Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geology
WITHDRAWN: The potential of terrestrial and aquatic molluscs for the temporal analysis of Deckenschotter deposits and younger Quaternary sediments from the Swiss Plateau
Published: 2024-02-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Subsurface microbial community structure shifts along the geological features of the Central American Volcanic Arc
Published: 2024-02-04
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Microbiology, Volcanology
Subduction of the Cocos and Nazca oceanic plates beneath the Caribbean plate drives the upward movement of deep fluids enriched in carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and iron along the Central American Volcanic Arc (CAVA). These compounds fuel diverse subsurface microbial communities that in turn alter the distribution, redox state, and isotopic composition of these compounds. Microbial community [...]
Facies models for rocky shorelines and their application to transgressed basement highs in the North Sea.
Published: 2024-01-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Rocky shorelines form where basement highs are eroded and flooded during marine transgressive events. Despite the Mesozoic North Sea rift generated numerous platform margins and rotated fault blocks which acted as basement highs, rocky shoreline deposits have not been previously reported. In the rock record rocky shoreline deposits are usually represented by thin conglomerates overlying major [...]
Quaternary and Pliocene sea-level changes at Camarones, central Patagonia, Argentina
Published: 2024-01-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
Geological indicators of past relative sea level changes are fundamental to reconstruct the extent of former ice sheet during past interglacials, which are considered analogs for future climate conditions. Four interglacials, dating from Holocene to Pliocene, have left sea-level imprints in the proximity of the coastal town of Camarones in Central Patagonia, Argentina. Sea-level index points were [...]
Tectonostratigraphy of the Late Neoproterozoic in the Eastern Arabian Plate – a revision of the Ediacaran geological evolution in the Central Oman Mountains (Jabal Al Akhdar, Sultanate of Oman)
Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Geology
In northeastern Oman, within the Neoproterozoic Huqf Supergroup, well-exposed sedimentary formations spanning the Cryogenian to Ediacaran periods, lie beneath the late Palaeozoic "Hercynian Unconformity". These rocks bear the marks of the distant Cadomian Orogeny. Among these, the youngest correspond to the diverse Ediacaran Fara Formation, a member of the Ara Group. Our study extensively [...]
Magmatic Controls on Volcanic Sulfur Emissions at the Iceland Hotspot
Published: 2024-01-14
Subjects: Geochemistry, Geology, Volcanology
Outgassing of S (as SO2) is one of the principal hazards posed by volcanic eruptions. However, S emission potentials of most volcanoes globally are poorly constrained due to a short observational record and an incomplete understanding of the magmatic processes that influence pre-eruptive S concentrations. Here, we use a compilation of published and new data from melt inclusions—which [...]
Capturing geological uncertainty in salt cavern developments for hydrogen storage: Case study from Southern North Sea
Published: 2024-01-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Future energy systems with greater contributions from renewable energy will require long-duration energy storage to optimise integration of renewable sources, hydrogen is an energy vector that could be utilised for this. Grid-scale underground natural gas storage is already in operation in solution-mined salt caverns, where individual cavern capacities are ~25 - 275 GWh. While traditionally salt [...]
Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous orogenesis in the Klamath Mountains Province (northern California-southern Oregon) occurred by tectonic switching: Insights from Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology of the Condrey Mountain schist
Published: 2024-01-11
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The Klamath Mountains province (KMP) of northern California and southern Oregon consists of generally east-dipping terranes assembled via Paleozoic to Mesozoic subduction along the western margin of North America. The KMP more than doubled in mass from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous time, due to alternating episodes of extension (e.g, rifting and formation of the Josephine ophiolite) and [...]
Redox Geochemistry of the Late Cambrian SPICE Event in Durness Group, UK
Published: 2024-01-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology
The Late Cambrian Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE) event occurring at approximately 497 Ma and lasting for about 2-4 Myr is emblematic of a global-scale oceanic anoxia, coinciding with the trilobite mass extinction. It is significant in the biotic evolution spanning the Late Cambrian to Ordovician. Nevertheless, the driving mechanism behind the SPICE event is contentious, and [...]
Microbial indicators and detection of Cu-sulfide ore mineralization
Published: 2024-01-02
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Soil Science
Rapid electrification of society is placing unprecedented demand on critical mineral and metal resources. New strategies and technologies are thus needed to promote mineral discovery in regions where deposits are likely buried deep under soil and glacial till. We show that microbial communities from different soil types change in composition in response to amendment with copper. We also show [...]
Will the ‘Anthropocene’ finally be formalized?
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
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
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 syneruptive SO2 emissions during the medieval and the recent, 2021–2024, eruptions across the Reykjanes Peninsula, the most populated area of Iceland, th[AC1] at [...]
Plagioclase-saturated melt hygrothermobarometry and plagioclase-melt equilibria using machine learning
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), dissolved water contents (H2O) and pressures (P) of pre-eruptive magma storage and transport. However, previous plagioclase-based thermometers, hygrometers, and barometers can have significant errors, leading to imprecise reconstructions of conditions during plagioclase growth. Here, we explore whether we can [...]
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
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 [...]