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Earth Science Papers

FIELD GRAND CHALLENGE article

Grand challenges in earth science: research toward a sustainable environment.

• Dipartimento di Scienze, Università Roma Tre, Roma, Italy

Introduction

Earth science is a broad term referring to the fields of science dealing with our planet. It involves studies on the lithosphere (including geology, geophysics, geochemistry, and geography), the hydrosphere (including hydrology and marine, ocean, and cryospheric sciences) and the atmosphere (including meteorology and climatology). As such, Earth science consists of a broad spectrum of interconnected physical, chemical, and biological disciplines dealing with processes which have been occurring on our world for billions of years, from the subatomic to the planetary scale.

The stature of Earth science has grown with each new decade, defining the history of life, unveiling the evolution of the planetary surface, quantifying natural hazards, locating mineral and energy resources and characterizing the climate system. This, supported by continuing technical and theoretical improvements, has allowed reaching an unprecedented understanding of countless processes. The capabilities of the Earth science subdisciplines have advanced to document the geological record of terrestrial changes, understand how life evolved, observe active processes from the core to the surface, make more realistic simulations of complex dynamic processes and start forecasting. Many important discoveries, as for example the plate tectonics theory or the definition of the hydrological cycle, have been achieved gradually, from the merging of several important and independent studies ( Dooge, 2001 ; Oreskes, 2013 ). This progression has also brought to the recognition and verification of the need to establish broad connections and integrations between different subdisciplines, a major advance in Earth science especially over the past decade ( NAP, 2012 ). Consider for example the potential of studies exploring the intimate relationships between climate, surface processes (including hydrology, physical and chemical denudation, sedimentary deposition, flooding) and tectonics (from the evolution of mountain ranges to earthquakes). Or the research at the intersection of geomorphology, hydrology and ecology, which delivers new insights into the mechanisms of landscape-ecosystem interactions, including the rates of soil formation or denudation in given landscapes. This multidisciplinarity points out to an innovative, first-order level of research and understanding, where the Earth is considered as a single system, with properties and behavior that are characteristic of the system as a whole, including critical thresholds, nonlinearities, tele-connections, and unresolvable uncertainties.

Looking forward to the next decade and beyond, the role of Earth science studies for the development of our planet will expand substantially. Earth science will become increasingly prominent as humanity confronts daunting challenges in finding natural resources to sustain Earth's burgeoning population, in mitigating natural hazards that impact life and infrastructures, and, more in general, in achieving sustainable environmental stewardship ( NAP, 2012 ). Earth science research will have to improve the management of natural resources (as water, raw materials and energy) and hazards, supporting prosperous and secure societies and developing new industries for economic growth. Earth science is in fact the foundation of the exploration and the responsible use of our natural resources through an understanding of the surface and subsurface. Much of the energy sector depends on understanding processes and monitoring in the subsurface, including the extraction of coal, oil, gas and shale gas and geothermal fluids, as well as carbon capture and storage and nuclear waste storage ( ICSU, 2010 ). The management of natural resources should be also accompanied by the forecast and management of natural hazards (including earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, floods, sea level rise, eruptions, drought), increasingly exposing the growing population and infrastructures. While hazards are inevitable, the worst of their consequences are not: loss of life and infrastructure can be minimized through monitoring and modeling, in the frame of adequate longer-term prevention and shorter-term forecast. The diagram in Figure 1 shows that, while the frequency of natural hazards (and the related amount of exposed population) has increased in the last century, the death toll has significantly decreased, highlighting the impact of prevention in mitigating risk.

Figure 1. Relationships between the frequency of natural disasters, the amount of exposed population and the related death toll since 1900 . The overall decrease in deaths, despite the significant increase in disasters, underlines the crucial importance of prevention in mitigating risk (from the OFDA/CRED Natural Disaster Database, www.emdat.be ).

The management of natural resources and hazards should be, in turn, coupled by a sustainable environment, especially aimed at preserving: (a) the water cycle, altered by reservoir construction, agriculture, groundwater extraction, and urbanization, at places responsible for significant groundwater depletion ( Wada et al., 2010 ); (b) the carbon cycle, central to climate but heavily affected by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and land use, and also recent geo-engineering practices aimed at reducing the human impact on climate ( Bala, 2009 ; Finzi et al., 2011 ); (c) the Earth's surface, undergoing transformations in its physical, chemical, and biological state, with accelerated soil erosion and mobilization and deposition of metals and toxins; (d) coastal areas, hosting >60% of the world's population and, as subject to forcing from both ocean and land processes, experiencing coupling of geomorphic, hydrological, ecological, climatic, and biogeochemical phenomena.

Clearly, the Earth sciences in the twenty-first century have great potential: on the one side, in deepening our knowledge of the functioning of the Earth system and its critical thresholds and, on the other side, in developing response strategies to global changes ( ICSU, 2010 ). However, despite the accelerating importance and pivotal role in the development of society and environment, the reality is that Earth science currently still receives less attention than warranted at all levels in the education systems and in the funding supports for research ( NAP, 2012 ). Indeed, Earth science can deliver its best to society and environment through research with a twofold objective: (1) allowing the understanding of the processes operating within the Earth system and in its many subdisciplines; (2) providing the crucial knowledge for the discovery, use, and conservation of natural resources, the definition and mitigation of the natural hazards, the geotechnical support of commercial and infrastructure development and the stewardship of the environment ( NAP, 2012 ). Therefore, research should be not only devoted at understanding the present and the environmentally challenging future, but also our past. Earth's environmental systems have experienced geochemical, climatic, and biotic change, with conditions in the distant past remarkably different from those of the Holocene, when largely benign climatic conditions fostered human civilizations. Thus, understanding past geosphere-biosphere behavior is a potent approach to anticipating how linked physical, chemical, and biological processes that characterize Earth's surface may be impacted by and respond to human activity.

The Challenges

Under these premises, the main challenges for Earth science may be defined. Many major challenges of several subdisciplines of Earth science have been already recently proposed, in general documents ( ESA, 2013 ) or in more detail, as in dedicated papers on seismology ( Lay, 2009 ), geodynamics ( Olsen et al., 2010 ), terrestrial microbiology ( Stein and Nicol, 2011 ), atmospheric science ( Gimeno, 2013 ), structural geology and tectonics ( Gudmundsson, 2013 ), geomagnetism and paleomagnetism, ( Kodama, 2013 ), climate ( Beniston, 2013 ), volcanology ( Acocella, 2014 ), environmental informatics ( Kokhanovsky, 2014 ), biogeochemistry ( Achterberg, 2014 ), paleontology ( Reisz and Sues, 2015 ), biogeoscience ( Eglinton, 2015 ), and Quaternary geology and geomorphology ( Forman and Stinchcomb, 2015 ).

Here I aim at considering the major challenges from a higher level, potentially involving all the subdisciplines and studies of Earth science (Figure 2 ). These grand challenges regard different aspects of research in Earth science, crucial for both research and science policy. They should not be considered as separate entities, as none of the challenges alone can be fully addressed without significant progress in addressing the other challenges, as also indicated in Figure 2 . The six major challenges for Earth science in the first part of the twenty-first century are listed below.

Figure 2. Diagram summarizing the six proposed grand challenges of Earth science, as well as their relationships .

Challenge 1: Expanding Global Observation Networks and Data Archives

This challenge focuses on promoting, developing and integrating the collection of the observation systems and data archives needed to manage global and regional aspects, including environmental changes.

Observations, or more in general data, are the first crucial ingredient on which research is based and thus their collection and promotion must be at the base of any grand challenge. Creating an innovative, integrated, coordinated, and useful generation of observations is thus the first challenge for Earth science. Observations, both quantitative and qualitative, should be multidisciplinary and focused toward global or regional systems, encompassing both natural and social features. Also, they should be of high enough resolution and carry comprehensive time-series information, to detect any change and assess vulnerability and resilience. Finally, they should provide full and open access to data (see also challenge 2) and be cost effective. An appropriate example is given by the rapid progress of satellite Earth observation science. This, coupled with the increasing use of new technologies, has allowed maximizing (i.e., expanding and integrating) the amount of information on Earth science. This challenge, in addition to the identification of the fundamental scientific questions to be addressed, requires integrated and coordinated policies on the longer-term (decades). Important investments are already being made to build effective global and regional monitoring systems and to ensure their international coordination (as the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, GEOSS; http://www.earthobservations.org/geoss.php and its implementation programmes, as for example Copernicus; http://land.copernicus.eu ). These initiatives should be further promoted and supported, also at any regional scale. The most appropriate collection of data may be guided by the feedback promoted by the understanding of the related processes, the forecast of hazards and use of resources (Figure 2 ).

Challenge 2: Handling and Using the Multidisciplinary Observations

This challenge focuses on the importance to appropriately manage (organizing, storing, handling) the collected observations, particularly those of multidisciplinary nature, in order to make them readily available to and used by the scientific community.

The increasingly growing and already vast amount of data collected in Earth science in the last decades, especially that relative to monitoring general processes and natural hazards (challenge 1), is largely underexploited, as usually fragmented, dispersed or poorly accessible and non-uniform. This condition constitutes a severe limitation for the development of research. Proper use and exploitation of these data require long-lasting, innovative and appropriate policies and infrastructures of collection, conservation, sharing and use, based on an international and effective coordination of observations, protocols of standard data storage and analysis. Successful examples of international data integration are the EPOS and OGC initiatives. The European EPOS framework ( http://www.epos-eu.org ) integrates solid Earth data from satellite, seismic, surface dynamics, volcanic and oceanic observations with experimental and analytical laboratories, uniting researchers as a virtual community. EPOS works by integrating existing national infrastructures to enhance access to the data and promote its use in innovative ways. While the links being developed by EPOS will benefit researchers initially, stakeholders in industry, business and society will also benefit. The OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium; http://www.opengeospatial.org ) is an international initiative to share geospatial data, committed to making quality open standards for the global geospatial community.

Challenge 3: Understanding General Multidisciplinary Processes

This challenge focuses on understanding (i.e., unraveling the processes behind) the major global and regional processes involving different subdisciplines in Earth science.

Each subdiscipline is characterized by a variable amount of interconnected basic processes, whose understanding allows explaining its general lines and adequately relating this to the nearby subdisciplines. While the general lines of many processes within each subdiscipline of Earth science have been understood or are on their way to be sufficiently defined, a general need to integrate this acquired knowledge (challenges 1 and 2) toward the understanding of first-order processes, at the regional or global scale, is now emerging. These first-order processes, aimed at responding to the complex primary needs of our society, typically involve observations and knowledge from multiple subdisciplines. Examples are the processes related to multihazards, including the causal relationships between different types of hazard and their outcome, and the above mentioned relations between climate, landscape and tectonic activity in shaping the Earth's surface. The definition and understanding of global multidisciplinary processes is a primary concern for research institutions and society and, as such, it requires significant international coordination and cooperation.

Challenge 4: Forecasting Hazards

This challenge focuses on improving the usefulness of forecasts of future adverse environmental conditions and their consequences for humans and the environment. Here “forecasting” is meant in the broadest sense, including both the short-term events (years or less) and the longer-term projections (decades).

Despite the many important, at times crucial, attempts, forecasting natural hazards is in general at its infancy stage and currently considered in a few countries only. A modern and useful forecast should be responsive to the needs of society and decision-makers for information at adequate spatial and temporal scales and, as such, it should be timely, accurate, and reliable. Natural hazards may manifest on the short-term, suddenly and without sufficient warning, as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, or may build-up trough processes active on the longer-term, as sea level rise, drought and climatic changes. In this last case, an important example of international body devoted at the assessment of climate change is the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, or IPCC ( http://www.ipcc.ch ). Although we may not be able to accurately forecast beyond a time horizon of a few decades, there is still significant potential to improve our ability to use scenarios and simulations to anticipate the impacts of a given set of conditions. In most cases, however, we will not be able to predict absolutely, but only to forecast probabilistically: we can forecast the most likely outcome(s) and assign this(these) a level of certainty to that prediction.

Progress in forecasting requires several steps. These include advances in: (a) collecting the necessary data (see challenge 1); (b) an interdisciplinary framework for analysis (challenge 2); (c) understanding and modeling the fundamentals of physical, chemical and biological processes (challenge 3); (d) creating and promoting the infrastructures to face natural hazards (observatories, agencies, departments; challenge 4). Forecasting models and analyses of global and regional environmental change may provide direct support to governance and management only under these premises.

Challenge 5: Using Resources

This challenge focuses on an adequate (i.e., sustainable, with preservation) use of the available natural resources, including water, materials and energy.

In addition to natural hazards (challenge 4), the availability of resources is the major environmental challenge our planet has to face. The overshoot day (i.e., when humanity's demand on nature exceeds what Earth's ecosystems can renew in a year) anticipates year by year, leaving humanity with an increasing ecological debt and fewer resources available. These include water, raw materials and energy (as coal, oil, gas and shale gas, minerals, geothermal fluids). Also related to the management of resources are the storage of nuclear waste and carbon dioxide. For example, reserves of minerals are being exhausted and worries about access to raw materials, including basic and strategic minerals, are increasing. The rise in the price of several important metals, as copper, has prompted some industrialized countries to initiate concerted activities to ensure access to strategic minerals. Recycling, resource efficiency and the search for alternative materials are essential, but most specialists agree that this will not suffice and that there is a need to find new primary deposits. Most Earth science disciplines are structured to respond to this challenge, identifying the location and distribution of resources, planning their use and collaborating at their exploitation. However, as global challenges require global efforts, in addition to the development of research, technological advances and timely and coordinated international policies, closely involving decision makers and stakeholders, are required to adequately meet this challenge.

Challenge 6: Disseminating and Communicating

This challenge focuses on the dissemination and communication to the society of the results, achievements and general outcome of the research in Earth science.

As mentioned in each of the grand challenges above, a global challenge implies a global effort, where researchers should integrate and coordinate with decision makers at all levels of societies. This requires that the importance and outcome of the research in Earth science is appropriately communicated and disseminated, to adequately inform decision makers and to properly value the role of Earth science. Indeed, education and outreach through appropriate channels and media (e.g., internet, television, events of various nature) are fundamental for Earth science: inspirational research brings young people into technical careers and practical information enables informed decision-making. In addition, a lively and shared research culture brings innovative ideas that spread into new technological industries and brings skilled people in careers supporting society. A higher level of Earth science knowledge among authorities, educators, business and officials will lead to more effective governance.

A more specific but still important aim of dissemination and communication is to build public confidence in the renewing supplies of natural resources and in the assessment of geohazards and management of their effects. However, in Earth science it should be important to distinguish between communicating science and communicating risk to society. Communicating risk from geohazards requires understanding of the resilience of communities and an appreciation of how individuals assimilate and apply scientific information on risk and personal exposure. With this regard, an important challenge of Earth scientists is to refocus society's desire for absolute guarantees from science and replace it with an acceptance that most solutions are uncertain and will carry some level of risk and environmental consequence.

Conclusions

Humankind needs to be safe from natural hazards and wants to live comfortably, with secure supply of energy, water and materials. Earth science research is the key to achieve these goals.

Earth science has played an increasingly important role in the understanding and management of our planet in the last decades. In the twenty-first century, Earth science is expected to increase further its potential, also providing crucial advice in finding resources and mitigating natural hazards, thus supporting successful and secure societies.

These objectives can be adequately reached facing the above-mentioned major challenges, which are closely related to each other. As such, they require, in addition to appropriate research, also integration and coordination at the planetary scale and close connection with decision makers, at all scales of societies.

While an important preparatory phase has been carried out in most, if not all, of these challenges, important progresses still await our scientific community, stakeholders, decision-makers and society in general to support Earth science and our planet toward a more sustainable environment.

Frontiers in Earth Science is at the forefront in this mission, trying to globally promote and deliver topmost quality research, aimed at understating our planet and using this knowledge to improve our future.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Microstructures, Deformation Mechanisms and Seismic Properties of Synkinematic Migmatite from Southeastern Tibet: Insights from the Migmatitic Core of the Ailao Shan-Red River Shear Zone, Western Yunnan, China

Weiwei ma , bo zhang , fulong cai , baoyou huang , lei zhang .etc, paleozoic multi-stage magmatic events related to proto-tethys and paleo-tethys evolution: insights from intrusive rocks in the eastern altyn orogen, nw china, jiyong li , yanqing xia , xilong zhang , haoyuan jiang , tianzhu lei .etc, application of detrital apatite u-pb geochronology and trace elements for provenance analysis, insights from a study on the yarlung river sand, yufeng du , guangwei li , danyang liu , xianyan wang , dongxu cai .etc, quaternary activity characteristics and regional tectonic significance of the jiulong fault in jiujiang, jiangxi province, china, xin qi , yuyong jiao , qinghua li , bin li, detrital zircon geochronology of early triassic strata in the west qinling orogen: implications for the tectonic evolution of the paleo-tethyan ocean, zuochen li , xianzhi pei , liyong wei , guobing liang , meng wang .etc.

Multiple episodes of Neoproterozoic glaciation, namely the Beiyixi, Altungol, Tereeken and Hankalchough glaciations, are recorded in the Kuruktag area of northeastern Tarim Craton, NW China. The Tereeken glaciation was previously correlated with the global Marinoan glaciation based on sedimentary and chemostratigraphic features recorded in the cap dolostone immediately overlying the glaciogenic diamictite, as well as less precise radiometric age constraints. In this study, we obtained chemical-abrasion isotope dilution isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CA-ID-IRMS) U-Pb age of 624.03 ± 0.1 Ma from zircons extracted from a tuff lava interbeded within the diamictite of the Tereeken Formation, which suggests an early Ediacaran age for the Tereeken glaciation. Such newly discovered early Ediacaran glaciation in the Tarim region could have induced the negative δ 13 C carb excursions between 625-605 Ma by providing oxygen and other oxidants to invoke remineralization of a deep ocean dissolved organic carbon (DOC) reservoir.

• Structural Geology
• Mineral Deposits
• Paleontology and Paleoecology
• Engineering Geology and Geo-hazards

The West Qinling Orogen (WQO) is located in the western part of the Qinling Orogen and in the transition zone of Qilian Orogen, Songpan-Garze Orogen and Yangtze Block, and also the key position of Triassic collision orogenic event. The study of the Early Triassic strata in the WQO is contributed to analyze the closure process of the paleo-Tethys. We conducted LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating studies on detrital zircons to determine the provenance, depositional age, and tectonic setting of the Early Triassic Longwuhe Formation in the Lintan area of the WQO. The results show that the majority of the detrital zircons in the Longwuhe Formation are mainly magmatic origin and have characteristic of crust source zircon. The lowest limit of sedimentation of the Longwuhe Formation is constrained to the Early Triassic, with the youngest detrital zircon age of 253 ± 3 Ma. The ages can be divided into five age groups: 3 346–1 636 Ma, with two peak ages of ca. 2 495 and ca. 1 885 Ma; 1 585–1 010 Ma, with a peak age at ca. 1 084 Ma; 992–554 Ma, with a peak age at ca. 939 Ma; 521–421 Ma, with a peak age at ca. 445 Ma; 418–253 Ma, with a peak age at ca. 280 Ma. Apparently, the sources of the Longwuhe Formation include the northern margin of the WQO, the Qilian Orogen (QLO) and the basement of the southern margin of the North China Block (NCB), of which the ancient basement of the southern margin of the NCB is the main source area of the Longwuhe Formation. Combined with previous studies, we propose that the Longwuhe Formation was formed in a fore-arc basin, which is related to the closure of the A'nyemaqen-Mianlüe Ocean from the Early Permian to Early–Middle Triassic due to the northward subduction-collision of the Yangtze Block (YZB). This also indicates that the A'nyemaqen-Mianlüe Ocean has flat subduction characteristics.

Obtaining geological and landform dislocation features, as well as the measured stratigraphic activity age, provides direct evidence to evaluate fault activity, which is more difficult to do in areas with low tectonic activity, such as eastern and central China. A detailed investigation of the fault activity, trenching, drilling joint geological profile, geological survey, and chronological analysis were used to obtain the spatial geometry, fault kinematics, and activity chronology of the Jiulong fault. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The Jiulong fault was a fracture zone composed of four branch faults, with a width of around 30–40 m and good extendibility, while the maximum surface rupture length was 373 m. (2) The Jiulong fault has many strata dislocations, and the dislocation distance decreased from bottom to top, demonstrating synsedimentary structure characteristics, with a maximum stratigraphic dislocation distance of 18.2 m. (3) Preliminary analysis suggested the Jiulong fault as a secondary fracture of the Xiangfan-Guangji fault zone and provided evidence of the southeastward extension of the Xiangfan-Guangji fault. A preliminary hypothesis purported the Xiangfan-Guangji fault as the seismogenic fault of the M s 5.0 magnitude earthquake in 1911. (4) According to OSL and ESR dating analyses, the upper breakpoint of the Jiulong fault cuts into the Late Pleistocene Xingang Formation (Qp 3 x ) strata, and the latest active age of the Jiulong fault was 57.6 ka. The chronology analysis confirmed an active fault from the Late Pleistocene and identified a weak tectonic in Jiujiang Province, which represents the largest active fault outcrop uncovered in the area so far. This study provides evidence and research materials for the evaluation of fault activity and seismic stability in this region.

Detrital U-bearing minerals (e.g., zircon, apatite) U-Pb ages with specific trace-element geochemistry, are frequently used in provenance analyses. In this study, we focus on the Yarlung River drainage in South Tibet, characterized by two distinct lithologic units: The Gangdese batholith to the north (mainly granitoids) and the Tethyan Himalaya (mainly sedimentary rocks) to the south, which plays a crucial role in the erosion of the Tibetan Plateau. To constrain the provenance of the Yarlung River Basin, we performed trace-element and U-Pb age analyses of detrital apatite from the river sands of the Yarlung River and its tributaries. Our findings indicate that the detrital apatite U-Pb age patterns of the north tributaries exhibit main peaks at approximately 40 and 60 Ma, consistent with the corresponding U-Pb age patterns of detrital zircon published. Further, their trace element casts fall mainly in the Type I granite region, also indicating the Gangdese arc-dominated source. However, those of the south tributaries (~60–20 Ma) exhibit a different age distribution from the detrital zircon U-Pb groups (~110–150, ~500, and 1 100 Ma), suggesting that the detailed apatite U-Pb signals can provide excellent constraints on the provenance of igneous and metamorphic rock sources but less so for sedimentary rock sources. Combined with previous detrital zircon data in the study area, our detrital apatite information can highlight young metamorphic events from a complex background (i.e., Niyang and Nianchu rivers), which offers additional constraints on the provenance of the Yarlung River Basin. Generally, a combination of geochemistry and geochronology of multi-detrital heavy minerals, such as zircon and apatite, can provide powerful tools for provenance analysis.

Abundant mafic-felsic intrusions distributed in the Altyn Orogen record orogenic histories related to Proto-Tethys and Paleo-Tethys evolution. Zircon U-Pb dating of the intrusive rocks in the eastern Altyn Orogen identifies at least three major tectono-magmatic episodes, yielding ages of ~426, ~376–373 and ~269–254 Ma. The first two emplacement episodes correspond to the post-collisional magmatism in the Altyn Orogen. The ~426 Ma granitoids possess adakitic characteristics coupled with enriched isotopes, suggesting that they originated from partial melting of thickened lower continental crust induced by upwelling asthenospheric mantle after slab break-off of the South Altyn Ocean Plate. Next, the ~376–373 Ma mafic-intermediate rocks and coeval granitoids represent a large thermal event that involved mantle melting with induced new juvenile lower continental crust melting in a post-collisional extensional setting. Finally, the ~254 Ma diabase dykes intruded into the ~269 Ma granitoids, which were related to the widespread Late Paleozoic magmatism resulting from Paleo-Tethys Ocean subduction. Post-collisional magmatism in the Altyn Orogen significantly enhances understanding of the tectono-magmatic evolution in the northern Tibetan Plateau. The penetrative influence of Paleo-Tethys Ocean subduction was more extensive than previously thought.

Seismic anisotropy originating within the continental crust is commonly used to determine the deformation and kinematic flow within active orogens and is attributed to regionally oriented mica or hornblende grains. However, naturally deformed rocks usually contain compositional layers (e.g., parallel compositional banding). It is necessary to understand how both varying mineral contents and differing intensities of compositional layering influence the seismic properties of the deep crust. In this study, we analyzed the seismic response of migmatitic amphibolite with compositional banding structures. We present the microstructures, fabrics, calculated seismic velocities, and seismic anisotropies of mylonitic amphibolite from a horizontal shear layer preserved within the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone, southwestern Yunnan, China. The investigated sample is characterized by pronounced centimeter-scale compositional banding. The microstructures and fabrics suggest that migmatitic amphibolite rocks within deep crust may delineate regions of deformation-assisted, channelized, reactive, porous melt flow. The origin of compositional banding in the studied migmatitic amphibolite is attributed primarily to partial melting together with some horizontal shearing deformation. The microfabrics and structures investigated in this study are considered to be typical for the base of active horizontal shear layers in the deep crust of southeastern Tibet. Seismic responses are modeled by using crystal preferred orientations for minerals of the migmatitic amphibolite by applying the Voigt-Reuss-Hill homogenization method. Calculated P-wave and S-wave velocities are largely consistent in the various layers of the migmatite. However, seismic anisotropies of P-wave ( AV p ) and S-wave ( AV s ) are higher in the melanosomes ( AV p = 5.6%, AV s = 6.83%) than those in the leucosomes and the whole rock ( AV p = 4.2%–4.6%, AV s = 3.1%–3.2%). In addition, there is pronounced, S-wave splitting oblique to the foliation plane in the migmatitic amphibolite. The multiple parallel compositional layers generate marked variation in the geometry of the seismic anisotropy ( V s1 polarization) in the whole rock. Combined with the macroscale geographical orientation of fabrics in the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone, these compositional banding effects are inferred to generate significant variations in the magnitude and orientation of seismic anisotropy, especially for shear-wave anisotropy ( AV s ) in the deep crust. Hence, our data suggest that layering of various origins (e.g., shear layers, partial-melting layers, and compositional layers) represents a new potential source of anisotropy within the deep crust.

The Wutonggou iron deposit is located in the well-known iron metallogenic belt in the eastern Tianshan, NW China, and has been regarded as a sedimentary iron deposit. Although hydrothermal overprinting could play indispensable roles in the formation of high-grade iron ores in sedimentary iron deposits, previous studies mainly focused on sedimentary-related iron mineralization, while the nature and contribution of hydrothermal fluids are poorly constrained. Accordingly, an integrated study of ore geology, H-O-C isotopes and 40 Ar- 39 Ar dating, is conducted on the Wutonggou deposit, in order to reveal the features, source, and timing of hydrothermal mineralization. The studied deposit includes two mining sections namely the Jianshan and Wutonggou. The δ 18 O values of early magnetite from the Jianshan section range from +3.0‰ to +5.8‰ that nearly consistent with classic magmatic magnetite, while increase to 6.3‰–8.0‰ in the late stage. Quartz from the two sections shows comparable H-O isotopic compositions and identical fractionation trends, and is plotted in or periphery to the primary magmatic water area. Calcites from the two sections are broadly similar in carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions, and siderite from the Wutonggou section is plotted in the same region. Thus, comparable stable isotopic compositions and evolution trends indicate similar magmatic fluids contributed hydrothermal iron mineralization in the two mining sections. Moreover, water-rock interactions of varying degrees generated distinct mineralization styles in the Jianshan and Wutonggou sections, and caused the isotopic fractionation in late stages. Biotite extracted from a hydrothermal siderite ore yielded a 40 Ar- 39 Ar plateau age of 299.5 ± 2.0 Ma, indicates the timing of hydrothermal iron mineralization is corresponding to the emplacement of vicinity granitoids. Taken together, the hydrothermal mineralization in the Wutonggou iron deposit was the product of remobilization and upgrading of early sedimentary iron ores, and ore-forming fluids were most probably originated from regional granitic magmatism.

Radon (Rn) and helium (He) gases from uranium decay form distinct anomalies related to buried uranium deposits. In order to trace the geochemical anomalous sources from the volcanic-related uranium deposits in deeply buried areas, systematical Rn contents and He isotope ratios were analyzed from the Daguanchang uranium deposit. The soil gas Rn concentrations above the deep uranium are ten times higher than those in barren areas, indicating that instantaneous Rn content measurements can be used to detect deeply buried uranium. The helium isotope ratios ( 3 He/ 4 He) of the unmineralized samples from the mineralized drill hole (ZK1) are relatively lower and uniform compared to those of the samples from no-mineral drill hole (ZK2). However, the Th and U contents of the drill core samples from ZK1 are slightly lower than those of the samples from ZK2, indicating that the lower 3 He/ 4 He ratios in ZK1 are most likely due to the addition of 4 He from underlying uranium intervals. The differences in the instantaneous Rn contents are consistent with the variations in the He isotope ratios of the drill core samples. These results demonstrate that soil gas Rn and 3 He/ 4 He ratios are useful tracers and can indicate the existence of deeply buried volcanic-related hydrothermal uranium ores.

The podiform chromitites in the Luobusha ophiolite have been thought to experience a very deep formation, but the maximum depth is still an open issue. Here, we have investigated the structural stability of natural magnesiochromite using the synchrotron-based powder X-ray diffraction and diamond anvil cells up to 48.6 GPa and 2 450 K. The results have shown that spinel-type magnesiochromite first decomposes into corundum-type 'Cr 2 O 3 ' + B1-type 'MgO' at 11–14 GPa and 1 250–1 450 K, then modified ludwigite (mLd)-type 'Mg 2 Cr 2 O 5 '+ corundum-type 'Cr 2 O 3 ' at 14.3–20.5 GPa and 1 300–2 000 K, and finally CaTi 2 O 4 -type phase at 24.5 GPa. During the quenching procession from high-temperature-pressure conditions, the mLd-type phase appeared again and was kept at ambient conditions. We also obtained the isothermal equation states of spinel-type and CaTi 2 O 4 -type phases, revealing the composition effect on their elasticities. Based on the updated results, we propose chromitites could not experience pressure exceeding ~14.3 GPa (approximate maximum depth ~400 km) in the subduction-recycling genesis model.

The three-dimensional (3D) morphology, anatomy, and in - situ chemical composition analysis of fossils are crucial for systematic paleontology and determining their phylogenetic positions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), offers valuable structural and chemical information for the analysis of fossils. However, its primary limitation is the restriction to two-dimensional surface data, which limits the exploration of fossils' 3D complexities. Conversely, 3D X-ray microscopy (3D-XRM), also known as a novel form of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) facilitates the non-destructive 3D reconstruction of fossil specimens. Nevertheless, it lacks the capability to provide in - situ compositional data. Acknowledging the constraints inherent in these individual techniques, and in response to the evolving requirements of paleontological research, this study introduces an integrated approach that combines 3D-XRM with EDS-coupled focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM). This innovative strategy is designed to synergize the advantages of both techniques, thereby addressing challenges that conventional methods cannot. It enables the rapid identification of regions of interest (ROI) within fossil specimens at micrometer resolution. Subsequently, this method collects detailed data on both 3D structures and chemical compositions at the nanometer scale for the identified ROI. This integrated approach represents a significant advancement in paleontological and geological research methodologies, promising to meet the increasing demands of these fields.

Burgess Shale-type deposits provide a wealth of information on the early evolution of animals. Questions that are central to understanding the exceptional preservation of these biotas and the paleoenvironments they inhabited may be obscured by the post-depositional alteration due to metamorphism at depth and weathering near the Earth's surface. Among over 50 Cambrian BST biotas, the Chengjiang and Qingjiang deposits are well known for their richness of soft-bodied taxa, fidelity of preservation, and Early Cambrian Age. While alteration via weathering has been well-investigated, the thermal maturity of the units bearing the two biotas has not yet been elucidated. Here we investigate peak metamorphic temperatures of the two deposits using two independent methods. Paleogeotemperature gradient analyses demonstrate that the most fossiliferous sections of the Chengjiang were buried at a maximum depth of ~8 500 m in the Early Triassic, corresponding to ~300 ℃, while the type area of the Qingjiang biota was buried at a maximum depth of ~8 700 m in the Early Jurassic, corresponding to ~240 ℃. Raman geothermometer analyses of fossil carbonaceous material demonstrate that peak temperatures varied across localities with different burial depth. The two productive sections of the Chengjiang biota were thermally altered at a peak temperature of approximately 300 ℃, and the main locality of the Qingjiang biota experienced a peak temperature of 238 ± 22 ℃. These results from two independent methods are concordant. Among BST deposits for which thermal maturity has been documented, the Qingjiang biota is the least thermally mature, and therefore holds promise for enriching our understanding of BST deposits.

It is the first time that the fossil footprints of a group of Middle Eocene elephant ancestors have been discovered in the Gonjo Basin, East Tibet Plateau. The Gonjo Formation is attributed to the Middle Eocene Epoch (U-Pb age = 44.7 ± 1.2 Ma) and consists mainly of purplish-red, medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, siltstones interbedded with mudstones, and conglomerates with sedimentary structures like ripple marks, rip-up clasts, and trough-cross bedding, suggesting fluvial-lacustrine systems. The group of fossil footprints has a characteristic oval-concave shape, and the toe impressions are absent. Some fossil footprints are overstepped with a pockmarked texture resembling Proboscipeda enigmatica . More than 165 fossil footprints of the group are relatively well-preserved with different diameters, which is evidence of highly social behavior and trackmakers of different ages, including calves, juveniles, adolescents, and adults. The size frequency of the fossil footprints enabled us to deduce the body mass, shoulder height, and hip-height distribution of the trackmakers that crossed the East Tibet Plateau 44.7 Ma ago. The trackmakers comprised an estimated average hip-height of 111.8 cm, an average shoulder height of 172.8 cm for males/155.9 cm for females, and an average body mass of approximately 1 218.1 kg for males/907.8 kg for females. The abundance of fossil footprints reveals that in the Middle Eocene Epoch, the environment was extraordinarily conducive for the elephant ancestors to live in the East Tibet region.

Conodonts, as a biotic group, next to ammonoids, pollen and spores, crustaceans and vertebrates, provide proxy clues for environment and age assessments of the rocks in which they occur. Conodonts are widely used for Triassic marine biostratigraphy. However, there are various discussions about their multielement taxonomy and evolutionary lineages (e.g., generation, speciation). Although first studies reported that most Triassic conodont species were unimembrate, studies carried out in the following years maintained that all Triassic conodonts were multimembrate. Although statistical reconstructions of a number of Triassic apparatuses were attempted, the discovery of fused clusters and natural assemblages has subsequently demonstrated that Triassic conodonts are indeed multimembrate, and all of the elements exist together in the same apparatus. The present paper aims to clarify the evolutionary relationship and array of some Lower Triassic conodonts. Columbitella dagisi n. sp. is described.

Flexural toppling occurs when a series of layered rock masses bend towards their free face. It is important to evaluate the maximum bending degree and the requirement of supports of flexural toppling rock mass to prevent rock mass cracking and even failure leading to a landslide. Based on the rock tensile strain-softening model, this study proposes a method for calculating the maximum curvature ( C ppmax ) of flexural toppling rock masses. By applying this method to calculate C ppmax of 9 types of rock masses with different hardness and rock layer thickness, some conclusions are drawn: (1) the internal key factors affecting C ppmax are E * ( E * = E ss / E 0 , where E 0 and E ss are the mean deformation moduli of the rock before and after reaching its peak tensile strength, respectively), the strain ε t corresponding to the tensile strength of rock, and the thickness ( h ) of rock layers; (2) hard rock layers are more likely to develop into block toppling than soft rock layers; and (3) thin rock layers are more likely to remain in flexural toppling state than thick rock layers. In addition, it is found that C ppmax for flexural toppling rock masses composed of bedded rocks such as gneiss is related to the tensile direction.

This paper coupled a water-air two-phase hydrodynamic (WATPH) model with the Iverson's method to analyze the influence of the Lisse effect on the fast groundwater pressure ( P w ) response and the slope stability. Furthermore, the sensitivities of the driving force and loess soil parameters were investigated. Results showed that the WATPH model simulated the height and rise of the depth to the water table reasonably well. The depth to water table before rainfall ( H 0 ) had a significant impact on the Lisse effect and the slope stability. When the H 0 was less than approximately 1 m, the rainfall triggered a significant Lisse effect and decreased the slope factor of safety ( F s ). When the rainfall intensity ( R i ) was higher than the saturated hydraulic conductivity ( K s ), the Lisse effect and the Fs slightly changed with the increase of the R i , and the slope tended to be unstable with continuous rainfall. With increasing K s , the Lisse effect noticeably increased, and the minimum F s quickly decreases. The analysis of the normalized sensitivity coefficient revealed that H 0 had a dramatic impact on the Lisse effect and loess slope stability. The different R i and K s values had prominent influences on the Lisse effect and slight impacts on F s .

The curve of landslide thrust plays a key role in landslide design. The commonly used transfer coefficient method (TCM) and Morgenstern-Price method (MPM) are analyzed. TCM does not take into account the moment balance between slices. Although MPM considers the moment balance, the calculation is complex, and it does not consider that the force between slices may be less than zero at the back edge of the landslide. The rationality and feasibility of the improved MPM are verified by calculating the landslide stability coefficient and landslide thrust at different reservoir water levels. This paper studies the law of landslide thrust when the reservoir water level changes, and discusses the determination of design thrust, to provide a certain theoretical basis for the design of reservoir landslides.

The short-term effect of heavy rainfall on gPhone gravimeter observation at Zhengzhou Seismic Station is investigated. According to the observation data during Jul. 17–20, 2021, the corrected gravity residual reflects the gravimetric response caused by heavy rainfall. The observed gravity change is dominated by the local effect considering topographic effect on gravity. The deduced water depth near the observation station is about 300 mm.

Anchor reinforced vegetation system (ARVS) comprises high performance turf reinforcement mats (HPTRM), vegetation and anchors. It is a new attempt to apply the system in expansive soil slope protection. The goal of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of ARVS in protecting newly excavated expansive soil slopes. The field tests on the bare slope, grassed slope and ARVS protective slope were carried out, including natural and artificial rainfall. During the test, the soil water content, soil deformation, and anchor axial force were monitored, and then the slope protection mechanism of ARVS was analyzed. It was found that ARVS can effectively protect expansive soil slopes compared with bare slopes and grassed slopes. The vegetation and HPTRM form a reinforced turf, and the anchors fix it to the slope surface, thus restraining the expansion deformation. The axial force on the anchor of ARVS includes frictional resistance and tensile force transmitted by HPTRM, which is maximum at the early stage of support. The neutral point of the anchor of ARVS moves deeper under atmospheric action, but the vegetation and HPTRM on the slope surface can limit this movement.

If progress is to be made toward improving geohazard management and emergency decision-making, then lessons need to be learned from past geohazard information. A geologic hazard report provides a useful and reliable source of information about the occurrence of an event, along with detailed information about the condition or factors of the geohazard. Analyzing such reports, however, can be a challenging process because these texts are often presented in unstructured long text formats, and contain rich specialized and detailed information. Automatically text classification is commonly used to mine disaster text data in open domains (e.g., news and microblogs). But it has limitations to performing contextual long-distance dependencies and is insensitive to discourse order. These deficiencies are most obviously exposed in long text fields. Therefore, this paper uses the bidirectional encoder representations from Transformers (BERT), to model long text. Then, utilizing a softmax layer to automatically extract text features and classify geohazards without manual features. The latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model is used to examine the interdependencies that exist between causal variables to visualize geohazards. The proposed method is useful in enabling the machine-assisted interpretation of text-based geohazards. Moreover, it can help users visualize causes, processes, and other geohazards and assist decision-makers in emergency responses.

It is well known that the deformation and damage of reservoir colluvium landslides are often determined by the combined dynamics of reservoir water level change and rainfall. Based on the systematic analysis of the change law of reservoir water level, rainfall and displacements of reservoir colluvium landslide, this paper proposes the compound hydrodynamic action of rainfall and reservoir water as the unload-load parameter, and the landslide displacement as the unload-load response parameter. Based on this, a physical prediction model of the compound hydrodynamic unload-load response ratio of reservoir colluvium landslide was established, and the quantitative relationship between the compound hydrodynamic unload-load response ratio and its stability evolution was in-depth analyzed and determined. On the basis of the above research, taking Shuping landslide, a typical hydrodynamic pressure landslide as an example, the unload-load response ratio model is used to systematically evaluate and predict the stability evolution law and the change trend of the landslide under compound hydrodynamic action. The prediction result shows that the variation law of the compound hydrodynamic unload-load response ratio is consistent with the dynamic evolution law of its stability. Therefore, the above studies show that the compound hydrodynamic unload-load response ratio parameter is an effective displacement dynamic evaluation parameter for reservoir colluvium landslides, so it can be used in the prediction of the reservoir colluvium landslides.

Weathered rock (especially granite) slopes are prone to failure under the action of rainfall, making it necessary to study the response of weathered rock slope to rainfall infiltration for landslide prevention. In this study, a series of model tests of weathered rock slope under different conditions were conducted. The matric suction, volumetric water content, earth pressure and deformation of slope were monitored in real time during rainfall. The response of the slope to rainfall infiltration, failure process and failure mode of slope under different conditions were analyzed, and the early warning criterion for the failure of weathered rock slope caused by rainfall was studied. The results show that the slope deformation evolution process under rainfall condition was closely related to the dissipation of matric suction. When the distribution of the matrix suction (or water content) of slope met the condition that the resistance to sliding of the slip-mass was overcome, the displacement increased sharply and landslide occurred. Three factors including rainfall process, lithologic condition and excavation condition significantly affect the response of weathered rock slope to rainfall. It can be found from the test results under different conditions that compared with intermittent rainfall condition, the rainfall intensity and infiltration depth were smaller when the slope entering accelerated deformation stage under the condition of incremental rainfall. The accumulated rainfall when weathered clastic landslide occurring was greater than that of weathered granite, which results in greater disaster risk. The excavation angle and moisture distribution of a slope were the main factors affecting the stability of a slope. In addition, the evolution processes and critical displacement velocities of slopes were studied by combining the deformation curves and matrix suction curves, which can be used as reference for early warning of rainfall-induced weathered rock landslide.

Landslides are widespread geomorphological phenomena with complex mechanisms that have caused extensive causalities and property damage worldwide. The scale and frequency of landslides are presently increasing owing to the warming effects of climate change, which further increases the associated safety risks. In this study, the relationship between historical landslides and environmental variables in the Hanjiang River Basin was determined and an optimized model was used to constrain the relative contribution of variables and best spatial response curve. The optimal MaxEnt model was used to predict the current distribution of landslides and influence of future rainfall changes on the landslide susceptibility. The results indicate that environmental variables in the study area statistically correlate with landslide events over the past 20 years. The MaxEnt model evaluation was applied to landslide hazards in the Hanjiang River Basin based on current climate change scenarios. The results indicate that 25.9% of the study area is classified as a high-risk area. The main environmental variables that affect the distribution of landslides include altitude, slope, normalized difference vegetation index, annual precipitation, distance from rivers, and distance from roads, with a cumulative contribution rate of approximately 90%. The annual rainfall in the Hanjiang River Basin will continue to increase under future climate warming scenarios. Increased rainfall will further increase the extent of high- and medium-risk areas in the basin, especially when following the RCP8.5 climate prediction, which is expected to increase the high-risk area by 10.7% by 2070. Furthermore, high landslide risk areas in the basin will migrate to high-altitude areas in the future, which poses new challenges for the prevention and control of landslide risks. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the MaxEnt model as a tool for landslide susceptibility prediction in the Hanjiang River Basin caused by global warming and yields robust prediction results. This approach therefore provides an important reference for river basin management and disaster reduction and prevention. The study on landslide risks also supports the hypothesis that global climate change will further enhance the frequency and intensity of landslide activity throughout the course of the 21st Century.

Topography can strongly affect ground motion, and studies of the quantification of hill surfaces' topographic effect are relatively rare. In this paper, a new quantitative seismic topographic effect prediction method based upon the BP neural network algorithm and three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) was developed. The FEM simulation results were compared with seismic records and the results show that the PGA and response spectra have a tendency to increase with increasing elevation, but the correlation between PGA amplification factors and slope is not obvious for low hills. New BP neural network models were established for the prediction of amplification factors of PGA and response spectra. Two kinds of input variables' combinations which are convenient to achieve are proposed in this paper for the prediction of amplification factors of PGA and response spectra, respectively. The absolute values of prediction errors can be mostly within 0.1 for PGA amplification factors, and they can be mostly within 0.2 for response spectra's amplification factors. One input variables' combination can achieve better prediction performance while the other one has better expandability of the predictive region. Particularly, the BP models only employ one hidden layer with about a hundred nodes, which makes it efficient for training.

The exploration and development of tight sandstone gas reservoirs are controlled by high-quality river channel sand bodies on a large scale in Sichuan Basin. In order to improve the accuracy of sand body prediction and characterization, Multi-component exploration technology research has been carried out in Northwest Sichuan Basin. First, based on the array acoustic logging data, a forward modeling has been established to analyze the seismic response characteristics of the PS-wave data and P-wave data. The result shows that the response characteristics of the P-wave and PS-wave to the sand bodies with different impedance are different. And then through the analysis of logging data, the effectiveness of the forward modeling has been proved. When the sandstone velocity is close to the surrounding rocks, the P-wave performs as a weak reflection, which may lead to reduce the identification range of the sand bodies. However, the PS-wave exhibits strong reflection, which can identify this type of sand bodies. Finally, by comparing and explaining the PS-wave data and P-wave data, and integrating their attributes, the prediction accuracy of sand bodies is improved. Compared with the interpretation of a single P-wave, the results can significantly expand the distribution range of sand bodies, laying a foundation for improving the production capacity of single wells and reserve submission.

Vol 35, No 4 , 2024

ISSN  1674-487X

CN  42-1788/P

Editor in Chief: Yanxin Wang

Executive Editors in Chief: Zhong-Qiang Chen, Jiang Shaoyong

Shu Jiang，Changdong Li，Rui Ma  Qiliang Sun，Timothy M. Kusky，Dun Wang  Lunche Wang，Long Xiao，Xin-Fu Zhao Keqing Zong ， Renguang Zuo ，Zongjun Yin

2023 Impact Factor 4.1,  JCR Q1

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• 1 http://www.aimspress.com/journal/Materials
• 2 Hydrocarbon Distribution and Accumulation Model in the South of Lixian Slope, Raoyang
• 3 Rainfall Threshold Calculation Method for Debris Flow Pre-Warning in Data-Poor Areas
• 4 Rainfall Threshold Calculation Method for Debris Flow Pre-Warning in Data-Poor Areas
• 5 Chemical Composition of Urban Street Sediments and Its Sources
• 1 Seawater Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen over the Past 500 Million Years
• 2 Geological Evidence for the Operation of Plate Tectonics throughout the Archean: Records from Archean Paleo-Plate Boundaries
• 3 Inventory and Spatial Distribution of Landslides Triggered by the 8th August 2017 M W 6.5 Jiuzhaigou Earthquake, China
• 4 Proto-South China Sea Plate Tectonics Using Subducted Slab Constraints from Tomography
• 5 An Optimized Random Forest Model and Its Generalization Ability in Landslide Susceptibility Mapping:Application in Two Areas of Three Gorges Reservoir, China
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• 1 Automatic Stitching Method for Chang'E-2 CCD Images of the Moon
• 2 Radial anisotropy in the crust beneath the northeastern Tibetan Plateau from ambient noise tomography
• 3 Spatial Variation of Hydraulic Conductivity Categories in a Highly Heterogeneous Aquifer: A Case Study in the North China Plain (NCP)
• 4 On the Numerical Modeling of the Deep Mantle Water Cycle in Global-Scale Mantle Dynamics: The Effects of the Water Solubility Limit of Lower Mantle Minerals
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• 1 Sedimentary Characteristics and Reservoir Prediction of Paleogene in the East Part of Kuqa Foreland Basin
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The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) instituted the Entrepreneurs Challenge to identify innovative ideas and technologies from small business start-ups with the potential to advance the agency’s science goals. Geolabe—a prize winner in the latest Entrepreneurs Challenge—has developed a way…

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Posted on Aug 4, 2022 We are inviting papers for Vol. 12, No. 1, 2023 Issue. Manuscripts from 3000-8000 words in length are preferred. All manuscripts should be written in English and prepared in MS-Word format, and submitted online at http://ccsenet.org/journal/in Read More

Earth Science Research Indexed in Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2018 Journal List

Posted on Jul 9, 2019 Earth Science Research (ESR) has been indexed by ERA 2018 Journal List. Excellence in Research for Australia, Australia’s national research evaluation framework. ERA identifies and promotes excellence across the full spectrum of research activity in Austr Read More

Policy Change of Free Print Journals

Posted on Jan 22, 2018 As you are aware, printing and delivery of journals results in causing a significant amount of detrimental impact to the environment. Being a responsible publisher and being considerate for the envi.. Read More

Current: Vol. 12, No. 1 (2023)

• Using a New Cenozoic Glacial History Paradigm to Explain Saline-Smoky Hill River Drainage Divide Area Topographic Map Evidence: Kansas, USA
•   Eric Clausen    

• Effects of Variations in Earth’s Gravitational Force Fields on Climate Change
•   Uzoma Oduah    
•   Emmanuel Joel    
•   Josephat Izunobi    
•   Olubunmi Nubi    
•   Samuel Popoola    
•   Nnaemeka Njoku-Achu    
•   Oluwaseun Ajileye    
•   Daniel Obiora    
•   Augustine Chukwude    
•   Babatunde Rabiu    
• Analysis of Joints Patterns in Albian to Santonian Strata on the Eastern Flank of the Abakaliki Anticlinorium: Implications on Paleostress Conditions and Fluid Flow Properties in an Unconventional Petroleum System
•   Ikenna Anthony Okonkwo    
•   Ogbonnaya James Igwe    

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Collection 

Top 100 in Earth Science

Explore our most highly accessed Earth science articles in 2017. Featuring authors from around the World, these papers highlight valuable research within Earth science from an international community.

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Site of asteroid impact changed the history of life on Earth: the low probability of mass extinction

• Kunio Kaiho
• Naga Oshima

India Is Overtaking China as the World’s Largest Emitter of Anthropogenic Sulfur Dioxide

• Chris McLinden
• Russell R. Dickerson

A real-time Global Warming Index

• K. Haustein
• M. R. Allen
• D. J. Frame

Changes in regional heatwave characteristics as a function of increasing global temperature

• S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick
• P. B. Gibson

New insights into earthquake precursors from InSAR

• Michele Saroli
• Urs Wegmüller

Source and dynamics of a volcanic caldera unrest: Campi Flegrei, 1983–84

• Luca De Siena
• Giovanni Chiodini
• Guido Ventura

Climate induced human demographic and cultural change in northern Europe during the mid-Holocene

• J. S. Sinninghe Damsté

Impact-related microspherules in Late Pleistocene Alaskan and Yukon “muck” deposits signify recurrent episodes of catastrophic emplacement

• Jonathan T. Hagstrum
• Richard B. Firestone
• Ted E. Bunch

Amplified surface temperature response of cold, deep lakes to inter-annual air temperature variability

• R. Iestyn Woolway
• Christopher J. Merchant

Climate of doubt: A re-evaluation of Büntgen and Di Cosmo’s environmental hypothesis for the Mongol withdrawal from Hungary, 1242 CE

• Zsolt Pinke
• László Ferenczi
• Stephen Pow

Global nickel anomaly links Siberian Traps eruptions and the latest Permian mass extinction

• Michael R. Rampino
• Sedelia Rodriguez

Nuisance Flooding and Relative Sea-Level Rise: the Importance of Present-Day Land Motion

• Makan A. Karegar
• Timothy H. Dixon
• Simon E. Engelhart

Hydrogeochemical changes before and during the 2016 Amatrice-Norcia seismic sequence (central Italy)

• Marino Domenico Barberio
• Maurizio Barbieri
• Marco Petitta

Dominant control of agriculture and irrigation on urban heat island in India

• Rahul Kumar
• Vimal Mishra
• Matthew Huber

Doubling of coastal flooding frequency within decades due to sea-level rise

• Sean Vitousek
• Patrick L. Barnard
• Curt D. Storlazzi

High levels of ammonia do not raise fine particle pH sufficiently to yield nitrogen oxide-dominated sulfate production

• Rodney J. Weber
• Athanasios Nenes

Observed drought indices show increasing divergence across Europe

• James H. Stagge
• Daniel G. Kingston
• David M. Hannah

Severe Pollution in China Amplified by Atmospheric Moisture

• Ru-Jin Huang
• Colin D. O’Dowd

Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar Survey of Subsidence in Hampton Roads, Virginia (USA)

• D. P. S. Bekaert
• B. D. Hamlington
• C. E. Jones

Role of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources in Intraseasonal Variability of Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall

• Amey Pathak
• Subimal Ghosh
• Raghu Murtugudde

Urban Seismology: on the origin of earth vibrations within a city

• Paula Romero

Evidence of local and regional freshening of Northeast Greenland coastal waters

• Mikael K. Sejr
• Colin A. Stedmon
• Søren Rysgaard

New Zealand supereruption provides time marker for the Last Glacial Maximum in Antarctica

• Nelia W. Dunbar
• Nels A. Iverson
• Colin J. N. Wilson

A solar radiation database for Chile

• Alejandra Molina
• Mark Falvey
• Roberto Rondanelli

Evidence of long-term NAO influence on East-Central Europe winter precipitation from a guano-derived δ 15 N record

• Daniel M. Cleary
• Jonathan G. Wynn
• Bogdan P. Onac

Humid heat waves at different warming levels

• Simone Russo
• Jana Sillmann
• Andreas Sterl

Distributed Acoustic Sensing for Seismic Monitoring of The Near Surface: A Traffic-Noise Interferometry Case Study

• Nate Lindsey
• Jonathan B. Ajo-Franklin

Declining pre-monsoon dust loading over South Asia: Signature of a changing regional climate

• Satyendra K. Pandey
• S. Suresh Babu

The first physical evidence of subglacial volcanism under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

• Ross Lieb-Lappen
• Ellyn Golden

8000-year monsoonal record from Himalaya revealing reinforcement of tropical and global climate systems since mid-Holocene

• Pradeep Srivastava
• Rajesh Agnihotri
• R. Jayangondaperumal

Extreme weather caused by concurrent cyclone, front and thunderstorm occurrences

• Andrew J. Dowdy
• Jennifer L. Catto

Drift-dependent changes in iceberg size-frequency distributions

• James D. Kirkham
• Nick J. Rosser
• Witold Szczuciński

Exceptional 20 th century glaciological regime of a major SE Greenland outlet glacier

• Camilla S. Andresen
• Ulla Kokfelt
• David Wangner

Contrasting glacier responses to recent climate change in high-mountain Asia

• Akiko Sakai
• Koji Fujita

The impact of extreme El Niño events on modern sediment transport along the western Peruvian Andes (1968–2012)

• Sergio B. Morera
• Thomas Condom
• Jean L. Guyot

Indian Ocean corals reveal crucial role of World War II bias for twentieth century warming estimates

• M. Pfeiffer
• M. E. Weber

The signs of Antarctic ozone hole recovery

• Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath
• Prijitha J. Nair

Tracing the Vedic Saraswati River in the Great Rann of Kachchh

• Nitesh Khonde
• Sunil Kumar Singh
• Liviu Giosan

Droughts in India from 1981 to 2013 and Implications to Wheat Production

• Xiang Zhang
• Renee Obringer

Half a century of coastal temperature records reveal complex warming trends in western boundary currents

• Nick T. Shears
• Melissa M. Bowen

US Power Production at Risk from Water Stress in a Changing Climate

• Poulomi Ganguli
• Devashish Kumar
• Auroop R. Ganguly

Effect of a positive Sea Surface Temperature anomaly on a Mediterranean tornadic supercell

• Mario Marcello Miglietta
• Jordi Mazon
• Antonello Pasini

Monitoring ground water storage at mesoscale using seismic noise: 30 years of continuous observation and thermo-elastic and hydrological modeling

• Thomas Lecocq
• Laurent Longuevergne
• Klaus Stammler

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) tracks 2–3 peta-gram increase in carbon release to the atmosphere during the 2014–2016 El Niño

• Prabir K. Patra
• David Crisp
• Kentaro Ishijima

Changes in land use alter soil quality and aggregate stability in the highlands of northern Ethiopia

• Yoseph T. Delelegn
• Witoon Purahong
• Douglas L. Godbold

Zebra rocks: compaction waves create ore deposits

• Ulrich Kelka
• Manolis Veveakis
• Nicolas Beaudoin

Distributed optical fibre sensing for early detection of shallow landslides triggering

• Luca Schenato
• Luca Palmieri
• Paolo Simonini

The role of city size and urban form in the surface urban heat island

• Diego Rybski
• Jürgen P. Kropp

Wind-generated Electricity in China: Decreasing Potential, Inter-annual Variability and Association with Changing Climate

• Peter Sherman
• Michael B. McElroy

A new family of extraterrestrial amino acids in the Murchison meteorite

• Toshiki Koga
• Hiroshi Naraoka

Minimal Holocene retreat of large tidewater glaciers in Køge Bugt, southeast Greenland

• Laurence M. Dyke
• Flor Vermassen

Magmatic tempo of Earth’s youngest exposed plutons as revealed by detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology

• Hisatoshi Ito
• Christopher J. Spencer
• Carl W. Hoiland

Impact of Ocean Warming on Tropical Cyclone Size and Its Destructiveness

• Zhong Zhong

Long-term climate change in the D-region

• Mark A. Clilverd
• Roger Duthie
• Keith H. Yearby

Direct Formation of Structural Components Using a Martian Soil Simulant

• Brian J. Chow
• Tzehan Chen

Surge-type and surge-modified glaciers in the Karakoram

A robust empirical seasonal prediction of winter NAO and surface climate

• P. J. Kushner

Enhanced Arctic Amplification Began at the Mid-Brunhes Event ~400,000 years ago

• T. M. Cronin
• G. S. Dwyer

Peatland Ecosystem Processes in the Maritime Antarctic During Warm Climates

• Julie Loisel
• Ivan Parnikoza

Salinity stratification controlled productivity variation over 300 ky in the Bay of Bengal

• R. Da Silva
• A. Mazumdar
• S. K. Molletti

Climate variability and trends at a national scale

• Jianguo Liu

Nonuniform subduction of the Indian crust beneath the Himalayas

• Simon L. Klemperer

Origin of methane-rich natural gas at the West Pacific convergent plate boundary

• Naoya Kinoshita
• Daniele L. Pinti

Prediction of Indian Summer-Monsoon Onset Variability: A Season in Advance

• Maheswar Pradhan
• A. Suryachandra Rao
• K. S. Shameera

Evaluating the importance of metamorphism in the foundering of continental crust

• Timothy Chapman
• Geoffrey L. Clarke
• Nathan R. Daczko

Identification of the driving forces of climate change using the longest instrumental temperature record

• Peicai Yang

Advancement of magma fragmentation by inhomogeneous bubble distribution

• M. Ichihara

Himalayan glaciers experienced significant mass loss during later phases of little ice age

• Mayank Shekhar
• Anshuman Bhardwaj
• María-Paz Zorzano

Fatty Acid Surfactant Photochemistry Results in New Particle Formation

• Peter A. Alpert
• Raluca Ciuraru
• Christian George

Mantle hydration along outer-rise faults inferred from serpentinite permeability

• Kohei Hatakeyama
• Ikuo Katayama
• Katsuyoshi Michibayashi

Silica precipitation potentially controls earthquake recurrence in seismogenic zones

• Hanae Saishu
• Atsushi Okamoto
• Makoto Otsubo

Patterns of change in high frequency precipitation variability over North America

• Susana Roque-Malo
• Praveen Kumar

Marine self-potential survey for exploring seafloor hydrothermal ore deposits

• Yoshifumi Kawada
• Takafumi Kasaya

Hydrothermal activity, functional diversity and chemoautotrophy are major drivers of seafloor carbon cycling

• James B. Bell
• Clare Woulds
• Dick van Oevelen

A decade of global volcanic SO 2 emissions measured from space

• V. E. Fioletov
• N. A. Krotkov

South Atlantic paleobathymetry since early Cretaceous

• Lucía Pérez-Díaz
• Graeme Eagles

Precipitation in a warming world: Assessing projected hydro-climate changes in California and other Mediterranean climate regions

• Suraj D. Polade
• Alexander Gershunov
• David W. Pierce

Penultimate deglacial warming across the Mediterranean Sea revealed by clumped isotopes in foraminifera

• L. Rodríguez-Sanz
• S. M. Bernasconi
• E. J. Rohling

Emerging negative Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation index in spite of warm subtropics

• Eleanor Frajka-Williams
• Claudie Beaulieu
• Aurelie Duchez

Attribution of recent temperature behaviour reassessed by a neural-network method

• Paolo Racca
• Claudio Cassardo

Disentangling physical and biological drivers of phytoplankton dynamics in a coastal system

• Daniela Cianelli
• Domenico D’Alelio
• Maurizio Ribera d’Alcalà

Extreme coastal erosion enhanced by anomalous extratropical storm wave direction

• Mitchell D. Harley
• Ian L. Turner
• Andrew D. Short

India plate angular velocity and contemporary deformation rates from continuous GPS measurements from 1996 to 2015

• Sridevi Jade
• T. S. Shrungeshwara

Multi-year predictability of climate, drought, and wildfire in southwestern North America

• Yoshimitsu Chikamoto
• Axel Timmermann
• Lowell Stott

Climate and permafrost effects on the chemistry and ecosystems of High Arctic Lakes

• K. E. Roberts
• S. F. Lamoureux
• A. Normandeau

Sensing coral reef connectivity pathways from space

• Dionysios E. Raitsos
• Robert J. W. Brewin
• Ibrahim Hoteit

Potential ash impact from Antarctic volcanoes: Insights from Deception Island’s most recent eruption

Causes and Predictability of the Negative Indian Ocean Dipole and Its Impact on La Niña During 2016

• Harry H. Hendon

Induced seismicity closed-form traffic light system for actuarial decision-making during deep fluid injections

• M. Broccardo
• D. Giardini

On the consistency of seismically imaged lower mantle slabs

• G. E. Shephard
• K. J. Matthews

Volcanic influence on centennial to millennial Holocene Greenland temperature change

• Takuro Kobashi
• Laurie Menviel
• Atsumu Ohmura

Increasing frequency and spatial extent of concurrent meteorological droughts and heatwaves in India

• Shailza Sharma
• Pradeep Mujumdar

New Late Permian tectonic model for South Africa’s Karoo Basin: foreland tectonics and climate change before the end-Permian crisis

• Pia A. Viglietti
• Bruce S. Rubidge
• Roger M. H. Smith

Vegetation morphologic and aerodynamic characteristics reduce aeolian erosion

• Deirdre Dragovich
• Zhibao Dong

Evidence for ice-ocean albedo feedback in the Arctic Ocean shifting to a seasonal ice zone

• Haruhiko Kashiwase
• Kay I. Ohshima
• Hajo Eicken

Arctic cryosphere and Milankovitch forcing of Great Basin paleoclimate

• Matthew Lachniet
• Yemane Asmerom
• Rhawn Denniston

Recognition of a likely two phased extinction at the K-Pg boundary in Antarctica

• Thomas S. Tobin

Birth of an oceanic spreading center at a magma-poor rift system

• Morgane Gillard
• Daniel Sauter
• Gianreto Manatschal

Impact of Multidecadal Climate Variability on United Kingdom Rickets Rates

• Haris Majeed
• G. W. K. Moore

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Faculty, research scientists, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students in the Department of Earth Sciences, as well as affiliated faculty from other departments, conduct research that commonly transcends the boundaries of classic sub-disciplines in Earth Science. Below we provide some information about our three broad focus areas within the department, although we encourage you to visit the individual websites of our community members for more information!

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