Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Planetary Sciences
Terrestrial formation of calcium sulfate and carbonate assemblages in Atacama CO chondrites: Implications for Martian evaporitic environments
Published: 2026-04-15
Subjects: Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Planetary Geochemistry, Planetary Geology, Planetary Mineral Physics, Planetary Sciences
Evaporites are frequently reported in carbonaceous chondrites from hot and cold deserts, yet their origin remains debated between formation on the parent body or by post-fall terrestrial alteration. Here, we present a systematic characterization of Ca sulfate and Ca carbonate assemblages in four CO carbonaceous chondrites from different dense collection areas of the Atacama Desert (Los Vientos [...]
A Global Catalogue of Lunar Topographic Prominence ≥ 1 km
Published: 2026-04-01
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Sciences
We present the Lunar Ribus Database, a global catalogue of lunar summits with topographic prominence ≥1 km derived from the highest-resolution global and regional digital elevation models currently available. Each summit in the catalogue is reported with summit and key col elevations relative to the global minimum, prominence, key col elevation, and geographic coordinates of both summit and key [...]
Seventeen city types define distinct pathways for climate mitigation and adaptation worldwide
Published: 2026-03-31
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Planetary Sciences
Understanding that cities are main arenas of climate action, it remains unclear which cities should focus on what kind of action taking a global comparative lens. Recent contributions identified four different types of cities across seven world regions, while others specified a huge case study literature database on cities and climate change biased towards established, stagnant, and megacities, [...]
Water-efficient Indian rice cultivation boosts exports despite high carbon footprints
Published: 2026-03-03
Subjects: Agriculture, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences, Plant Sciences
Most agricultural sustainability efforts adopt a national-scale view, masking regional trade-offs between crop yields and environmental footprints. To measure trade-offs, satellite remote sensing based life cycle assessment of rice agroecosystems across India from 2004 to 2021 was conducted revealing pivotal shifts of four cultivation typologies, termed as unsustainable, conventional, productive, [...]
Conceptual challenges in astrobiological analog environments and paths toward resolution
Published: 2026-02-13
Subjects: Biology, Other Life Sciences, Other Planetary Sciences, Planetary Sciences
Analog environments are terrestrial environments that resemble extraterrestrial sites; this concept originated in space sciences for defining methods to study planetary geology, training for missions and testing research instruments. As biological research became integrated into these investigations - through studies of limits for life and possible biosignatures - and astrobiology grew as a [...]
Manganese redox cycling drives the epitaxial growth of dolomite on metastable kutnahorite templates
Published: 2026-01-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences
Fine-crystalline, fabric-preserving dolostones in deep-time successions defy high-temperature burial models, implying an elusive low-temperature formation pathway hindered by the kinetic hydration barrier of Mg2+ and the thermodynamic miscibility gap separating calcite from ordered dolomite. Here, we demonstrate a kinetically facile route to self-assembling dolomite driven by the synergy of [...]
Earth as a Reference System for Ultraviolet Transmission Spectroscopy: A Computational Model of Oxygen Detectability
Published: 2026-01-10
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences
Detecting atmospheres around Earth-sized exoplanets is a critical step toward identifying potentially habitable worlds, yet such atmospheres produce extremely weak observational signals. This study investigates the detectability of an Earth-like atmosphere using ultraviolet transmission spectroscopy and examines which wavelength ranges provide the strongest atmospheric signatures during planetary [...]
Comment on Barboni et al. (2025), ‘Pervasive impact modification of pristine lunar clasts’
Published: 2025-12-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences
In a recent contribution, Barboni et al. (2025) present an experimental calibration relating the aluminium content of zircon and its parent melt under lunar conditions. This calibration is then used to argue that lunar zircons are not in equilibrium with their host silicate melts, and that caution is required when interpreting zircon-derived U-Pb dates in evolved lunar rocks. Their contribution [...]
Formation and alteration of magnesite nodules from Kunwarara, Queensland, Australia, as an analogue to Mg-carbonate formation on Mars
Published: 2025-11-30
Subjects: Planetary Sciences
Magnesite (MgCO3) is a magnesium carbonate mineral that records the aqueous environmental conditions of its formation. On Earth, magnesite forms in metamorphic, diagenetic or pedogenic environments, and distinguishing between these environments is critical for understanding the nature of fluid chemistry during magnesite precipitation. Magnesite has been identified across the Nili Fossae region on [...]
Flood Radar: Multi-Sensor SAR-Based Flood Mapping and Evacuation Modeling — A Case Study of the July 2025 Texas Flood
Published: 2025-11-08
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Planetary Sciences
Floods remain among the most destructive natural hazards worldwide, causing an average of USD 40 billion in annual damage and affecting more than 2.5 billion people between 1994 and 2014. The Central Texas flood of July 2025 was one of the most catastrophic in recent decades, triggered by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry that delivered over 508 mm of rain within two days. This study presents [...]
Mars' Lowest and Highest Points Revisited
Published: 2025-10-25
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Sciences
We present revised values for Mars’ extreme elevations using a blended digital elevation model (DEM) that combines altimetry collected from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor with stereo imagery from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express. The widely cited minimum elevation is derived from an earlier MOLA-only DEM which lacks direct [...]
A Computer Vision Framework for Estimating Surface Habitability from Mars Using Convolutional Analysis
Published: 2025-10-22
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Biology, Earth Sciences, Other Planetary Sciences, Planetary Geology, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Sciences, Planetary Sedimentology, Statistical Methodology, Theory and Algorithms
Identifying signs of life in extraterrestrial environments is one of the growing challenges in planetary science. Conventional approaches of detecting habitability rely heavily on direct contact with biosignatures or geological analyses, but limited data and mission costs hold back such methods. This work introduces a computer vision-based pipeline that analyzes planetary surface images to [...]
The implications of overshooting 1.5°C on Earth system tipping elements - a review
Published: 2025-09-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Other Planetary Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences, Sustainability
Due to insufficient emission reductions in recent years, it is increasingly likely that global warming will exceed the 1.5 °C temperature limit in the coming decades. As a result, several Earth system tipping elements could, at least temporarily, have their tipping points surpassed, posing risks of large-scale and profound structural change. Tipping does not always occur immediately upon crossing [...]
Global hyper-resolution groundwater dataset for assessing historical and future groundwater dynamics
Published: 2025-09-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Planetary Hydrology, Planetary Sciences
Sustainable management of global groundwater is a key societal challenge and central to Sustainable Development Goals. To address limited observations and coarse global models, we present a global hyper-resolution dataset of monthly groundwater heads and water table depth at 30 arc-seconds (~1 km), simulated by GLOBGM, a global groundwater flow model. The data set follows ISIMIP protocols and [...]
A Hybrid Iron/Green-Rust-Urea Model for Prebiotic Chemistry: A Synthesis of Testable Pathways for Planetary Astrobiology
Published: 2025-09-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Planetary Geochemistry, Planetary Geology, Planetary Hydrology, Planetary Sciences
We propose a quantitative, testable framework for abiogenesis that links submarine alkaline vents, which supply H₂, ΔpH, and Fe/Fe–S catalysis, to subaerial hot-spring fields that provide wet–dry concentration and UV-driven photoredox chemistry. To bridge dilution between environments, we specify mobile “holding pens” (green-rust/iron flocs, silica mats, pumice rafts, and sea-surface [...]