Preprints
There are 5493 Preprints listed.
Defining renewable groundwater use and its relevance to sustainable groundwater management
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Groundwater systems are commonly, but variously, defined as renewable or non-renewable based on natural fluxes of recharge or on estimates of aquifer storage and groundwater residence time. However, we show here that the principle of capture challenges simple definitions so that a groundwater system cannot be renewable or non-renewable in and of itself, but only with reference to how the [...]
Using Lagrangian filtering to remove waves from the ocean surface velocity field
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Oceanography
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite will measure altimetry on scales down to about 15km: at these scales, the sea-surface-height signature of inertia-gravity waves, including barotropic tides and internal tides, will be visible. However, tides and inertia-gravity waves have little impact on tracer transport. Recent work has shown that Lagrangian filtering can be used to [...]
A Practical Guide to Virtual Outcrop Photogrammetry in Earth Science
Published: 2022-05-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In 2021, a photogrammetric model of a 7 km coastal cliff section of the Tjörnes Peninsula, NE Iceland was constructed to provide a “virtual geological outcrop” at a spatial resolution of approximately 5 cm or less. Field expedition planning and post-expedition processing were somewhat hampered by a lack of freely accessible guiding resources. This document presents a first-hand case study of [...]
Sorption vs Adsorption: the words they are a-changin', not the phenomena
Published: 2022-05-17
Subjects: Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
In this discussion, we highlight that the terms sorption and adsorption are often confused and misused in many articles. Even if one thought their formal definition is well known, this does not appear to be the case. We recommend encouragement to adopt the word adsorption only when fully supported by appropriate data and using the sorption terminology when it is more speculative, typically in [...]
A very unconventional hydrocarbon play: the Mesoproterozoic Velkerri Formation of Northern Australia
Published: 2022-05-16
Subjects: Geochemistry, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
The ca. 1.5–1.3 Ga Roper Group of the greater McArthur Basin is a component of one of the most extensive Precambrian hydrocarbon-bearing basins preserved in the geological record, recently assessed as containing 429 million barrels of oil and eight trillion cubic feet of gas (in place). It was deposited in an intra-cratonic sea, referred to here as the McArthur-Yanliao Gulf. The Velkerri [...]
The quest for the missing plastics: Large uncertainties in river plastic export into the sea
Published: 2022-05-16
Subjects: Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Studies, Hydrology
Plastic pollution in the natural environment is causing increasing concern at both the local and global scale. Understanding the dispersion of plastic through the environment is of key importance for the effective implementation of preventive measures and cleanup strategies. Over the past few years, various models have been developed to estimate the transport of plastics in rivers, using limited [...]
Quantifying excess heavy metal concentrations in drainage basins using conservative mixing models
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
High concentrations of heavy metals and other pollutants in river sediments can have detrimental effects on the ecosystem and humans. The composition of river sediments throughout drainage basins therefore provides important information for environmental monitoring. An obvious first step for using river sediment compositions for monitoring is to quantify natural baseline concentrations. Once [...]
Future projections for the Antarctic ice sheet until the year 2300 with a climate-index method
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
As part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6 (ISMIP6) was devised to assess the likely sea-level-rise contribution from the Earth's ice sheets. Here, we construct an ensemble of climate forcings for Antarctica until the year 2300 based on original ISMIP6 forcings until 2100, combined with climate indices from [...]
Hydraulic fracturing: Laboratory evidence of the brittle-to-ductile transition with depth
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Petroleum Engineering
Understanding the propagation of hydraulic fracture (HF) is essential for effectively stimulating the hydrocarbon production of unconventional reservoirs. Hydraulic fracturing may induce distinct failure modes within the formation, depending on the rheology of the solid and the in-situ stresses. A brittle-to-ductile transition of HF is thus anticipated with increasing depth, although only scarce [...]
Early development and tuning of a global coupled cloud resolving model, and its fast response to increasing CO2
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Since the dawn of functioning numerical dynamical atmosphere- and ocean models, their resolution has steadily increased, fed by an exponential growth in computational capabilities. The computationally limited resolution of models means that a number of mostly small-scale or micro-scale processes have to be parameterised -- in particular those of atmospheric moist convection and ocean eddies are [...]
Complex fault system revealed from 3-D seismic reflection data with deep learning and fault network analysis
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
Understanding where normal faults are is critical to an accurate assessment of seismic hazard, the successful exploration for and production of natural (including low-carbon) resources, and for the safe subsurface storage of CO2. Our current knowledge of normal fault systems is largely derived from seismic reflection data imaging intra-continental rifts and continental margins. However, [...]
Broadband Ocean Bottom Seismometer Noise Properties
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
We present a new compilation and analysis of broadband ocean bottom seismometer noise properties from 15 years of seismic deployments. We compile a comprehensive dataset of representative four-component (seismometer and pressure gauge) noise spectra and cross-spectral properties (coherence, phase, and admittance) for 551 unique stations spanning 18 US-led experiments. This is matched with a [...]
Cutting down trees does not build prosperity: On the continued decoupling of Amazon deforestation and economic development in 21st century Brazil
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Forest Management, Life Sciences, Nature and Society Relations, Remote Sensing
Background and aims: We present evidence examining spatial and temporal patterns in forest cover changes and economic progress in Brazilian Amazonia. Specifically we tested two predictions embedded in arguments used by influential interest groups: i) where there is less forest cover economic progress should increase and ii) areas with most recent deforestation should have increased economic [...]
Analog experiments in volcanology: towards multimethod, upscaled and integrated models
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
For decades scaled analog experiments have improved the understanding of a broad range of multiphase volcanological processes in controlled laboratory environments. Successfully modeled processes include magma flow through magma reservoirs, conduits and sheets, associated crustal deformation, lava flow, volcanic plume dynamics, ash cloud dispersion, pyroclast sedimentation, pyroclastic density [...]
Rheology of debris-flow materials is controlled by the distance from jamming
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Debris flows are dense and fast-moving complex suspensions of soil and water that threaten lives and infrastructure. Assessing the hazard potential of debris flows requires predicting yield and flow behavior. Reported measurements of rheology for debris-flow slurries are highly variable and sometimes contradictory, due to heterogeneity in grain size, shape, chemical composition, and solid-volume [...]