Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Planetary Sciences

Habitability of the early Earth: Liquid water under a faint young Sun facilitated by strong tidal heating due to a nearby Moon

René Heller, Jan-Peter Duda, Max Winkler, et al.

Published: 2020-07-10
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Other Astrophysics and Astronomy, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences, The Sun and the Solar System

Geological evidence suggests liquid water near the Earths surface as early as 4.4 gigayears ago when the faint young Sun only radiated about 70 % of its modern power output. At this point, the Earth should have been a global snowball. An extreme atmospheric greenhouse effect, an initially more massive Sun, release of heat acquired during the accretion process of protoplanetary material, and [...]

A newly reconciled data set for identifying sea level rise and variability in Dublin Bay

Amin Shoari Nejad, Andrew Parnell, Alice Greene, et al.

Published: 2020-05-27
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Climate, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Earth Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences, Statistics and Probability

We provide an updated sea level dataset for Dublin for the period 1938 to 2016 at yearly resolution. Using a newly collated sea level record for Dublin Port, as well as two nearby tide gauges at Arklow and Howth Harbour, we perform data quality checks and calibration of the Dublin Port record by adjusting the biased high water level measurements that affect the overall calculation of mean sea [...]

Preservation of Organic Carbon in Dolomitized Cambrian Stromatolites and Implications for Microbial Biosignatures in Diagenetically Replaced Carbonate Rock

Ashley Murphy, Scott T. Wieman, Juliane Gross, et al.

Published: 2020-05-25
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences

Stromatolites have been a major focus in the search for ancient microbial life, however, the organic carbon biosignatures of dolomitized stromatolites have not yet been fully characterized or correlated with their dolomitizing conditions. Although dolomitization rarely preserves microbial morphology, the presence of organic carbon can provide valuable information for characterization of fossils’ [...]

Jarosite formation in deep Antarctic ice provides a window into acidic, water-limited weathering on Mars

Giovanni Baccolo, Barbara Delmonte, Paul B. Niles, et al.

Published: 2020-05-20
Subjects: Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geochemistry, Planetary Glaciology, Planetary Sciences

Many interpretations have been proposed to explain the presence of jarosite within Martian surficial sediments, including the possibility that it precipitated within paleo-ice deposits owing to englacial weathering of dust. But until now a similar mechanism was not observed on Earth nor in other planetary settings. We report the first multi-analytical indication of jarosite formation within deep [...]

Coupling Mars ground and orbital views: generate viewsheds of Mastcam images from the Curiosity rover, using ArcGIS® and public datasets.

Marion Nachon, Schuyler Borges, Ryan Ewing, et al.

Published: 2020-04-29
Subjects: Other Planetary Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences

The Mastcam (Mast Camera) instrument onboard the NASA Curiosity rover provides an exclusive view of Mars: the color high-resolution Mastcam images allow users to study Gale crater’s geological terrains and landscapes along the rover path. This view from the ground complements the spatially broader view provided by spacecrafts from orbit. However, for a given Mastcam image, it can be challenging [...]

Seismic electric signals (SES) and earthquakes: A review of an updated VAN method and competing hypotheses for SES generation and earthquake triggering

Daniel S. Helman

Published: 2020-04-07
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Electromagnetic phenomena are sometimes associated with seismic events, but earthquake prediction using seismic electric signals (SES) has not been seriously considered since the early 1990s. There are several causes: (1) false alarms that have created panics in Greece, and (2) a strong critique of the Varotsos-Alexopoulos-Nomicos (VAN) method used there. An updated VAN method that includes time [...]

Initial Exploration Free Floating CO2 Fixation Catalysts

Aya Thompson

Published: 2020-04-01
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences

Climate change as an inextricable and dire threat to humanity is well established. The primary problem stems from an excess of carbon dioxide in earths atmosphere and oceans causing a gradual increase in average temperature. With this there arises an immediate need for the alteration of this carbon dioxide into differing chemical states. Herein we perform an initial exploration of adapting the [...]

Analytical prediction of seismicity rate due to tides and other oscillating stresses

Elias Rafn Heimisson, Jean-Philippe Avouac

Published: 2020-03-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Sciences, Tectonics and Structure

Oscillatory stresses are ubiquitous on earth and other solid-surface bodies. Tides and seasonal signals perpetually stress faults in the crust. Relating seismicity to these stresses offers fundamental insight into earthquake triggering. We present a simple model that describes seismicity rate due to perpetual oscillatory stresses. The model applies to large amplitude, non-harmonic, and [...]

Variations in the magnetic properties of meteoritic cloudy zone

Claire I O Nichols, James F. J. Bryson, Roberts Blukis, et al.

Published: 2020-01-25
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Mineral Physics, Planetary Sciences

Iron and stony-iron meteorites form the Widmanstätten pattern during slow cooling. This pattern is comprised of several microstructures whose length-scale, composition and magnetic properties are dependent upon cooling rate. Here we focus on the cloudy zone: a region containing nanoscale tetrataenite islands with exceptional paleomagnetic recording properties. We present a systematic review of [...]

Tectono-magmatic, sedimentary and hydrothermal history of Arsinoes and Pyrrhae Chaos, Mars

Erica Luzzi, Angelo Pio Rossi, Cristian Carli, et al.

Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences

Arsinoes and Pyrrhae Chaos are two adjacent chaotic terrains located east of Valles Marineris and west of Arabia Terra, on Mars. In this work we produced a morpho‐stratigraphic map of the area, characterized by a volcanic bedrock disrupted into polygonal mesas and knobs (Chaotic Terrain Unit) and two non‐disrupted units. The latter present a spectral variation, likely associated with hydrated [...]

Centroid moment tensor inversions of offshore earthquakes using a three-dimensional velocity structure model: Slip distributions on the plate boundary along the Nankai Trough

Shunsuke Takemura, Ryo Okuwaki, Tatsuya Kubota, et al.

Published: 2019-11-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences

Due to complex three-dimensional (3D) heterogeneous structures, conventional one-dimensional (1D) analysis techniques using onshore seismograms can yield incorrect estimation of earthquake source parameters, especially dip angles and centroid depths of offshore earthquakes. Combining long-term onshore seismic observations and numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation in a 3D model, we [...]

Deep learning to infer eddy heat fluxes from sea surface height patterns of mesoscale turbulence

Tom George, Georgy Manucharyan, Andrew Thompson

Published: 2019-11-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Planetary Sciences

Oceans play a major role in Earths climate by storing and transporting heat via turbulent currents called mesoscale eddies. However, direct monitoring of eddy-driven heat fluxes is currently impossible because it requires simultaneous surface and subsurface observations of velocity and heat content, while only surface properties of mesoscale eddies can be comprehensively measured by satellites in [...]

Linking the evolution of terrestrial interiors and an early outgassed atmosphere to astrophysical observations

Dan James Bower, Daniel Kitzmann, Aaron S. Wolf, et al.

Published: 2019-10-16
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Other Astrophysics and Astronomy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Sciences

A terrestrial planet is molten during formation and may remain molten due to intense insolation or tidal forces. Observations favour the detection and characterisation of hot planets, potentially with large outgassed atmospheres. We aim to determine the radius of hot Earth-like planets with large outgassing atmospheres. Our goal is to explore the differences between molten and solid silicate [...]

Thermal and magnetic evolution of a crystallizing basal magma ocean in Earths mantle

Nicolas Blanc, Dave Stegman, Leah B. Ziegler

Published: 2019-10-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Sciences

We present the thermochemical evolution of a downward crystallizing BMO overlying the liquid outer core and probe its capability to dissipate enough power to generate and sustain an early dynamo. A total of 61 out of 112 scenarios for a BMO with imposed, present-day $Q_{BMO}$ values of 15, 18, and 21 TW and $Q_r$ values of 4, 8, and 12 TW fully crystallized during the age of the Earth. Most of [...]

The effect of remote sensing resolution limits on aeolian sandstone measurements and the reconstruction of ancient dune fields on Mars: Numerical experiment using the Page Sandstone, Earth

Benjamin T. Cardenas, Travis Eric Swanson, Timothy A. Goudge, et al.

Published: 2019-09-09
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences

The distribution of cross-set thicknesses is important field-collected data for reconstructing ancient aeolian dune fields from the strata they accumulated, but most aeolian strata on Mars must be observed with remote sensing. We hypothesize that remote sensing resolution limits will affect cross-set thickness measurements and the dune field reconstructions that follow. Here, we test this [...]

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