Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Stratigraphy
Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of shallow-marine, coarse-grained siliciclastic deposits in the southern Utsira High: the Late Jurassic intra-Draupne Formation sandstones in the Johan Sverdrup Field (Norwegian North Sea).
Published: 2023-06-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Thin, condensed coarse-grained shallow-marine successions can be difficult to describe and interpret, especially in the subsurface because they commonly lack finer grained intervals which are typically associated with sequence stratigraphic surfaces. This lack of mudstones and siltstones means that they also typically make excellent reservoir intervals. The Oxfordian to Volgian intra-Draupne [...]
Seismic Stratigraphy of Contourite Drift Deposits Associated with the Loop Current on the Eastern Campeche Bank, Gulf of Mexico
Published: 2023-06-08
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Oceanography, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The Loop Current is a key component of global circulation via the northward transport of warm, salty water and an important influence on Gulf of Mexico hydrography. Understanding how the Loop Current will respond to ongoing anthropogenic warming is critically important, but the history of the Loop Current is poorly known. Here, we present the results of a high resolution (3-8 m) multichannel [...]
Structure and Morphology of an Active Conjugate Relay Zone, Messina Strait, Southern Italy
Published: 2023-03-11
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Messina Strait is a narrow fault-bounded marine basin that separates the Calabrian peninsula from Sicily in southern Italy. It sits in a seismically active region where normal fault scarps and raised Quaternary marine terraces record ongoing extension driven by southeastward rollback of the Calabrian subduction zone. A review of published studies and new data shows that normal faults in the [...]
Steady decline in mean annual air temperatures in the first 30 ka after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary
Published: 2023-03-06
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Stratigraphy
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary marks one of the five major mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic. How the climate system responded to a bolide impact and extensive volcanism at this time over different timescales is highly debated. Here we use the distribution of branched tetraether lipids (brGDGT) from fossil peats at two sites in Saskatchewan, Canada (paleolatitude ~55°N), to generate a [...]
Exceptional preservation of three-dimensional dunes on an ancient deep-marine seafloor: implications for sedimentary processes and depositional environments
Published: 2023-01-19
Subjects: Geology, Stratigraphy
Depositional and erosional bedforms can be used to reconstruct sedimentary processes and aid paleoenvironmental interpretations. Using exhumed deep-marine strata in the Eocene Aínsa Basin, Spain, we document a 3-dimensional package of dunes; a relatively rarely identified bedform in deep-marine environments. Our analysis shows that the dunes have curvilinear crests in planform, with smaller [...]
Are marl-limestone alternations mainly driven by CaCO3 variations at the astronomical timescale? New insights from extraterrestrial 3He
Published: 2023-01-07
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Marl-limestone alternations are rhythmical inter-bedded deposits that commonly occur in many sedimentological environments. It is quite well established that these lithological variations originate from astronomically-driven climatic variations paced by the Milankovitch cycles of main periods 19, 23, 41, 100 and 405 ka. However, the sedimentological mechanisms involved are not clear: some models [...]
Use of remote-sensing to quantify the distribution of progradation/erosion along a forced-regressive modern coastline: driving factors and impact on the stratigraphic record
Published: 2022-12-13
Subjects: Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The long-term development of ancient and modern coastal distributary distributive fluvial systems (DFSs) during periods of relative sea-level highstand or fall usually drives net-progradation of shorelines. Such systems often develop in periods of relative sea-level highstand or fall and typically record annual to millennial-scale deviations in coastal trajectories. A new continental dataset [...]
Correlation of geological complexes of the Khan-Tengri Mountain massif
Published: 2022-12-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Researchers of the border regions of Xinjiang and the Central Asian countries are actively discussing two alternative models for the relationships between the main structural units of the Tianshan mountains. Most researchers believe that the Kyrgyz Middle Tianshan wedges out to the east along the Atbashi-Inylchek-Nalati marginal fault. According to the second hypothesis, the structures of the [...]
Evolution of intraplate magmatism atop a mantle plume: geochemical and chronological analysis of Shawahit Basalt, Harrat Rahat, Saudi Arabia
Published: 2022-11-15
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Harrat Rahat is the largest volcanic eld in Saudi Arabia and has been active from ~10 Ma to the present day. Due to its close proximity to important population centres, Harrat Rahat's recent eruptions, the Medinah lava flows (< 1.7 Ma), have been extensively studied to identify volcanic risk. However, the evolution of Harrat Rahat's most extensive and oldest lava flows, known collectively as the [...]
The unknown fate of macroplastic in mountain rivers
Published: 2022-11-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Sustainability, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Water Resource Management
Mountain rivers are typically seen as relatively pristine ecosystems, supporting numerous goods (e.g., water resources) for human populations living not only in the mountain regions but also downstream from them. Recent evidence suggests, however, that mountain river valleys in populated areas can be substantially polluted by macroplastic (plastic item > 5 mm). It is, however, unknown how [...]
Short Communication: The Wasserstein distance as a dissimilarity metric for comparing detrital age spectra, and other geological distributions
Published: 2022-10-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Distributional data such as detrital age populations or grain size distributions are common in the geological sciences. As analytical techniques become more sophisticated, increasingly large amounts of distributional data are being gathered. These advances require quantitative and objective methods, such as multidimensional scaling (MDS), to analyse large numbers of samples. Crucial to such [...]
North Atlantic Drift Sediments Constrain Eocene Tidal Dissipation and the Evolution of the Earth-Moon System
Published: 2022-09-15
Subjects: Geochemistry, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Cyclostratigraphy and astrochronology are now at the forefront of geologic timekeeping. While this technique heavily relies on the accuracy of astronomical calculations, solar system chaos limits how far back astronomical calculations can be performed with confidence. High-resolution paleoclimate records with Milankovitch imprints now allow reversing the traditional cyclostratigraphic approach: [...]
Down-delta hydraulic geometry and its application to the rock record
Published: 2022-08-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Paleodischarge estimation is largely undertaken within fluvial settings, and there are limited paleodischarge estimates specifically from delta deposits, despite their significance globally. Making water paleodischarge estimates for deltas using catchment-based approaches developed using data from fluvial settings requires estimation of parameters from the rock record (e.g. paleotemperature, [...]
Practical sampling criteria for using delta channel width to estimate paleodischarge in the rock record
Published: 2022-08-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Quantifying paleodischarge from geological field observations have been for decades, and remains, a key research challenge. Several paleodischarge scaling relationships have been developed for fluvial environments, such as BQART, Fulcrum and regional hydraulic geometry or for river deltas by precluding the role of wave and tide. In deltas where marine (wave, tide) energy causes bidirectional [...]
Automated stratigraphic correlation and model building using chronostratigraphic principles
Published: 2022-08-08
Subjects: Sedimentology, Software Engineering, Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic correlation of geophysical well logs is one of the most important - and most time-consuming - tasks that applied geoscientists perform on a daily basis. Using the dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm, automated correlation of two wells is a fairly simple task; DTW can also be used to correlate a large number of wells along a single path. However, errors accumulate along a path and [...]