Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geology
Complex seabed geomorphology shaped by various oceanographic processes: a case study from the Gippsland Basin, offshore south-eastern Australia
Published: 2023-04-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology
The Gippsland Basin is located in the southeastern continental margin of Australia and hosts a variety of important marine resources. Recent high-resolution seabed mapping reveals that seabed morphology is extremely complex in different regions of the Gippsland Basin (i.e. northern, central and southern regions), ranging from scarps, cyclic step trains, channels, canyons, gullies, and giant [...]
Structure and Morphology of an Active Conjugate Relay Zone, Messina Strait, Southern Italy
Published: 2023-03-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Messina Strait is a narrow fault-bounded marine basin that separates the Calabrian peninsula from Sicily in southern Italy. It sits in a seismically active region where normal fault scarps and raised Quaternary marine terraces record ongoing extension driven by southeastward rollback of the Calabrian subduction zone. A review of published studies and new data shows that normal faults in the [...]
An interview with ChatGPT: discussing artificial intelligence in teaching, research, and practice
Published: 2023-02-15
Subjects: Engineering Education, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Higher Education
This paper examines the potential of using the AI language model ChatGPT in the field of engineering geology. The authors, an engineering geologist and a university teacher, conduct a series of conversations with ChatGPT to explore its capabilities in assisting with research and learning, and its potential implications for scientific publications. The paper also considers the future of human-AI [...]
Considerable gaps in our global knowledge of potential groundwater accessibility
Published: 2023-02-11
Subjects: Geology, Hydrology, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
At what depth groundwater can be found below the land surface is key to understanding whether it is potentially accessible to ecosystems and humans, or what role it plays in the water cycle. Knowledge of ground-water table depth (WTD) exists at regional scales in many places, but a bottom-up knowledge aggregation to obtain a coherent global picture is exceptionally challenging. Uncertainty in [...]
The nature of the proximal volcaniclastic materials from the 2021 eruption Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba in the Izu-Bonin arc.
Published: 2023-01-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Volcanology
Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba is a submarine volcano located at 24°17.1′N/141°28.9′E in the Izu–Bonin–Mariana arc, and is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan. This volcano produced an explosive eruption in August 2021 that generated a large amount of volcaniclastic material, some of which drifted westward to Japan and the coastal area of East Asia as a pumice raft. The pumice clasts that drifted for [...]
Internal waves and bottom currents interactions around mesophotic reefs, southeastern Mediterranean
Published: 2023-01-24
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Geology, Marine Biology, Other Environmental Sciences, Sedimentology
Mesophotic reefs are found in water depths greater than 30m and as such are, for the most part, removed from most direct wave activity, notably in the Mediterranean Sea. There, they are protected from anthropogenic impact and serve as a possible refuge for marine biodiversity in a warming ocean. Yet, like any reef, their growth is modulated by the distribution of the sediment they produce and [...]
Lithospheric structure and melting processes in southeast Australia: new constraints from joint probabilistic inversions of 3D magnetotelluric and seismic data
Published: 2023-01-24
Subjects: Geology, Geophysics and Seismology
The thermochemical structure of the lithosphere exerts control on melting mechanisms in the mantle as well as the location of volcanism and ore deposits. Imaging the complex interactions between the lithosphere and asthenospheric mantle requires the joint inversion of multiple data sets and their uncertainties. In particular, the combination of seismic velocity and electrical conductivity with [...]
Exceptional preservation of three-dimensional dunes on an ancient deep-marine seafloor: implications for sedimentary processes and depositional environments
Published: 2023-01-19
Subjects: Geology, Stratigraphy
Depositional and erosional bedforms can be used to reconstruct sedimentary processes and aid paleoenvironmental interpretations. Using exhumed deep-marine strata in the Eocene Aínsa Basin, Spain, we document a 3-dimensional package of dunes; a relatively rarely identified bedform in deep-marine environments. Our analysis shows that the dunes have curvilinear crests in planform, with smaller [...]
The applicability of G-BASE stream sediment geochemistry as a combined geological mapping, and prospective exploration tool for As-Co-Cu-Ni mineralisation across Cumbria, UK.
Published: 2023-01-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Multivariate Analysis, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistics and Probability
Stream sediment geochemistry is a useful tool to analyse the geochemistry of the local geology within the source catchment area. This has significant applicability within the field of mineral exploration where understanding regional lithological geochemistry is needed, facilitating the identification of critical metal deposits. Successful identification of these deposits is essential to help [...]
Are marl-limestone alternations mainly driven by CaCO3 variations at the astronomical timescale? New insights from extraterrestrial 3He
Published: 2023-01-07
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Marl-limestone alternations are rhythmical inter-bedded deposits that commonly occur in many sedimentological environments. It is quite well established that these lithological variations originate from astronomically-driven climatic variations paced by the Milankovitch cycles of main periods 19, 23, 41, 100 and 405 ka. However, the sedimentological mechanisms involved are not clear: some models [...]
Barometers behaving badly II: A critical evaluation of Cpx-only and Cpx-Liq thermobarometry in variably-hydrous arc magmas
Published: 2022-12-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Volcanology
The chemistry of erupted clinopyroxene crystals (±equilibrium liquids) have been widely used to deduce the pressures and temperatures of magma storage in volcanic arcs. However, the large number of different equations parametrizing the relationship between mineral and melt compositions and intensive variables such as pressure and temperature yield vastly different results, with implications for [...]
Transgressive rocky coasts in the geological record: Preserved or eroded? Insights from Miocene granitic rocky shorelines and modern examples.
Published: 2022-12-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology
Most of modern shorelines are in net erosion. Among these, rocky shorelines are commonly punctuated, with alternating high relief cliffs an incised embayments which host “pocket beaches”. While multiple cases of ancient rocky shorelines associated with low relief ravinement surfaces have been documented in the geological record, deposits formed in pocket beaches and joint-cut hollows are more [...]
Correlation of geological complexes of the Khan-Tengri Mountain massif
Published: 2022-12-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Researchers of the border regions of Xinjiang and the Central Asian countries are actively discussing two alternative models for the relationships between the main structural units of the Tianshan mountains. Most researchers believe that the Kyrgyz Middle Tianshan wedges out to the east along the Atbashi-Inylchek-Nalati marginal fault. According to the second hypothesis, the structures of the [...]
Modeling Earthquake-induced Landslide initiation using the Fibre Bundle Model
Published: 2022-12-05
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Hydrology
Co-seismic landslides are triggered by strong ground shaking in mountainous areas, resulting in threats to human activity and infrastructure. Methods for physically-based modelling of co-seismic landslide triggering play an important role in disaster prevention and mitigation. Current approaches, however, focus on direct and full failure of sloping rocks and soils, and do not cover the dynamics [...]
An interconnected palaeo-subglacial lake system in the central Barents Sea
Published: 2022-12-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Sedimentology
Drainage of meltwater beneath an ice sheet influences ice-flow dynamics. To better predict ice sheet behaviour, it is crucial to understand subglacial hydrological processes. Subglacial lakes are important components of the subglacial hydrological system, with many observed and predicted at the beds of contemporary and palaeo-ice sheets. The technical and logistical challenges of studying [...]