typically, these models do not account for segment sets that show a range of tip [...]
Influence of ductile substrates and layer thickness on the spacing and topology of layer bound fault systems
Published: 2020-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Sedimentology, Tectonics and Structure
Polygonal fault systems are extraordinary features of many fine grained sedimentary succession and have been described from a significant number of deepwater sedimentary basins over the last two decades. Their formation represents an important mechanism by which fine grained sediments compact often resulting in a variety of complex patterns for which several controlling factors have been [...]
Salt-magma interactions influence intrusion distribution and salt tectonics in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil
Published: 2020-10-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Many sedimentary basins host thick evaporite (salt) deposits. Some of these basins also host extensive igneous intrusion networks. It thus seems inevitable that, in some locations, magma will interact with salt. Yet how interaction between these materials may influence salt tectonics or magma emplacement, particularly at the basin-scale, remains poorly understood. We use 3D seismic reflection [...]
A single multi-scale and multi-sourced semi-automated lineament detection technique for detailed structural mapping with applications to geothermal energy exploration
Published: 2020-10-23
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Tectonics and Structure
A multitude of semi-automated algorithms, many incorporating multi-sourced datasets into a single analysis, now exist. However, these operate at a fixed pixel resolution resulting in multi-sourced methods being limited by the largest input pixel size. Multi-scale lineament detection circumvents this issue and allows increased levels of detail to be captured. In this study we present a [...]
Testing the effect of bioturbation and species abundance upon discrete-depth individual foraminifera analysis
Published: 2020-10-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology
We use a single foraminifera enabled, holistic hydroclimate-to-sediment transient modelling approach to fundamentally evaluate the efficacy of discrete-depth individual foraminifera analysis (IFA) for reconstructing past sea surface temperature (SST) variability from deep-sea sediment archives, a method that has been used for, amongst other applications, reconstructing El Niño Southern [...]
River Planform Extraction From High-Resolution SAR Images Via Generalised Gamma Distribution Superpixel Classification
Published: 2020-10-21
Subjects: Computer Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering, Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology
The extraction of river planforms from remotely sensed satellite images is a task of crucial importance to many applications such as land planning, water resource monitoring or flood prediction. In this paper we present a novel framework for the extraction of rivers from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, based on superpixel segmentation and subsequent classification. Superpixel segmentation [...]
Amphibole Control on Copper Systematics in Arcs: Insights from the Analysis of Global Datasets
Published: 2020-10-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Volcanology
Copper, sourced from porphyry deposits formed in arc settings, is a critical resource, and is primarily sourced from magmas. However, the processes that shape the copper contents of arc magmas are up for debate. Existing models place emphasis on different petrological agents that explain large-scale trends in copper systematics. Previous studies have noted the 'Cu paradox,' where the magmas with [...]
Computing single-particle flotation kinetics using automated mineralogy data and machine learning
Published: 2020-08-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Mining Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Studies of flotation kinetics are essential for understanding, predicting, and optimizing the selective recovery of minerals and metals through flotation. Recently, much effort has been made to use intrinsic ore properties to model flotation behavior. Particle-based characterization methods, e.g. SEM-based image analysis, has enabled much of this development. However, currently available methods [...]
Apatite fission-track dating by LA-Q-ICP-MS mapping
Published: 2020-08-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Obtaining accurate and precise apatite fission-track (AFT) ages is dependent on producing plentiful high-quality apatite grains from a sample, ideally with high spontaneous fission-track densities (c. >105 tracks.cm-2). Many natural samples, such as bedrock samples from young orogenic belts or low-grade metamorphic samples with low U contents yield low spontaneous fission-track densities. Such [...]
Fernandes and Roberts (2020) - preprint
Published: 2020-08-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Paleobiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences, Tectonics and Structure
There are many geoscience problems for which constraining histories of uplift or subsidence of Earth’s surface is of direct or indirect importance, for example reconstructing tectonics, mantle convection, geomorphology, sedimentary and chemical flux, biodiversity, glacio-eustasy and climate change. The least equivocal constraints on timing and amplitude of vertical motions on geological [...]
Bridging the gap between geophysics and geology with Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)
Published: 2020-08-17
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computer Sciences, Databases and Information Systems, Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Natural Resource Economics, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Water Resource Management
Inverse mapping from geophysics to geology is a difficult problem due to the inherent uncertainty of geophysical data and the spatially heterogeneous patterns (structure) in geology. We describe GANSim, a type of generative adversarial networks (GANs) that discovers the mapping between remotely-sensed geophysical information and geology with realistic patterns, with a specially designed loss [...]
Leaky salt: pipe trails record the history of cross-evaporite fluid escape in the northern Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean
Published: 2020-08-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Despite salt being regarded as an extremely efficient, low-permeability hydraulic seal, an increasing number of cross-evaporite fluid escape features have been documented in salt-bearing sedimentary basins. Because of this, it is clear that our understanding of how thick salt deposits impact fluid flow in sedimentary basins is incomplete. We here examine the causes and evolution of [...]