Preprints
There are 4724 Preprints listed.
U-Pb zircon ages, mapping, and biostratigraphy of the Payette Formation and Idaho Group north of the western Snake River Plain: implications for hydrocarbon system correlation
Published: 2021-10-15
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The sedimentary deposits north of the western Snake River Plain host Idaho’s first and only producing oil and gas field. They consist of the mid-Miocene Payette Formation, the mid-late Miocene Chalk Hills Formation, and the Pliocene to early Pleistocene Glenns Ferry Formation. Using new geochronology, palynomorph biostratigraphy, and geologic mapping, we connect up-dip surface features to [...]
Consistent Controls on Trace Metal Micronutrient Speciation in Wetland Soils and Stream Sediments
Published: 2021-10-15
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Geochemistry, Soil Science
Trace metal are essential for microbially-mediated biogeochemical processes occurring in anoxic wetland soils and stream bed sediments, but low availability of these elements may inhibit anaerobic element cycling and transformations. Solid-phase speciation is likely a critical control on trace metal availability but has seen limited study in anoxic systems having concentrations similar to [...]
Tidal marsh resilience to sea level rise controlled by vertical accretion and landward migration under nature-based human adaptation scenarios
Published: 2021-10-15
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Geography, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Plant Sciences
Tidal marshes are not only lost to human disturbance but also face the threat of sea level rise (SLR). However, current earth system models used to estimate future changes in wetland extent omit wetland’s real responses to SLR without field observations. We synthesised global data on sediment accretion rate (SAR) and surface elevation change (SEC) for tidal marshes and developed a mathematical [...]
Volcanic hazard exacerbated by future global warming–driven increase in heavy rainfall.
Published: 2021-10-15
Subjects: Climate, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Heavy rainfall drives a range of eruptive and noneruptive volcanic hazards; over the Holocene, the incidence of many such hazards has increased due to rapid climate change. Here we show that extreme heavy rainfall is projected to increase with continued global warming throughout the 21st century in most subaerial volcanic regions, dramatically increasing the potential for rainfall-induced [...]
Kathmandu Basin as a local modulator of seismic waves: 2D modelling of nonlinear site response under obliquely incident waves
Published: 2021-10-15
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering
The 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake is the largest event to have struck the capital city of Kathmandu in recent times. One of its surprising features was the frequency content of the recorded ground motion, exhibiting a notable amplification at low frequencies (< 2 Hz) and a contrasting depletion at higher frequencies. The latter has been partially attributed to the damper behaviour of the [...]
Decline of sea-ice in the Greenland Sea intensifies extreme precipitation over Svalbard
Published: 2021-10-14
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Extreme precipitation over the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic can have severe consequences for the ecosystem and society. In recent years several extreme precipitation events have been observed at Ny Ålesund, a weather station in the north-western part of the Svalbard Archipelago. The most recent observed events in the years 2012, 2016, and 2018 were the highest events in the entire [...]
Volcanologists - Who are we and where are we going?
Published: 2021-10-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geography, Human Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volcanology
Equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) are principles all scientific groups and organisations should strive to achieve as they secure working conditions, policies and practices that not only promote high-quality scientific output but also well-being in their communities. In this article, we reflect on the progress of EDI in volcanology by presenting data related to memberships of international [...]
Desiccation of the Transboundary Hamun Lakes between Iran and Afghanistan in Response to Hyro-climatic Droughts and Anthropogenic Activities
Published: 2021-10-13
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
This paper investigates the hydro-climatic reasons behind the desiccation of the Hamun Lakes in the Iran-Afghanistan border. We analyzed changes in the flow of the Hirmand River (90 percent of the total inflow to the lakes) at the international border, and precipitation over this river’s sub-basin during 1960-2016 by calculating standardized indices for precipitation (SPI) and discharge (SDI). We [...]
Systems-thinking for environmental policy coherence: Stakeholder knowledge, fuzzy logic, and causal reasoning
Published: 2021-10-13
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Studies
Environmental policies are often chosen according to physical characteristics that disregard the complex interactions between decision-makers, society, and nature. Environmental policy resistance has been identified as stemming from such complexities, yet we lack an understanding of how social and physical factors interrelate to inform policy design. The identification of synergies and trade-offs [...]
Sand-capping stabilizes muddy sediment and improves benthic light conditions in eutrophic estuaries: laboratory verification and the potential for recovery of eelgrass (Zostera marina)
Published: 2021-10-12
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Decades of eutrophication have increased water turbidity in Danish estuaries and led to light limitation of eelgrass (Zostera marina) growth. Former eelgrass areas are now denuded and consist of organic-rich muddy sediment with frequent resuspension events that maintain a high turbidity state. In addition, low anchoring capacity of eelgrass in the soft organic-rich sediments has contributed to [...]
A rapid sedimentary response to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum hydrological change: new data from alluvial units of the Tremp-Graus Basin (Spanish Pyrenees)
Published: 2021-10-12
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A massive emission of light carbon about 56 Ma ago, recorded in marine and terrestrial sediments by a negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE), caused a short-lived (~170 kyr) global warming event known as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The core of this event is represented in the south Pyrenean Tremp-Graus Basin by two successive alluvial units, the Claret Conglomerate (CC) and the [...]
Sedimentary response to current and nutrient regime rearrangement in the Eastern Mediterranean Realm during the early to middle Miocene (southwestern Cyprus)
Published: 2021-10-12
Subjects: Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
During the early and middle Miocene, the Mediterranean had become a restricted marginal marine sea with diminishing and ultimate loss of connectivity to the Indian Ocean. This dramatically changed the heat, energy, freshwater and nutrient budgets across the Mediterranean and most notably in its eastern basin. While one of the most prominent lines of evidence of this change in the Eastern [...]
In-situ hydrogen wettability characterisation for Underground Hydrogen Storage
Published: 2021-10-12
Subjects: Engineering
Hydrogen storage in subsurface aquifers or depleted gas reservoirs represents a viable seasonal and/or long-term energy storage solution. However, currently, there is a scarcity of subsurface petrophysical data for the hydrogen system, limiting modelling work and industrial rollout. In this work, we address the knowledge gap by determining the wettability and Interfacial Tension (IFT) of the [...]
Exposures and behavioral responses to wildfire smoke
Published: 2021-10-12
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Public Health, Environmental Studies, Statistical Models
The impacts of environmental change on human outcomes often depend on local exposures and behavioral responses that are challenging to observe with traditional administrative or sensor data. We show how data from private pollution sensors, cell phones, social media posts, and internet search activity yield new insights on exposures and behavioral responses during large wildfire smoke events [...]
Efficiency improvement and technology choice for energy and emission reductions of the residential sector
Published: 2021-10-11
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Studies, Sustainability
The residential sector currently accounts for one fifth of global energy use and corresponding greenhouse gas emissions, largely driven by increasing demand for space heating and cooling. Climate change mitigation action requires these to reduce, but the exact decarbonization strategies and their heterogeneity is unclear. We use a regional recursive dynamic energy system model with an explicit [...]