Preprints
There are 7643 Preprints listed.
Azores–Canaries mantle plume interactions revealed by seismic imaging
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Mantle plumes transport heat and material from the deep Earth towards the surface, yet how neighbouring plumes interact and influence mantle flow remains poorly understood. The Azores--Madeira--Canaries region, which hosts several closely spaced mantle upwellings, provides a unique opportunity to investigate these processes. Here we use data from the UPFLOW experiment, an unprecedented [...]
Evaluating Biochar Crediting Protocols for Durable Carbon Removal
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
As biochar expands as a source of carbon credits it has become increasingly clear that there are major differences among biochar protocols. This variation can make it challenging for producers to choose protocols and can make it difficult for buyers to understand the comparative value of different certified biochar credits, and in both these cases investor confidence is jeopardized. Here we [...]
Approaches and challenges in estimating economic loss from tsunami damage models
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Earth Sciences
Tsunami damage assessment as a field has been steadily gaining momentum in the scientific community, and one of the most common ways in which damage has been quantified is by fragility functions. However, how tsunami damage models can be applied to practical disaster risk management is still relatively underexplored. An important aspect of disaster risk management is loss estimations. Loss [...]
Mineral-specific ligand and redox dynamics of adsorbed platinum: Pathway-dependent mobility during terrestrial weathering
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Geochemistry
Weathering zones developed above ultramafic rocks, such as oxidized ores, soils, and laterites, concentrate the critical mineral platinum and represent a promising future resource. Prior work has documented Pt accumulation in these zones, including its common association with iron oxides. However, the fundamental mechanisms that control Pt retention versus mobilization during weathering are not [...]
Variance-ranked sound speed bases misclassify the surface duct: limits of profile RMSE as a proxy for acoustic prediction skill in the Bay of Bengal
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Geography, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Sound speed profile (SSP) estimation from surface observables is operationally mature and is evaluated almost universally by profile root-mean-square error. Using 19,934 Argo profiles from the Bay of Bengal (2005–2020), season-stratified empirical orthogonal function (EOF) bases, and BELLHOP transmission loss (TL) at 500 Hz, 1500 Hz and 3500 Hz over 24 held-out locations, we show that this metric [...]
Undrained fault-zone poroelastic feedback enables the 2011 Prague earthquake cascade
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Subsurface fluid injection supports wastewater disposal, geothermal energy, and geological storage but can trigger damaging earthquakes. Predicting whether an injection-triggered rupture stops or spreads across multiple faults remains challenging. In the 2011 Prague, Oklahoma, sequence, the mechanism enabling rupture transfer to the fault hosting the third large earthquake has remained [...]
Evolving Biofilm Morphology Controls Microplastic Transport in Porous Media
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Microplastics (MPs) entering soils and subsurface environments interact with biofilms that continually reshape pore geometry and local flow pathways, yet biofilm effects on MP transport are only studied under fixed conditions. Here, we used a saturated microfluidic porous medium to directly image biofilm development and track fluorescent polyethylene MPs at different stages of biofilm growth. [...]
Decoupling Kinetic and Hydrological Controls on Global Silicate Weathering via a Stratified Observational Factorial Framework
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Design of Experiments and Sample Surveys, Geochemistry
The chemical weathering of continental silicate rocks is a primary geological mechanism for long-term atmospheric CO₂ sequestration and climate stabilization. However, a longstanding scientific debate persists regarding whether global silicate weathering is fundamentally driven by temperature (kinetic limits) or by physical erosion and hydrology (transport and flushing limits). Resolving this [...]
Particle morphology and electrostatic screening shape salinity-dependent flocculation and settling of fine blasted tunnel sediments
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
Rock-blasted fine-grained sediments generated during tunnel excavation may enter receiving waters that range from freshwater to marine conditions. Yet the combined roles of primary-particle morphology and salinity-dependent electrostatic interactions in their settling remain poorly understood. In this work, fine sediments from five Norwegian tunnel construction sites were investigated using [...]
A Formal Framework for Measuring Institutional Collapse under a Nuclear Winter Scenario
Published: 2026-09-16
Subjects: Social and Behavioral Sciences
A medium-scale regional nuclear exchange could plausibly loft ~16 Teragrams (16 * 10¹² grams, Tg) of soot into the stratosphere, sufficient to reduce conventional agricultural output past the ~30% threshold at which large-scale starvation emerges. Alternative food-production methods could restore sufficient caloric supply in the United States, but scaling them to ~70% of pre-shock capacity [...]
Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urban Expansion in Awka and its Environs, Nigeria Using Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery and Google Earth Engine (2021 to 2026)
Published: 2026-09-16
Subjects: Remote Sensing, Spatial Science
Abstract Rapid urbanization in secondary administrative and educational hubs across sub-Saharan Africa presents significant challenges for regional planning, infrastructure development, and sustainable resource allocation. This study evaluates the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban expansion in Awka and its environs Anambra State, Nigeria, between 2021 and 2026 using cloud-based remote sensing [...]
Critical mineral pathfinder targeting in the Aravalli basement (northwest India) calibrated against age and tectonically-matched Western Australian analogues using the AuScope EarthBank platform
Published: 2026-09-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Critical mineral element fingerprints established in Australian regional geochemistry could accelerate exploration in geologically comparable but less-characterised terranes of north-west India, provided that a defensible basis for comparison can be established. We present a drainage-based method for identifying age and tectonically-matched Australian analogues for north-west Indian [...]
Evaluations of Climate-Informed Early Warning Systems for Foodborne, Waterborne, and Vector-Borne Diseases: A Scoping Review
Published: 2026-09-16
Subjects: Public Health
Climate change is altering infectious disease risk over time and across geographies. These changing risks can negatively impact human health and pose challenges to health systems. Anticipating outbreaks before they happen and implementing adaptive measures can help reduce the burden of climate-sensitive infectious diseases. Climate-informed early warning systems (CIEWS) are integrated systems of [...]
Global isotopic proxy records for Ordovician temperature reconstruction
Published: 2026-09-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The Ordovician represents a critical interval in the Phanerozoic, marked by two profound biological events: the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), with an unprecedented tenfold increase in marine species diversity, which was abruptly terminated by the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME), one of the most severe extinction events in Earth's history, wiping out approximately 85% of [...]
Mitigating Summertime Marine Heatwaves via Targeted Marine Cloud Brightening
Published: 2026-09-16
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Marine heatwaves (MHWs) negatively impact marine ecosystems and coastal economies. Here, we evaluate whether a preemptive, short-term, localized surface emission of sea salt aerosols (marine cloud brightening, MCB) can mitigate the impacts of a predicted MHW without creating significant effects beyond the intervention zone. As a case study, we apply MCB to the 2019 Northeast Pacific MHW, "The [...]