Preprints
There are 4725 Preprints listed.
Seismic reflection data reveal the 3D structure of the newly discovered Exmouth Dyke Swarm, offshore NW Australia
Published: 2019-12-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Dyke swarms are common on Earth and other planetary bodies, comprising arrays of dykes that can extend laterally for 10’s to 1000’s of kilometres. The vast extent of such dyke swarms, and their presumed rapid emplacement, means they can significantly influence a variety of planetary processes, including continental break-up, crustal extension, resource accumulation, and volcanism. Determining the [...]
Glacial cooling and climate sensitivity revisited
Published: 2019-12-25
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), one of the best-studied paleoclimatic intervals, offers a prime opportunity to investigate how the climate system responds to changes in greenhouse gases (GHGs) and the cryosphere. Previous work has sought to constrain the magnitude and pattern of glacial cooling from paleothermometers, but the uneven distribution of the proxies, as well as their uncertainties, has [...]
Back-propagating super-shear rupture in the 2016 Mw7.1 Romanche transform fault earthquake
Published: 2019-12-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
How an earthquake rupture propagates strongly influences potentially destructive ground shaking. Complex ruptures often involve slip along multiple faults, masking information on the frictional behaviour of fault zones. Geometrically smooth ocean transform fault plate boundaries offer a favourable environment to study fault dynamics, because strain is accommodated along a single, wide fault zone [...]
Fault-zone damage promotes pulse-like rupture and back-propagating fronts via quasi-static effects
Published: 2019-12-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Damage zones are ubiquitous components of faults that may affect earthquake rupture. Simulations show that pulse-like rupture can be induced by the dynamic effect of waves reflected by sharp fault zone boundaries. Here we show that pulses can appear in a highly damaged fault zone even in the absence of reflected waves. We use quasi-static scaling arguments and quasi-dynamic earthquake cycle [...]
Effects of aseismic ridge subduction on geochemistry of frontal arc magmas
Published: 2019-12-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Aseismic ridge subduction is considered to exert major controls on volcanic activity, formation of porphyry Cu-Au deposits and the generation of juvenile Earth’s crust. Yet, there are almost no studies that have addressed in a systematic way the effects of this process on the geochemistry of arc magmas. Here we explore the role of the subducted aseismic Carnegie ridge on modulating frontal arc [...]
Scheduling of Twin Telescopes and the Impact on Troposphere and UT1 Estimation
Published: 2019-12-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Recently, several VGOS twin telescopes in Europe were completed. We examine the use of VGOS twin telescopes by a new scheduling approach. This ap- proach is based on integer linear programming and cre- ates uniform distributed observations over time. Sev- eral VLBI intensive sessions are rescheduled involving the VGOS twin telescopes and the impact on the tropo- sphere and UT1 estimation is [...]
Comment on ‘Unintentional unfairness when applying new greenhouse gas emissions metrics at country level’
Published: 2019-12-13
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Here, we provide a comment in response to a recently published paper ‘Unintentional unfairness when applying new greenhouse gas emissions metrics at country level’ by Rogelj and Schleussner (2019). We note a number of errors in their critique of the use of GWP* to relate cumulative and short-lived climate pollutants, argue that their logic is flawed, their ethical considerations are narrow and [...]
Fluid surface coverage showing the controls of rock mineralogy on the wetting state
Published: 2019-12-13
Subjects: Chemical Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The wetting state is an important control on flow in subsurface multi fluid phase systems, e.g., carbon storage and oil production. Advances in X-ray imaging allow us to characterise the wetting state using imagery of fluid arrangement within the pores of rocks. We derived a model from equilibrium thermodynamics relating fluid coverage of rock surfaces to wettability and fluid saturation. The [...]
Reframing Lake Geneva ecological trajectory in a context of multiple but asynchronous drivers
Published: 2019-12-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
There are no doubts long-term observatories provide unique insight on ecosystems trajectories. Can we use earliest data to set restoration goals? We take the example of Lake Geneva, for which descriptions of the ecosystem are available for as soon as the late 19th and early 20th century. Forel writes about how the luxuriant growth of plant communities provided important habitat for aquatic [...]
Characterisation and controls on mineral-sorbed organic matter from a variety of groundwater environments
Published: 2019-12-12
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Detailed investigations into natural groundwater organic matter (OM) as carbon sources or sinks in the natural carbon cycle are generally limited. Groundwater OM concentration and composition is altered by biodegradation and sorption to minerals. In the saturated zone of an aquifer, dissolved organic matter (DOM) may represent a significant fraction of the natural groundwater dissolved organic [...]
Policy Bridge: Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Natural Gas Development in Colorado
Published: 2019-12-12
Subjects: Environmental Education, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The rise of hydraulic fracturing techniques has fostered rapid growth of oil and natural gas extraction in areas across the United States. In the Denver-Julesburg Basin (DJB), which mostly overlaps with Weld County in the Northern Colorado Front Range (NCFR) north of the City of Denver Metropolitan Area (DMA), the well drilling has increasingly approached, and in many instances moved into urban [...]
Four-dimensional surface motions of the Slumgullion landslide and quantification of hydrometeorological forcing
Published: 2019-12-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Landslides modify the natural landscape and cause fatalities and property damage worldwide. Quantifying landslide dynamics is challenging due to the stochastic nature of the environment. With its large area of ~1 km2 and perennial motions at ~10-20 mm per day, the Slumgullion landslide in Colorado, USA, represents an ideal natural laboratory to better understand landslide behavior. Here, we use [...]
Future heat extremes likely to have been underestimated
Published: 2019-12-09
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In a warming world, temperature extremes are expected to show a distinguishable change over much of the globe1 and in many regions this change has already been detected in observations2,3. Although previous studies predict an increase in heat extreme events, the magnitude of the change varies greatly among different models even for the same mean warming4. This uncertainty has been linked to [...]
Open Access publishing practice in Geochemistry: current state and look to the future
Published: 2019-12-08
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Open Access (OA) describes the free, unrestricted access to and re-use of research articles. Recently, a new wave of interest, debate, and practice surrounding OA publishing has emerged. In this paper, we provide a simple overview of the trends in OA practice in the broad field of geochemistry. Characteristics of the approach such as whether or not an article processing charge (APC) exists, what [...]
Marked upwelling and SST drop after the arrival of cyclone Dorian to the Atlantic Canadian coast
Published: 2019-12-08
Subjects: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In intertidal environments, temperature fluctuations at hourly temporal scales are ecologically relevant because of the physiological stress that organisms must endure as a result. Tides constitute the main source of such changes, as low tides periodically expose intertidal habitats to aerial conditions, which can exhibit unusually high and low temperatures in summer and winter, respectively. The [...]