Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Stratigraphy
Geodynamic Model Description for Ptolemy’s Germania Magna
Published: 2026-05-13
Subjects: Analysis, Astrophysics and Astronomy, Dynamical Systems, Dynamic Systems, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Mathematics, Other Applied Mathematics, Other Astrophysics and Astronomy, Other Earth Sciences, Other Planetary Sciences, Planetary Geology, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure, The Sun and the Solar System, Volcanology
This model proposes that the well-documented geodynamic and climatic disruption of the 6th century AD involved a reactivation of the ancient Caledonian Deformation Front (CDF) and the Trans-European Suture Zone (TESZ), most likely triggered by cosmic events in the form of impacts or airbursts. Large-scale inversion tectonics, driven by Alpine compressive forces, are argued to have caused [...]
River intermittency and Eocene climate change in the Castissent and Montllobat formations of the southern Pyrenean Foreland
Published: 2026-05-07
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Patterns of river water and sediment transport through time, or river intermittency factors, are generally considered to be highly sensitive to climate and tectonics. Determining the intermittency of rivers in ancient hothouse climates could provide a unique lens through which to investigate Earth’s response to climate change. However, this requires strong constraints on both mean and bankfull [...]
Reevaluating the Abbabis Complex: Intrusive relationships and melt connectivity in a syn-orogenic migmatite–granite system, Damara Orogen, Namibia
Published: 2026-04-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
The Abbabis Complex in the Damara Orogen has long been interpreted as a pre-Damaran (c. 1–2 Ga) basement terrane unconformably overlain by Neoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks of the Damara Supergroup. New field mapping and geochemical data from the Ida Dome and Husabberg Anticlinorium encourages re-evaluation of this interpretation. The Abbabis Complex comprises migmatites, larger leucogranite [...]
Agent-based Modelling of Microbialite Formation through Sedimentation and Precipitation Dynamics
Published: 2026-04-13
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Other Earth Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Fossil microbialites resulting from the interplay of sedimentation and microbially induced precipitation are among the oldest evidence of life on Earth and help geobiologists interpret many sedimentary environments. However, the factors governing their internal structure and external morphology are still poorly understood. Additionally, abiotic processes can mimic the morphology of some [...]
Astronomical pacing of the Ludfordian Biogeochemical Event, the largest carbon cycle perturbation of the Phanerozoic
Published: 2026-01-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Stratigraphy
The Kosov Quarry section (Prague Basin, Czech Republic) preserves one of the most complete Silurian successions spanning the Ludfordian (late Silurian) Biogeochemical Event (LBE), encompassing the mid-Ludfordian Carbon Isotope Excursion (MLCIE), the largest positive δ13Ccarb excursion of the Phanerozoic. The LBE is associated with climatic cooling, redox reorganisation, sea-level change, and [...]
Reconstruction of plate tectonic evolution and orogenesis of the Central Tethysides (Iran, Afghanistan) since the Permian
Published: 2026-01-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
The Central Tethysides constitute the Iranian and Afghan section of the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt. Two large sutures in the north and south are widely considered to represent the closed Paleo- and Neotethys ocean, respectively, with a 'Cimmerian' continent in between that traveled from Gondwana-Land to Eurasia in the Permo-Triassic and reconnected with Arabia in the late Oligocene. However, [...]
Reviewing chronostratigraphic uncertainty of the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition
Published: 2026-01-02
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Stratigraphy
The Ediacaran-Cambrian transition archives the widespread disappearance of ‘Ediacaran-type’ soft-bodied biota and the appearance of most modern animal body plans, including a major diversification of skeletal animals and styles of animal-substrate interaction. Despite over a century of study, our ability to confidently reconstruct the series of macroevolutionary events that inform origination and [...]
Fault migration and basin evolution during complex rifting: examples from the western North Gulf of Evia, Greece
Published: 2025-12-24
Subjects: Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Understanding dynamic processes of faulting and basin evolution across timescales in complex rift settings remains a key challenge in active continental tectonics. This is in part due to a limited number of young rift systems with well constrained, high-resolution age models derived from subsurface datasets. We aim to address this challenge and advance our understanding of time-dependent [...]
Joint Rock Physics Inversion and Basin Modeling for Comprehensive Source Rock Characterization
Published: 2025-12-15
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
This study presents an integrated workflow that combines statistical rock physics inversion with Monte Carlo basin modeling to comprehensively quantify source rock properties and their uncertainties. First, well-log and seismically-derived elastic properties are used in a statistical rock physics inversion to estimate porosity, kerogen content, and mineral fractions. These posterior distributions [...]
Revised History of Pleistocene Vertical Motions in NE Sicily and Southern Calabria, Italy, from 40Ar/39Ar Dating and Fault Zone Morphology
Published: 2025-12-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Long-term rates of crustal uplift in southern Calabria and NE Sicily are incompletely understood due to limited information about the age of marine terraces at 1.0–1.3 km above sea level (asl). This study provides a new constraint on high-elevation terrace ages through integrated analysis of geochronology, stratigraphy, shoreline modeling, and fault-zone morphology. 40Ar/39Ar step-heating [...]
Relict landscapes and fluvial landforms: Catastrophic outflow following a major Late Messinian base-level fall
Published: 2025-11-06
Subjects: Analysis, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Mathematics, Physics, Stratigraphy
During the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), the entire Mediterranean Basins underwent dramatic canyon incision along its margins due to fluctuating sea levels and rapidly increasing salinity. However, the specific processes and water sources responsible for such profound landscape transformations have yet to be quantitatively demonstrated. In this study, we combine high resolution 3D seismic [...]
Formation of Parasequence-like Successions at Different Depositional Hierarchical Scales
Published: 2025-10-30
Subjects: Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The interpretation of parasequences is often complicated by ambiguities in the definition of key surfaces, uncertainties in interpretation of facies successions, varying data quality, and different rules of thumb (heuristics) used for identification. The number of interpreted parasequences in an area can, for example, be directly influenced by factors such as the number of data points, the [...]
A new source-to-sink synthesis of the Middle Triassic Helsby Sandstone Formation (Sherwood Sandstone Group) river system in the British Isles
Published: 2025-10-30
Subjects: Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Sediment grain size and mineralogy change in sediment routing systems from source to sink. A better understanding of sediment routing allows improved predictions to be made of the bulk grain-size and mineralogy of sandstone fairways. We present a new appraisal of sediment routing in the Triassic Helsby Sandstone Formation (Sherwood Sandstone Group) and lowermost Mercia Mudstone Group of the [...]
Semi-automated correlation of Silurian well-logs across Gotland, Sweden, using Dynamic Time Warping with Barycenter Averaging
Published: 2025-10-16
Subjects: Stratigraphy
Studies of the Silurian sequence on Gotland have significantly advanced our understanding of Silurian climate dynamics, with much of the research focusing on small outcrops and short cores. Gotland has an extensive network of abandoned oil and gas wells. Most of these include gamma-ray well logs, which have not yet been fully utilized for their stratigraphic value. While the Ordovician succession [...]
Radiogenic Sr-Nd-Pb isotope behavior in different grain-sized fine lithic materials during basalt weathering
Published: 2025-10-15
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Radiogenic isotopes are widely used as sediment provenance tracers; however, their weathering response has not been fully established. This study investigates the weathering sensitivity of Sr-Nd-Pb isotopes in fine lithic fractions (FLF; grain size <2 μm, <5 μm, and <20 μm) capable of long-range transport. Geochemical and isotope compositions have been measured in the physicochemically [...]