Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Stratigraphy
Steep nested clinoforms in the mixed siliciclastic-carbonate Sobrarbe Deltaic Complex (Eocene, Aínsa Basin, Spain)
Published: 2025-10-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
This study investigates the processes controlling the development of nested clinoforms in outcrops of the Eocene Sobrarbe Deltaic Complex of the Aínsa Basin, highlighting their significance as archives of basin-margin evolution. Small-scale clinoforms record the higher-frequency cycles of delta progradation and the coetaneous development of a carbonate factory, while large-scale clinoforms record [...]
Paleoecology indicates wave climate as key factor in coral reef development
Published: 2025-09-24
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Stratigraphy
The Last Interglacial (~125,000 years ago) experienced global temperatures warmer than today, making it a natural analog for future climate scenarios. Contemporary coral reefs preserve ecological signals that offer valuable insights into past climate dynamics. Here, we examine the fossil reefs of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao to reconstruct wind and wave conditions during this period. While modern [...]
Geomodelling of multi-scenario non-stationary reservoirs with enhanced GANSim
Published: 2025-08-05
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Hydrology, Mining Engineering, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Reservoir geomodelling is critical for groundwater management, CO₂ storage, geothermal exploitation, and hydrocarbon exploration, yet traditional geostatistical methods like multiple-point statistics (MPS) struggle with simulating complex geological patterns. GANSim, a Generative Adversarial Networks-based geomodelling method, has proven effective for single-scenario stationary reservoirs, but [...]
Assessing uncertainty of source rock properties using Monte Carlo basin modeling – Application to Canning Basin, Australia
Published: 2025-07-23
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Risk Analysis, Statistics and Probability, Stratigraphy
This study presents a Monte Carlo basin modeling framework for quantifying uncertainty in source rock property predictions by integrating geological, geophysical, and geochemical inputs. The approach accounts for variability in petrological parameters from rock physics inversion, paleo-erosion magnitudes, organic facies properties, and boundary conditions to simulate source rock properties such [...]
Deglaciation history and relative sea level changes since the Last Glacial Maximum in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada
Published: 2025-07-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
During the last glacial period, continents and surrounding shelves in high latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere were covered by ice sheets. Their retreat during the late Pleistocene and Holocene resulted in isostatic adjustments of the previously glaciated landmass, which influenced post-glacial changes in relative sea level (RSL). Many questions, however, remain about the timing and [...]
Constraining the paleoclimate and paleoecology of the Selandian – Thanetian transition in the Lower Wilcox, Texas Gulf Coast
Published: 2025-07-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The Selandian–Thanetian Transition Event (STTE) represents a relatively understudied interval of carbon cycle instability and environmental disruption during the Paleocene. This study presents a comprehensive sedimentological, palynological, and geochemical record of the STTE based on two shallow marine wells (Moczygemba VT #11 and Vogelsang Frieda #1) from the Texas Gulf Coast. Our multi-proxy [...]
Machine Learning Insights into the Geochemical Life Cycle of the Columbia River Flood Basalts
Published: 2025-07-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Stratigraphy, Volcanology
Flood basalts are challenging to characterize in detail, despite enormous their erupted volumes, due to their age and chemical homogeneity. Here we explore machine learning (ML) approaches for classification and pattern identification in whole rock geochemical data of the Columbia River Flood Basalts (CRFB), which provide key constraints on magma generation, transport, and emplacement. We utilize [...]
Continental-Scale Carbonate Sedimentation and Environmental Correlates of the Shuram-Wonoka Excursion
Published: 2025-07-01
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Strata of the Ediacaran Period record many Earth-Life features that distinguish the Neoproterozoic-Phanerozoic transition. However, it is difficult to determine cause and effect relationships between Ediacaran events. Continental-scale patterns of sedimentation have been used as proxies to investigate controls on Phanerozoic macroevolution, including sea level drivers and potential carbon cycling [...]
Generative geomodelling: Deep Learning vs. Geostatistics
Published: 2025-06-20
Subjects: Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Hydrology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Generative geomodelling aims to simulate subsurface facies distributions while honoring multiple types of conditioning data and geological knowledge. This study selects three typical multiple-point statistics (MPS) approaches—Direct Sampling (DS), Quick Sampling (QS), and SNESIM—and two Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) workflows—post-GANs perturbation and GANSim—as representatives to compare [...]
Unprecedented decline in modern coral reef communities could indicate the onset of the Anthropocene
Published: 2025-06-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Stratigraphy
Coral reefs have experienced widespread and accelerated decline, driven by a combination of global and local anthropogenic stressors. To contextualize these changes, we compared the composition of coral reef communities on Curaçao between 1973 and 2023 with that of corals preserved in fossil reefs from the Last Interglacial period (128–116 ka). These fossil reefs, exposed along the island’s [...]
A revised boundary between the Scoor Pelitic Gneiss and the Lagan Mòr Formation in SW Mull?
Published: 2025-05-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
The Moine rocks of SW Mull have played a key role in our understanding of the Moine sequence in the NW Highlands. The Mull sequence was thought uniquely, to contain a continuous sedimentary sequence relating the Morar and Glenfinnan units seen elsewhere in Scotland. However, recent work by Krabbendam et al. (2021) and others, suggests that the Mull sequence does contain a major tectonic break, [...]
Volcano stratigraphy and mapping
Published: 2025-04-08
Subjects: Stratigraphy, Volcanology
Volcano-geologic mapping and stratigraphic reconstructions provide important information toward understanding patterns of edifice construction and destruction of volcanic systems, their eruptive histories and recurrence rates, and magmatic evolution and plumbing systems, all of which are required to make informed hazard assessments. Geologic mapping of volcanic terrains also provides context in [...]
Dating Oligocene-Recent siliciclastic sediment sequences from the Norwegian Sea
Published: 2025-04-05
Subjects: Stratigraphy
The Norwegian Sea is crucial for ocean circulation and global climate and has therefore long been a focus in paleoceanography. However, precise dating of sediments has often proved difficult, due to poor preservation and endemism among microfossils and the discontinuous nature of many records. One important Norwegian Sea Site, Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 643, is of particular interest, [...]
Ediacaran coupling of climate and biosphere dynamics
Published: 2025-03-14
Subjects: Climate, Glaciology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Throughout the Phanerozoic (538.8 Ma to present), climate change is demonstrably linked to radiations, extinctions, and turnovers in the biosphere. Here, we show that this connection existed in the late Ediacaran (~579 to 538.8 Ma), the first interval in Earth’s history to host complex macro-organisms, including early metazoans. Current correlations of glacial sedimentary deposits have been used [...]
Where has all the Sinter gone? From the Pink and White Terraces, the Greatest Tourist Attraction of the Southern Hemisphere
Published: 2025-02-02
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Geology, Geomorphology, Other Geography, Paleontology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Spatial Science, Stratigraphy, Volcanology
Debate continues over the silica sinter Pink and White Terraces, the greatest tourist attraction of the southern hemisphere. The 1886 Tarawera eruption may or may not have destroyed them by burial or eruption. This research compiles surviving sinter. The volume is unexpectedly tiny, which bears on the debate. A database was developed including photography. A forensic approach was taken to [...]