ALBERT

Description: Well-constrained earthquake depth estimations are important for seismic hazard determination. As local networks of the East-African Rift are usually too sparse for reliable depth estimations, we used detections of pP and sP phase arrivals (the so-called depth phases) at teleseismic distance to constrain earthquake depths in this region. We rely on a fully automatic Cepstral analysis approach, first validated at the global scale using the ISC-EHB catalogue, then applied on the East-African seismicity. We investigated 9575 earthquakes from magnitude 2 since 2005 which allows us to constrain the depth estimation of 584 events with magnitude mainly above 3.5, complemented by 139 reliable depth estimations from previous studies based on teleseismic data as well. To ensure a final catalogue as complete as possible, we also identified from regional catalogues 113 earthquakes assumed to be well constrained, based on network geometry empirical criteria. Thanks to this study, we finally propose new earthquake depth distributions for the seismic source zonation defined by Poggi et al., in order to estimate the seismic hazard of the East African Rift region. Including those new distributions in the source models leads to significant changes of seismic hazard assessments results.

Description: 1-D site response analysis dominates earthquake engineering practice, while local 2-D/3-D models are often required at sites where the site response is complex. For such sites, the 1-D representation of the soil column can account neither for topographic effects or dipping layers nor for locally generated horizontally propagating surface waves. It then remains a crucial task to identify whether the site response can be modelled sufficiently precisely by 1-D analysis. In this study we develop a method to classify sites according to their 1-D or 2-D/3-D nature. This classification scheme is based on the analysis of surface earthquake recordings and the evaluation of the variability and similarity of the horizontal Fourier spectra. The taxonomy is focused on capturing significant directional dependencies and interevent variabilities indicating a more probable 2-D/3-D structure around the site causing the ground motion to be more variable. While no significant correlation of the 1-D/3-D site index with environmental parameters and site proxies seems to exist, a reduction in the within-site (singlestation) variability is found. The reduction is largest (up to 20 per cent) for purely 1-D sites. Although the taxonomy system is developed using surface stations of the KiK-net network in Japan as considerable additional information is available, it can also be applied to any (non-downhole array) site.

Description: Severe droughts caused unprecedented impacts on grasslands in Central Europe in 2018 and 2019. Yet, spatially varying drought impacts on grasslands remain poorly understood as they are driven by complex interactions of environmental conditions and land management. Sentinel-2 time series offer untapped potential for improving grassland monitoring during droughts with the required spatial and temporal detail. In this study, we quantified drought effects in a major Central European grassland region from 2017 to 2020 using a regression-based unmixing framework. The Sentinel-2-based intra-annual time series of photosynthetic vegetation (PV), non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV), and soil fractional cover provide easily interpretable quantities relevant for understanding drought effects on grasslands. Fractional cover estimates from Sentinel-2 matched in-situ conditions observed during field visits. The comparison to a multitemporal reference dataset showed the best agreement for PV cover (MAE = 7.2%). Agreement was lower for soil and NPV, but we observed positive relationships between fractional cover from Sentinel-2 and the reference data with MAE = 10.1% and MAE = 15.4% for soil and NPV, respectively. Based on the fractional cover estimates, we derived a Normalized Difference Fraction Index (NDFI) time series contrasting NPV and soil cover relative to PV. In line with meteorological and soil moisture drought indices, and with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), NDFI time series showed the most severe drought impacts in 2018, followed by less severe, but persisting effects in 2019. Drought-specific metrics from NDFI time series revealed a high spatial variability of onset, duration, impact, and end of drought effects on grasslands. Evaluating drought metrics on different soil types, we found that grasslands on less productive, sandy Cambisols were strongly affected by the drought in 2018 and 2019. In comparison, grasslands on Gleysols and Histosols were less severely impacted suggesting a higher drought resistance of these grasslands. Our study emphasizes that the high temporal and spatial detail of Sentinel-2 time series is mandatory for capturing relevant vegetation dynamics in Central European lowland grasslands under drought.

Description: Micellization is one of the most challenging promotion mechanisms of surfactants for gas hydrate formation. Surfactants have been reported as the most efficient promoters for the formation of gas hydrates; however, their mechanism of action is not yet clear. The literature review reveals a major gap in the current knowledge for clarifying the effect of micellization on clathrate hydrate formation. Previous studies have mostly focused on hydrate formation in the presence of a special category of compounds that can form micelles, i.e., surfactants (in most cases, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)). However, structures more complex than SDS have not been extensively studied. In other words, the changes in the surfactants’ molecular structure significantly alter their activity in the hydrate formation process. The current study aims to fill this gap by investigating a novel additive, i.e., waterborne polyurea/urethanes (WPUU), which can generate micelles at the hydrate forming temperature. The experimental results show that WPUUs have a surfactant property and form micelles at the hydrate forming temperature. Nonetheless, no promotion effect on methane hydrate formation was observed. The results of the molecular dynamic simulation confirm that WPUU inhibits gas hydrate formation due to its stronger proton-accepting hydrogen bond compared to water molecules. The results indicate that depending on the molecular structure of the additives, their micelles could have an inhibition effect on methane hydrate formation. Our findings present a molecular foundation to guide the molecular design of efficient hydrate inhibitors and promoters for flow assurance and gas storage applications. Moreover, they provide new insight into the inhibition mechanism of kinetic hydrate inhibitors.

Description: We introduce the effects of self-attraction and loading (SAL) to the momentum equations of a barotropic global ocean tide model as well as a baroclinic general circulation model. We show for the tidal dynamics, that an explicit treatment of SAL is favourable compared to a scalar approximation or even disregarding the effects all together. For the general circulation the influence on the ocean bottom pressure is shown to be about 1 hPa for short time periods along the coasts and about 0.5 hPa for longer periods in resonant basins in the southern ocean. In contrast to previous studies, we additionally examine the effects of surface pressure anomalies over the continents in the computation of SAL which is shown to have an influence of about 0.5 hPa along the coasts. With those results, we demonstrate that the explicit treatment of SAL is important for satellite applications.

Description: This chapter provides a general review of ongoing activities related to the geotechnical applications of the acoustic emission (AE) technique on various rock specimens. Recent and current worldwide AE studies are reviewed. This study highlights some key issues concerning the applications of many methods ranging from simple event counting with few AE sensors to complex focal mechanism investigations using multiple AE sensors.

Description: This study of Lithium (Li) isotopes in surface waters and sediments in the catchment of Lake Bangong and the Upper Indus on the western Tibetan Plateau aims to identify processes that control Li isotope variations during weathering under a cold and hyper-arid climate. Additionally, Li isotope ratios in the Yarlung Tsangpo – Brahmaputra River were investigated. The lake and river sediments of Lake Bangong catchment display remarkable low δ7Li values between −4.7‰ and −0.6‰ relative to L-SVEC. Li isotopes in river bed sediments correlate with weathering intensity tracers such as the chemical index of alteration (CIA), K/(Na + K), or Na/Ti, and δ7Li values decrease continuously within the sediment cascade. These observations cannot be explained by mixing of different lithologies but reflects increasing intensity of weathering. The hyper-arid climate on the western plateau results in considerably long sediment residence times, which allows for overcoming the limitation of water availability on chemical weathering reactions. Samples from the Lake Bangong basins display low δ7Li values between +8.1‰ and +11.1‰. The major inflows have dissolved δ7Li values of +6.1‰ and +8.9‰. High Li/Na ratios in the stream waters indicate some contribution of hydrothermal Li. However, low δ7Li values in surface waters result from impeded silicate weathering processes in the thin soils. The samples from Indus headwaters and Yarlung Tsangpo provide evidence for low δ7Li all over the western and southern Tibetan Plateau. Using data of the Bangong Co, the Indus headwaters, and Yarlung Tsangpo, as well as published data from the northeastern plateau, we explore what controls Li isotope variation across the Tibetan plateau. Mass balance calculations suggest that similar proportions of dissolved Li and particulate Li are exported by river water and sediments on the western plateau. In contrast, high δ7Li values around +17‰ of the dissolved load in rivers on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau reflect a particulate Li export flux that is about five times higher than the export flux of dissolved Li. There is no first-order control by silicate weathering rates. The δ7Li differences largely follow the precipitation gradient across the Tibetan Plateau, which results in high net-incorporation of Li into clays on the northeastern but limits soil formation on the western Tibetan Plateau and, therefore limited, processing of lithium in the weathering zone.

Description: This data set is the part 8 of a series reporting chemical data for accessory minerals from felsic igneous rocks. Compositional data were acquired by electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA) between about 1995 and 2005 on surface rocks and borehole samples. This data set assembles the results of EPMA of fluorapatite from felsic rocks representing three groups of granites in the Erzgebirge−Vogtland metallogenic province of Germany emplaced in the late Carboniferous: F-poor biotite granites, F-poor two-mica granites, and P-F-rich Li-mica granite. In these rocks, fluorapatite is typically omnipresent. It has to be noted that apatite has not yet been in the focus of mineralogical studies of the granites in this province and a comprehensive survey of its compositional signature and variability in space and time is still pending. However, the data listed in this data set provide a valuable glimpse into the similarities and differences in apatite chemistry between geochemically distinct felsic rocks, and into the evolution in composition from early to late crystallizing apatite populations. The data underpin that apatite is a sensitive monitor of the compositional properties of the media (melts and fluids) from which it was deposited or with which it interacted. Apatite from the studied rocks is basically fluorapatite with little or no Cl and OH detected respectively inferred. Elemental variations are observed at various scales, i.e., between granite groups, subsequently crystallized sub-intrusion within composite massifs, grains present in a single thin section, or between the center and the rim of a particular grain. These variations in particular refer to the following elements: Mn, Fe, Na, and the rare-earth elements (REE). For example, measured Mn concentrations range from 0.15 to 8.8 wt% MnO. The data set contains the complete pile of electron-microprobe analyses for fluorapatite (APAT-ERZ-2020). The data are presented as Excel (xlsx) and tab-delimited text (txt) formats. The content of the tables and further information on the granites and regional geology are provided in the data description file.

Description: New apatite fission track (AFT) and (U–Th)/He (AHe) data from two sections recording Cretaceous-Cenozoic clastic successions (La Flecha - La Troya Sur creeks) in the northern sector of the Central Precordillera of Argentina are presented. The results show that the Ciénaga del Río Huaco, Puesto la Flecha and Vallecito Fms. would have crossed the 60 °C isotherm during burial, while the middle sector of the Vinchina Fm. would not have reached temperatures higher than 55 °C. Multimethod inverse thermal modeling suggests that the AFT ages of all the studied levels would not have been completely reset and allow inferring that the partial retention zone for the AHe system (AHe-PRZ) would have been reached during the Miocene in levels between the Vallecito and Vinchina Fms. Our 1D-modeling results for the Ciénaga del Río Huaco, Puesto la Flecha and Vallecito Fms. show that the maximum temperature would have been reached at ~15 Ma, with a sedimentary thickness of ~2750 m and a heat flow of 65 mW/m2. From these data, a geothermal gradient of ~27 °C/km at this time could be inferred. In turn, the Vinchina and Zapallar Fms. would have reached their maximum temperature at ~2 Ma, under a cooler thermal regime (20 mW/m2) and with an estimated geothermal gradient of 〈15 °C/km. Thus, a complex time-temperature trajectory is proposed. Maximum and cooling temperatures reached by each unit do not correspond in all cases to the maximum burial and exhumation times. Comparison of the thermal modelling from this work with those carried out by other authors for sections immediately to the north allows us to infer that the thermal regime within the Vinchina basin has important lateral variations. Finally, AFT and AHe analyzes carried out in this work constitute a baseline database of the thermal regime, which is necessary for future multiproxies studies that are being done to evaluate the preservation of primary thermal signals, and thus check their reliability for pealeoclimatic and paleoenvironmental interpretations.

Description: Soil Carbon (C) is central to the functioning of ecosystems and climate change mitigation. It represents the largest terrestrial pool and much of it, is stored in forest soils. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) in a forest varies not only laterally, but also vertically (i.e., with depth). However, the SOC content of forest soil horizons has not been investigated over large scales, despite its importance for framing our understanding of soil function. Visible–Near Infrared (vis–NIR) reflectance spectroscopy enables rapid and cost-effective examination of forest SOC distribution, both laterally and vertically. This study aims to evaluate the potential of vis–NIR spectroscopy for classifying and predicting the SOC concentration of organic and mineral horizons in forests of the Czech Republic. We investigated 1080 forest sites across the country, each with five soil horizons, representing the Litter (L), Fragmented (F), and Humus (H) organic horizons, as well as the A1 (depth of 2–10 cm) and A2 (depth of 10–40 cm) mineral horizons. We, then, used Support Vector Machines (SVMs) to classify the soil horizons based on their spectra and also to model the SOC concentration of (i) the profile (organic and mineral horizons together), (ii) only the organic horizons, (iii) only the mineral horizons, and (iv) each individual horizon separately. The models were validated using 10-repeated 10-fold cross-validation. Results show that the SVM with radial basis kernel could accurately classify the soil horizons (Correct Classification Rate (CCR) of 70% and Kappa coefficient of 0.63). The SOC model developed for the soil profile performed well (R2 = 0.76 and RMSE = 1.63%). The model of the combined organic horizons was considerably more accurate than that of the combined mineral horizons (R2 = 0.78 and R2 = 0.53, respectively). Estimates of SOC in the individual soil horizons had R2 values greater than 0.63 but those of the F and A1 models were better with R2 〉 0.70. The study indicates that vis–NIR spectroscopy can effectively characterize the SOC concentration of the highly variable forest soil horizons in the Czech Republic.

Description: The International Geodynamics and Earth Tide Service (IGETS) was established in 2015 by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). IGETS continues the activities of the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP, 1997-2015) to provide support to geodetic and geophysical research activities using superconducting gravimeter (SG) data within the context of an international network. The Membach station is located near the river Vesdre. It consists of a 130 m long gallery excavated in the side of the valley that rises to the Hautes Fagnes plateau. At the end of the gallery, there are two rooms, located at ~45 m below the ground surface. Room 1 is dedicated to absolute gravity and seismic measurements; room 2 houses the superconducting gravimeter. The structure of the gallery and the rooms is in reinforced concrete. It was built in the early 1970s to monitor the seismic activity in the vicinity of the Gileppe and Eupen water reservoirs. Works were performed contemporeanously with the raising of the Gileppe dam. The gallery has been excavated in low-porosity argillaceous sandstone with quartzitic beds. As a function of rainfall and seasonal effects, gravity variations up to 40 nms-2 have been observed, and are mostly due to groundwater changes in the vadose zone above the underground laboratory (Van Camp et al., 2006). Strong rainfall induces rapid gravity decreases (Meurers et al 2007; Delobbe et al., 2019). At the surface, a beech forest. Absolute gravity measurements have been performed on average every month since 1996, using the FG5#202 gravimeter and the station is also the reference point for the Belgian gravity network. The SG GWR#C021 has been operating continuously since 1995 August so that, since 2017 September 18, it holds both records for the longest continuous time spent measuring gravity variations in the same place and for the longest superconducting levitation of an artefact (Van Camp et al., 2017). For high precision works like Earth tides analysis on long time series, data should not be used before 1998 June 12, when the original "TIDE" card in the SG electronics was replaced by the "GGP" one. Filters are different, and so are the transfer functions. Moreover, in this early period, the SG suffered from numerous technical issues, causing several changes in the amplitude and phase calibrations and making it difficult to ensure that the data are as reliable as after 1998 June.

Description: This package provides a set of tools to read, manipulate and convert seismic waveforms generated by DAS systems. In particular, the ones saved in TDMs format: - dasconv: This utility lets you convert and manipulate seismic waveforms in TDMs format and export them into MiniSEED. - tdmsws (experimental) - a stand-alone implementation of the FDSN Dataselect web service, which is able to serve miniSEED data extracted from a folder with TDMS files.

Description: Artificial light at night (ALAN) can have negative impacts on the health of humans and ecosystems.1, 2, 3, 4 Marine organisms, including coral reefs in particular, rely on the natural light cycles of sunlight and moonlight to regulate various physiological, biological, and behavioral processes.5, 6, 7, 8 Here, we demonstrate that light pollution caused delayed gametogenesis and unsynchronized gamete release in two coral species, Acropora millepora and Acropora digitifera, from the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Given the urbanization along major coasts, light pollution could thus further threaten coral communities’ populations, which are already under severe degradation. A worldwide-modeled light pollution impact assessment is provided, which can help incorporate an important variable in coral reef conservation planning.

Description: The FOSA (FOgo Seismic Array) project has been carried out from October 2015 to December 2016 to investigate the seismicity of Fogo volcano after its eruption in 2014/2015. Fogo is the only volcano of the Cape Verde archipelago with reported historic eruptions. The eruptions occur frequently with an interval of about 20 years. However, the structure and extent of the related volcanic plumbing system are not well understood. The focus of the FOSA project was on the detection of ongoing magmatic activity and information about the plumbing system, using seismic array techniques. The array of the FOSA study was operated from October 2015 to December 2016, close to the village Achada Furna. From January 2016 we complemented the network with three additional broadband stations for an improved event detection and localization.

Description: This dataset comprises numerical outputs from the thermosphere-ionosphere-electrodynamics general circulation model (TIE-GCM) simulations described in the article "Modeling of planetary wave influences on the pre-reversal enhancement of the equatorial F region vertical plasma drift" (Yamazaki & Diéval, 2021).

Description: This dataset resulted from a parallel monitoring at two lakes, Lake Tiefer See (near Klocksin, TSK; 53° 35.5’ N, 12° 31.8’ E; 62 masl; N Germany) and Lake Czechowskie (Jezioro Czechowskie, JC; 53° 52.4’ N, 18° 14.3’ E; 108 masl; N Poland), and includes four different type of data for both locations: (i) sediment cores microfacies data, (ii) sediment fluxes and composition, (iii) selected water column data, and (iv) selected meteorological information obtained on site. This dual lake monitoring set-up was established in 2012 with the aim to investigate seasonal sedimentation and varve forming processes in detail. The datasets are provided in individual *.csv files, per type of data and per lake. The thin section data from surface sediment cores comprises the thicknesses of the most recent calcite varves’ sub-layers: spring diatom sub-layer, summer calcite sub-layer, and autumn/winter re-suspension sub-layer. The sediment flux data was obtained from sediment traps located in different water depths (epi- and hypolimnion), and the sediment composition is given by the fluxes of total organic carbon (TOC), calcium carbonate (as calculated from total inorganic carbon; TIC), and diatoms & inorganic matter. The water column data comprises water temperature from stationary loggers, and dissolved oxygen measured in ~ 1 meter depth-resolution. The meteorological data includes daily averages of air temperature and mean wind-speed, and summed daily rainfall. Further details about the sampling and analytical methods, data acquisition, and processing are given in Roeser et al. (2021; http://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12506).

Description: The KISS network was installed in the frame of the “Klyuchevskoy Investigation - Seismic Structure of an extraordinary volcanic system” project and recorded data between summer 2015 and summer 2016 in one of the world’s largest clusters of subduction volcanoes - the Klyuchevskoy volcanic group (KVG). It is located in eastern Russia at the northern end of the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone close to its intersection with the Aleutian arc and the north-western termination of Hawaii-Emperor seamount chain. Additional to the 4700m high Mount Klyuchevskoy the KVG contains 12 other volcanoes that have together erupted about 1 cubic meter rock per second averaged over the past 10,000 years. Among those Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny and Tolbachik were the most active ones during the last decades with eruptions styles ranging from explosive to Hawaiian-type. The KISS experiment is designed to investigate the volcanic and seismic processes and its structural setting in the KVG. The network covers a circular region of about 80km diameter with some linear extensions. It includes data from 77 temporary seismic stations with broadband and short period sensors that were installed on concrete plates in about 60cm deep holes. Due to the local conditions the stations were battery powered and could not be serviced during the experiment. GPS reception of the digitizers was not continuous at all stations due to thick snow cover and vegetation. Waveform data are available from the GEOFON data centre, under network code X9, and are embargoed until end of 2019.

Description: Die Industrialisierung der Nordhemisphäre führte zur Verschmutzung und Erwärmung natürlicher Ökosysteme. Bei vielen abgelegenen sibirischen Seen lassen sich weitgehende Folgen für ihre Rollen als Süßwasserressourcen und ökologische Refugien feststellen.

Description: Industrialisation in the Northern Hemisphere has led to the pollution and warming of natural ecosystems. Remote Siberian lakes are now under threat and face big environmental challenges that could have far-reaching consequences for freshwater resources and ecological refuges.

Description: Cerro Overo maar and La Albóndiga lava dome are two independent monogenetic volcanoes located in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes in northern Chile, close to the active Lascar and Chiliques volcanoes. Cerro Overo maar was formed 〈77 ka ago by explosive-effusive eruptions, including phreatomagmatic activity, while La Albóndiga lava dome (Pleistocene) is the result of magmatic explosive-effusive activity alone. Cerro Overo and La Albóndiga are characterized by deposits composed of pyroclastic rocks and dense coherent lava blocks. At Cerro Overo, these deposits are located around the crater rim, while at La Albóndiga, they form coherent in situ lava dome features. Cerro Overo also displays thin ash- and lapilli-dominated deposit layers presumed to be pyroclastic surge deposits, which include juvenile pyroclasts exhibiting cauliflower textures, numerous exotic accidental lithics, and ballistically transported lapilli, bombs, blocks, and bomb sags. These fragments include recycled, juvenile pyroclasts, as well as material from older volcanic and intrusive rocks from the stratigraphic units immediately below. These small-volume volcanoes represent two of the less silicic volcanoes (~54 wt.% SiO2) in the northern Chilean Pleistocene to Holocene volcanic provinces. They are characterized by a fine grain size (mainly fine lapilli), olivine phenocrysts with skeletal textures, ignimbritic, dioritic, and granitic xenoliths, and quartz xenocrysts, with high concentrations of incompatible trace elements and light rare earth elements. The general magmatic evolution of the Cerro Overo and La Albóndiga systems has been controlled by fast ascent (e.g., skeletal olivine phenocrysts) of mantle-derived magma associated with mixing, fractional crystallization, and a low degree of crustal assimilation during turbulent ascent processes. Such eruptions provide evidence that various factors play an essential role in the transition from explosive-effusive magmatic (Cerro Overo and La Albóndiga) to phreatomagmatic (Cerro Overo) volcanic eruption styles.

Description: The GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites, which comprises two spacecraft, GRACE-A and GRACE-B, were launched on 17 March 2002 into a near-circular, polar (inclination = 89◦ ) orbit with an initial altitude of about 490 km. The two satellites follow each other at a distance of about 200 km. The primary objective of the GRACE mission is to provide global high-resolution models of the Earth’s gravity field. The instruments supporting our study are the K-Band Ranging System (KBR), and the GPS Space Receiver (GPS). The K-Band Ranging System (KBR) system is the key science instrument of GRACE which measures the dual one-way range change between both satellites with a precision of about 1 μm per second. From the KBR1B data we can get the change of Total Electron Content (TEC). In addition the GPS Navigation Data (GNV1B) can provide us the position of the two satellites. From these data we can derive the average electron density between the two satellites. The data are stored as daily ASCII files using the file naming convention 'KBRNE_YYYY_MM_DD.dat'. Headers in each data file contain a short name for each column. A more detailed description is provided in the readme file.

Description: The software RST Evaluation is a series of scripts to semi-automatically evaluate shear experiments done at the Helmholtz Laboratory for Tectonic Modelling. In principle, it may be used for other measurements done in a similar setup, but it was build with our standardized workflow in mind. The shear experiments are done in a ring shear type shear cell rst.pc01 manufactured by D. Schulze (Details in ASTM standard D-6773). It uses an easy and reproducible workflow to determine yield properties, cohesion and dilational properties of a granular bulk material, such as sand or glass beads.

Description: This data is an high resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generated for the Merapi summit by combining terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) photogrammetry data and TanDEM-X data acquired in the years between 2012 and 2017. The structures of the data are further analysed in Darmawan et al. 2017a (http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2017.11.006), and a previous DEM was available in Darmawan et al. 2017b (https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.2.1.2017.003). The 3D point clouds of the different data were merged and interpolated to a raster format (Geotiff format).

Description: The Proterozoic Carpentaria province in northern Australia is host to several of the world’s largest clastic dominant (CD-type) massive sulphide deposits. These deposits are mostly hosted primarily in dolomitic silt- and mudstones. The hydrothermal alteration footprint of these CD-type systems is not well constrained, which poses challenges for the targeting of future discoveries. One important aspect to developing alteration models relates to defining the composition of the unaltered protolith to mineralization. In this dataset, we provide whole rock lithogeocheochemical data generated from samples obtained from drill-holes that intersected the mineralization in the Teena subbasin. A small number of samples are from 2 drill-holes from an adjoining subbasin (Myrtle) in the area. The samples were selected from stratigraphy of the Barney Creek Formation and are from the hangingwall to the mineralization in either subbasin. This data report includes bulk rock major, minor, and trace element composition. The data were generated using X-ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and LECO analyses. Access to drill cores was granted by Teck Australia (Pty Ltd) and the drill core IDs and depths of individual samples are reported in the data table. For further details see: Magnall et al. (2021 - WHEN AVAILABLE)

Description: This dataset collects the results of a series of experiments carried out on air-filled cracks injected into pigskin gelatin blocks between September 2019 and May 2020 at GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam (Germany). Such experiments were intended to simulate dike propagation in the upper crust, in settings where tectonic and surface unloading stress are dominant in determining the stress field within the medium. The gelatin blocks were laterally strained and rift-like excavations were moulded on their surfaces. These data include pictures of each experimental setup and video records of each injected crack, as well as tables collecting the measured arrival points of the cracks at the surface of the gelatin and relevant elastic and geometric parameters. The data publication is a Supplement to Mantiloni et al. (2020): "Stress inversion in a gelatin box: testing eruptive vent location forecasts with analog models" (Geophys. Res. Lett.), to which the reader is referred for further information.

Description: GFZ acts as a global analysis center of the International GNSS Service (IGS) and provides operationally ultra-rapid (last 24h), rapid (last day), and final (last week) solutions and contributes to the reprocessing activities of the IGS. The GFZ repro3 product solution series covers data from 1994 to 2020 and is published in daily and weekly files. The following satellite systems are contained: GPS (from 1994), GLONASS (from 2012), and Galileo (from 2014).

Description: The ability to constrain the petrogenesis of multiple serpentine generations recorded at the microscale is crucial for estimating the extent and conditions of modern versus fossil serpentinisation in ophiolites. To address matrix bias effects during oxygen isotope analysis by SIMS, we present the first investigation analysing antigorite in the compositional range Mg# = 77.5–99.5 mole %, using a CAMECA IMS‐1280 secondary ion mass spectrometer. Spot‐to‐spot homogeneity is ≤ 0.5‰ (2s) for the new antigorite reference materials. The relative bias between antigorite reference materials with different Mg/Fe ratios is described by a second‐order polynomial, and a maximum difference in bias of ~ 1.8‰ was measured for Mg# ~ 78 to 100. We observed a bias up to ~ 1.0‰ between lizardite and antigorite attributed to their different crystal structures. Orientation effects up to ~ 1‰ were observed in chrysotile. The new analytical protocol allowed the identification of oxygen isotope zoning up to ~ 7‰ in serpentine minerals from two serpentinites recovered from an area of active serpentinisation in the Samail ophiolite. Thus, in situ analysis is capable of resolving isotopic heterogeneity that may directly reflect changes in the physical and chemical conditions of multiple serpentinisation events in the Samail ophiolite.

Description: In the EU-funded project Global Gravity-based Groundwater Product (G3P), we strive to combine data on terrestrial water storage from satellite gravimetry by the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions with existing products on water storage compartments from the Copernicus portfolio to establish a new cross-cutting product on groundwater storage variations with global coverage on a monthly basis. While the focus of G3P lies on incorporating observation-based Copernicus products, some model data has to be added to fill spatial and temporal gaps. This especially applies to water storage variations in surface water bodies, i.e., lakes and rivers, where little observation-based data is available. Altimetry-based data bases such as HYSOPE and the MGB model are available for large surface water bodies. However, to account for smaller water bodies and rivers, and to have a basis for assessing uncertainties of the entire approach, the integration of well-established models is desirable. A model we deem fit to these ends is Lisflood, which underpins the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, and for which a recent global re-calibration is available. In this study, we evaluate Lisflood’s capability of modeling surface water storage variations in comparison to the above-mentioned observational data sources as well as the WaterGAP Global Hydrology Model (WGHM). As the target output of G3P is a 0.5° grid with monthly resolution,Lisflood’s output data will undergo an upscaling and temporal aggregation procedure which will also be subject of this study.

Description: In this study, the performance of ensemble precipitation forecasts of three numerical weather prediction (NWP) models within the TIGGE database as well as the integrated multi-satellite retrievals for global precipitation measurement (GPM), namely IMERG-RT V05B, for precipitation estimates were evaluated in recent severe floods in Iran over the March–April 2019 period. The evaluations were conducted in two modes: spatial distribution of precipitation and the dichotomous evaluation in four precipitation thresholds (25, 50, 75, and 100 mm per day). The results showed that the United Kingdom Met Office (UKMO) model, in terms of spatial coverage and satellite estimates as well as the precipitation amount, were closer to the observations. Although, generally, the models captured the spatial distribution of heavy precipitation events, the hot spots were not located in the correct area. The National Centers for Environmental Forecast (NCEP) model performed well at low precipitation thresholds, while at high thresholds, its performance decreased significantly. On the contrary, the accuracy of IMERG improved when the precipitation threshold increased. The UKMO had better forecasts than the other models at the 100 mm/day precipitation threshold, whereas the Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) had acceptable forecasts in all thresholds and was able to forecast precipitation events with a lower false alarm ratio and better detection when compared to other models. Although, the models and IMERG product underestimated or overestimated the amount of precipitation, but they were able to detect most extreme precipitation events. Overall, the results of this study show the IMERG precipitation estimates and NWP ensemble forecasts performed well in the three major flood events in spring 2019 in Iran. Given wide spread damages caused by the floods, the necessity of establishing an efficient flood warning system using the best precipitation products is advised.

Description: This study has been run in the context of the European Union research project G3P (Global Gravitybased Groundwater Product) on developing Groundwater storage (GW) as a new product for the EU Copernicus Services. GW variations can be derived on a global scale by subtracting from total water storage (TWS) variations based on the GRACE/GRACE-FO satellite missions variations in other water storage compartments such as soil moisture, snow, surface water bodies, and glaciers. Due to the nature of data acquisition by GRACE and GRACE-FO, the data need filtering in order to reduce North-South-oriented striping errors. However, this also leads to a spatially smoothed TWS signal. For a consistent subtraction of all individual storage compartments from GRACE-based TWS, the individual data sets for all other hydrological compartments need to be filtered in a similar way as GRACE-based TWS. In order to test different filter methods, we used compartmental water storage data of the global hydrological model WGHM. The decorrelation filter known as DDK filter that is routinely used for GRACE and GRACE-FO data introduced striping artifacts in the smoothed model data. Thus, we can conclude that the DDK filter is not suitable for filtering water storage data sets that do not exhibit GRACE-like correlated error patterns. Alternatively, an isotropic Gaussian filter might be used. The best filter width of the Gaussian filter is determined by minimizing the differences between the empirical spatial correlation functions of each water storage and the spatial correlation function of GRACE-based TWS. We also analyzed time variations of correlation lengths such as seasonal effects. Finally, the selected filter widths are applied to each compartmental storage data set to remove them from TWS and to obtain the GW variations.

Description: We estimate vertical rotation rates for 204 earthquakes that were induced by the 2018 stimulation of the Espoo/Helsinki geothermal reservoir from wavefield gradients across geophone arrays. The array-derived rotation rates from seismograms recorded at 6–9 km hypocentral distances vary between 10−9 and 10−7 rad s−1, indicating a comparable sensitivity to portable rotational instruments. Using co-located observations of translational and rotational motion, we estimate the local propagation direction and the apparent phase speed of SH waves, and compare these estimates with those obtained by S wave beamforming. Propagation directions generally align with the earthquake back azimuths, but both techniques show deviations indicative of heterogeneous seismic structure. The rotational method facilitates a station-by-station approach that resolves site specific variations that are controlled by the local geology. We measure apparent S wave speeds larger than 5 km s−1, consistent with steep incidence angles and high propagation velocities in the Fennoscandian Shield.

Description: This data set was taken within the Perturbations of Earth Surface Processes by Large Earthquakes PRESSurE Project (https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/section/geomorphology/projects/pressure/) of the GFZ Potsdam. This project aims to better understand the role of earthquakes on earth surface processes. Strong earthquakes cause transient perturbations of the near Earth’s surface system. These include the widespread landsliding and subsequent mass movement and the loading of rivers with sediments. In addition, rock mass is shattered during the event, forming cracks that affect rock strength and hydrological conductivity. Often overlooked in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake, these perturbations can represent a major part of the overall disaster with an impact that can last for years before restoring to background conditions. Thus, the relaxation phase is part of the seismically induced change by an earthquake and needs to be monitored in order to understand the full impact of earthquakes on the Earth system. Early June 2015, shortly after the April 2015 Mw7.9 Gorkha earthquake, 6 automatic compact weather station were installed in the upper Bhotekoshi catchment covering an area ~50km2. The weather station network is centered around the Kahule Khola catchment, a small headwater catchment and is part of a wider data acquisition strategy including hydrological monitoring, seismometers, geophones and high resolution optical (RapidEye) as well as radar imagery (TanDEM TerraSAR-X). https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/sektion/geomorphologie/projekte/pressure/

Description: This data set was taken within the Perturbations of Earth Surface Processes by Large Earthquakes PRESSurE Project (https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/section/geomorphology/projects/pressure/) of the GFZ Potsdam. This project aims to better understand the role of earthquakes on earth surface processes. Strong earthquakes cause transient perturbations of the near Earth’s surface system. These include the widespread landsliding and subsequent mass movement and the loading of rivers with sediments. In addition, rock mass is shattered during the event, forming cracks that affect rock strength and hydrological conductivity. Often overlooked in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake, these perturbations can represent a major part of the overall disaster with an impact that can last for years before restoring to background conditions. Thus, the relaxation phase is part of the seismically induced change by an earthquake and needs to be monitored in order to understand the full impact of earthquakes on the Earth system. Early June 2015, shortly after the April 2015 Mw7.9 Gorkha earthquake, 6 automatic compact weather station were installed in the upper Bhotekoshi catchment covering an area ~50km2. The weather station network is centered around the Kahule Khola catchment, a small headwater catchment and is part of a wider data acquisition strategy including hydrological monitoring, seismometers, geophones and high resolution optical (RapidEye) as well as radar imagery (TanDEM TerraSAR-X). https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/sektion/geomorphologie/projekte/pressure/

Description: Minor release to include IGRF13 coefficients, expands the type of allowed inputs into the subsol routine, fixes several bugs in edge cases, expands testing support to include Python 3.6-3.9, updates the documentation, and updates the continuous integration testing environments.

Description: A common challenge for projects with multiple involved research institutes is a well-defined and productive collaboration. All parties measure and analyze different aspects, depend on each other, share common methods, and exchange the latest results, findings, and data. Today this exchange is often impeded by a lack of ready access to shared computing and storage resources. In our talk, we present a new and innovative remote procedure call (RPC) framework. We focus on a distributed setup, where project partners do not necessarily work at the same institute, and do not have access to each others resources. We present an application programming interface (API) developed in Python that enables scientists to collaboratively explore and analyze sets of distributed data. It offers the functionality to request remote data through a comfortable interface, and to share and invoke single computational methods or even entire analytical workflows and their results. The prototype enables researchers to make their methods accessible as a backend module running on their own infrastructure. Hence researchers from other institutes may apply the available methods through a lightweight python or Javascript API. In the end, the overhead for both, the backend developer and the remote user, is very low. The effort of implementing the necessary workflow and API usage equalizes the writing of code in a non-distributed setup. Besides that, data do not have to be downloaded locally, the analysis can be executed "close to the data" while using the institutional infrastructure where the eligible data set is stored. With our prototype, we demonstrate distributed data access and analysis workflows across institutional borders to enable effective scientific collaboration. This framework has been developed in a joint effort of the DataHub and Digitial Earth initiatives within the Research Centers of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, HGF.

Description: The Tulaergen magmatic Ni–Cu deposit is related to mafic‐ultramafic rocks of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The ore‐host rocks are lherzolite and websterite and the major ore types are net‐textured and sparsely disseminated ores. The disseminated ores host high‐Fo (82–85) olivine and hornblende with low‐Al contents, high‐rare earth element (REE) abundances and negative Eu anomalies. The net‐textured mineralized lherzolite contains low‐Fo (74–82) olivine and high‐Al hornblende, the latter characterized by low REE concentrations and no Eu anomaly. The contrasting composition of olivine and hornblende suggests two stages of magmatism. In situ analysis of pentlandite, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite shows that platinum‐group elements contents in sulphides are low. Contrasting Ni, Co, Se, Ag, Cd, and Pb contents in sulphides from net‐textured and in disseminated ores also supports two pulses of magmas, each with a distinct chemical composition. High‐Mg basaltic magma characterized the first stage, followed by a second‐stage less basic magma with a high H2O content. Whole‐rock Sr and Nd isotopic signatures suggest that about 4–6% crustal materials were added to the depleted mantle source. The fractional crystallization of olivine and crustal contamination play important roles in sulphur segregation at Tulaergen based on sulphur content at sulphide saturation modelling. Injection of magma enriched in H2O further enhanced sulphide aggregation and deposit forming. It is proposed that two pulses of magma injections occurred at the Tulaergen deposit, with the products of the first pulse settling at the base, and of the second one with dense mineralization laying at the top of the deposit.

Description: The data set contains VNIR and SWIR raw and reference hyperspectral imaging data of the Apliki mine open cut and of samples from the surface of the mine measured in the laboratory. It is con-nected to the published spectral library and chemical analyses of 37 different surface materials from the copper-gold-pyrite mine Apliki in the Republic of Cyprus (Koerting et al., 2019). The field outcrop scan was acquired in March 2018 in cooperation with the Geological Survey Department of the Republic of Cyprus (GSD) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The laboratory sample scan presented in this document is a collection of hyperspectral scans compiled in one large dataset. The hyperspectral data in the field and the lab were acquired with the HySpex sys-tem in a range of 414 – 2498 nm. The field data is shared as one VNIR and one SWIR radiance and reflectance data cube each. The laboratory data is shared as one full VNIR-SWIR (414 – 2450nm) reflectance data cube that was processed and corrected for the detector jump, data spikes and the last 8 SWIR bands were clipped due to a low signal to noise ratio (SNR). The data and the samples originate from fieldwork in the Republic of Cyprus and laboratory work at the GFZ Potsdam. A detailed description of the data acquisition and processing can be found in Koerting (2021).

Description: China has been said to have the largest putative shale gas resources in the world. The highest potential occurs in the Sichuan Basin, with the overmature Qiongzhusi (Cambrian) and Longmaxi (Silurian) Formations as prime exploration targets. Here the likelihood of late gas formation is examined using less mature equivalents from the Georgina Basin (Australia), and the Baltic Basin (Lithuania). We consider the respective roles played by kerogen and polar bitumen in gas generation with reference to the Eagle Ford, Yanchang, Niobrara, and Vaca Muerta Formations. Both of the lower Paleozoic shales are bitumen-poor in a geochemical sense, this being in stark contrast to the Mesozoic shales which are bitumen-rich. Kerogen is, therefore, the major gas precursor in the Cambrian and Silurian of the Sichuan Basin. Graptolites and solid bitumen are petrographically dominant. The solid bitumen exhibits flow structures and is deduced to be highly polar because it is insoluble in dichloromethane. Secondary cracking kinetics determined for the Arthur Creek using the GORfit Model are closely similar to source rocks containing predominantly paraffinic oil. Late gas generation from very stable refractory kerogen structures via alpha-cleavage reactions at maturities above 2% equivalent vitrinite reflectance was verified, and importantly, the upper ceiling for late gas generation in Paleozoic shales of the Sichuan Basin is set at 3% Ro. As far as the Qiongzhusi shale is concerned, raising the prospective acreage to a 3% Ro limit brings an additional contribution of 40 mg HC/g total organic carbon of late gas charge. The same is true for the extensive fairway of the Longmaxi shale along the western flank of the basin, close to the subcropping erosional edge.

Description: Background: Studies of the impact of environmental pollutants on health outcomes can be compromised by mismeasured exposures or unmeasured confounding with other environmental exposures. Both problems can be exacerbated by measuring exposure from data sources with low spatial resolution. Artificial light at night, for example, is often estimated from low-resolution satellite images, which may result in substantial measurement error and increased correlation with air or noise pollution. Methods: Light at night exposure was considered in simulated epidemiologic studies in Vancouver, British Columbia. First, we assessed statistical power and bias for hypothetical studies that replaced true light exposure with estimates from sources with low resolution. Next, health status was simulated based on pollutants other than light exposure, and we assessed the frequency with which studies might incorrectly attribute negative health impacts to light exposure as a result of unmeasured confounding by the other environmental exposures. Results: When light was simulated to be the causal agent, studies relying on low-resolution data suffered from lower statistical power and biased estimates. Additionally, correlations between light and other pollutants increased as the spatial resolution of the light exposure map decreased, so studies estimating light exposure from images with lower spatial resolution were more prone to confounding. Conclusions: Studies estimating exposure to pollutants from data with lower spatial resolution are prone to increased bias, increased confounding, and reduced power. Studies examining effects of light at night should avoid using exposure estimates based on low-resolution maps, and should consider potential confounding with other environmental pollutants. What this study adds

Description: Understanding the mechanical behaviors of granite after thermal treatment under loading and unloading conditions is of utmost relevance to deep geothermal energy recovery. In the present study, a series of loading and unloading triaxial compression tests (20, 40 and 60 MPa) on granite specimens after exposure to different temperatures (20, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 °C) was carried out to quantify the combined effects of thermal treatment and loading/unloading stress conditions on granite strength and deformation. Changes in the microstructure of granite exposed to high temperatures were revealed by optical microscopy. The experimental results indicate that both, thermal treatment and loading/unloading stress conditions, degrade the mechanical behaviors and further decrease the carrying capacity of granite. The gradual degradation of the mechanical characteristics of granite after thermal treatment is mainly associated with the evolution of thermal micro-cracks based on optical microscopy observations. The unloading stress state induces the extension of tension cracks parallel to the axial direction, and thus, the mechanical properties are degraded. Temperatures above 400 °C have a more significant influence on the mechanical characteristics of granite than the unloading treatment, whereby 400 °C can be treated as a threshold temperature for the delineation of significant deterioration. This study is expected to support feasibility and risk assessments by means of providing data for analytical calculations and numerical simulations on granite exposed to high temperatures during geothermal energy extraction.

Description: Soil erosion is generally recognized as the dominant process of land degradation. The formation and expansion of gullies is often a highly significant process of soil erosion. However, our ability to assess and simulate gully erosion and its impacts remains very limited. This is especially so at regional to continental scales. As a result, gullying is often overlooked in policies and land and catchment management strategies. Nevertheless, significant progress has been made over the past decades. Based on a review of 〉590 scientific articles and policy documents, we provide a state-of-the-art on our ability to monitor, model and manage gully erosion at regional to continental scales. In this review we discuss the relevance and need of assessing gully erosion at regional to continental scales (Section 1); current methods to monitor gully erosion as well as pitfalls and opportunities to apply them at larger scales (section 2); field-based gully erosion research conducted in Europe and European Russia (section 3); model approaches to simulate gully erosion and its contribution to catchment sediment yields at large scales (section 4); data products that can be used for such simulations (section 5); and currently existing policy tools and needs to address the problem of gully erosion (section 6). Section 7 formulates a series of recommendations for further research and policy development, based on this review. While several of these sections have a strong focus on Europe, most of our findings and recommendations are of global significance.

Description: GRACE-FO carries a magnetometer as part of its attitude orbit control system (AOCS). The magnetometer does not belong to the scientific payload of the mission. However, after postprocessing of the data, information on the geomagnetic field and on electric currents in near Earth space are derived. Each GRACE-FO satellite (GF1 and GF2) carries two fluxgate magnetometers (FGM), an active one, FGM A, and a redundant one, FGM B. So far, the redundant magnetometers were not switched and are not included in the data set. The provided data consists of raw magnetic field data as provided by L1b (RAW), Magnetic field data aligned, calibrated and corrected (ACAL_CORR), CHAOS7 magnetic model predictions for core, crustal and large-scale magnetospheric field (CHAOS7), Magnetic coordinates (APEX) and Radial and field-aligned currents derived from magnetic data in ACAL_CORR (FAC). The data are provided in NASA CDF format (https://cdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/).

Description: Field‐aligned currents play a major role in magnetized plasmas. They are the main agents for coupling the dynamics between magnetosphere and ionosphere. Perturbations of magnetic field distribution, plasma pressure or flow on one end are communicated by field‐aligned currents along the whole flux tube. Furthermore, they transport energy, practically lossless, from dynamo regions in the magnetosphere into the upper atmosphere. The knowledge of field‐aligned current distribution is therefore of great interest for understanding the magnetosphere‐ionosphere system. In this chapter we describe the expressions that illustrate the relationship between plasma motion in the magnetosphere and electric currents flowing along the background magnetic field. These currents can only be sensed above the ionospheric E‐layer, e.g. by low‐Earth orbiting satellites. However, to obtain reliable current density estimates is quite challenging. In a climatological sense, field‐aligned currents appear along two concentric rings in the high‐latitude ionosphere with opposite flow directions. Details of these patterns are controlled by the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. The transverse scale sizes determine important characteristics of field‐aligned currents.

Description: This report describes the KTB Borehole Measurements Data of the German Continental Deep Drilling Program (Kontinentales Tiefbohrprogramm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland), operated by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Extensive borehole measurements were performed during the active drilling phase of the KTB pilot and main hole (1989-1994). This report provides the full description of the logging data. Please read it thoroughly to avoid inappropriate or wrong use of the data. The terms borehole measurements, downhole logging, and logging are used synonymously here. The KTB logging data files contain the final processed versions of the geoscientific borehole logging data from logs in the two KTB boreholes: Boreholes Geographic Coordinates (WGS84) KTB-Oberpfalz VB (KTB Vorbohrung/Pilot Hole or KTB-VB) 49.8153 N, 12.118 E KTB-Oberpfalz HB (KTB Hauptbohrung/Main Hole or KTB-HB) 49.8152 N, 12.1205 E

Description: Assessing the size of a former ocean of which only remnants are found in mountain belts is challenging but crucial to understanding subduction and exhumation processes. Here we present new constraints on the opening and width of the Piemont–Liguria (PL) Ocean, known as the Alpine Tethys together with the Valais Basin. We use a regional tectonic reconstruction of the Western Mediterranean–Alpine area, implemented into a global plate motion model with lithospheric deformation, and 2D thermo-mechanical modeling of the rifting phase to test our kinematic reconstructions for geodynamic consistency. Our model fits well with independent datasets (i.e., ages of syn-rift sediments, rift-related fault activity, and mafic rocks) and shows that, between Europe and northern Adria, the PL Basin opened in four stages: (1) rifting of the proximal continental margin in the Early Jurassic (200–180 Ma), (2) hyper-extension of the distal margin in the Early to Middle Jurassic (180–165 Ma), (3) ocean–continent transition (OCT) formation with mantle exhumation and MORB-type magmatism in the Middle–Late Jurassic (165–154 Ma), and (4) breakup and mature oceanic spreading mostly in the Late Jurassic (154–145 Ma). Spreading was slow to ultra-slow (max. 22 mm yr−1, full rate) and decreased to ∼5 mm yr−1 after 145 Ma while completely ceasing at about 130 Ma due to the motion of Iberia relative to Europe during the opening of the North Atlantic. The final width of the PL mature (“true”) oceanic crust reached a maximum of 250 km along a NW–SE transect between Europe and northwestern Adria. Plate convergence along that same transect has reached 680 km since 84 Ma (420 km between 84–35 Ma, 260 km between 35–0 Ma), which greatly exceeds the width of the ocean. We suggest that at least 63 % of the subducted and accreted material was highly thinned continental lithosphere and most of the Alpine Tethys units exhumed today derived from OCT zones. Our work highlights the significant proportion of distal rifted continental margins involved in subduction and exhumation processes and provides quantitative estimates for future geodynamic modeling and a better understanding of the Alpine Orogeny.

Description: The late-tectonic 511.4 ± 0.6 Ma-old Nomatsaus intrusion (Donkerhoek batholith, Damara orogen, Namibia) consists of moderately peraluminous, magnesian, calc-alkalic to calcic granites similar to I-type granites worldwide. Major and trace-element variations and LREE and HREE concentrations in evolved rocks imply that the fractionated mineral assemblage includes biotite, Fe–Ti oxides, zircon, plagioclase and monazite. Increasing K2O abundance with increasing SiO2 suggests accumulation of K-feldspar; compatible with a small positive Eu anomaly in the most evolved rocks. In comparison with experimental data, the Nomatsaus granite was likely generated from meta-igneous sources of possibly dacitic composition that melted under water-undersaturated conditions (X H2O: 0.25–0.50) and at temperatures between 800 and 850 °C, compatible with the zircon and monazite saturation temperatures of 812 and 852 °C, respectively. The Nomatsaus granite has moderately radiogenic initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7067–0.7082), relatively radiogenic initial εNd values (− 2.9 to − 4.8) and moderately evolved Pb isotope ratios. Although initial Sr and Nd isotopic compositions of the granite do not vary with SiO2 or MgO contents, fSm/Nd and initial εNd values are negatively correlated indicating limited assimilation of crustal components during monazite-dominated fractional crystallization. The preferred petrogenetic model for the generation of the Nomatsaus granite involves a continent–continent collisional setting with stacking of crustal slices that in combination with high radioactive heat production rates heated the thickened crust, leading to the medium-P/high-T environment characteristic of the southern Central Zone of the Damara orogen. Such a setting promoted partial melting of metasedimentary sources during the initial stages of crustal heating, followed by the partial melting of meta-igneous rocks at mid-crustal levels at higher P–T conditions and relatively late in the orogenic evolution.

Description: The organic carbon-and uranium-rich, marine Alum Shale Formation in northwestern Europe (Middle Cambrian (Miaolingian) to Early Ordovician) was deposited in the Baltic Basin and surrounding areas. It is a proven source rock for conventional oil either in sandstones of Cambrian age or Ordovician and Silurian carbonates, and also contains a potential for shale oil and for biogenic or thermogenic shale gas. Despite the absence of higher land plant precursors, the primary Type II kerogen has an abnormally strong aromatic character at low thermal maturities due to α-particle bombardment by the elevated uranium content. The characteristic aromatic kerogen structure results in dead carbon formation and enhances hydrocarbon retention. As a consequence, effective petroleum expulsion is limited during maturation. The petroleum generation properties of the Alum Shale Formation changed over geological time due to the accumulated uranium irradiation. For thermally immature samples, high uranium content is positively correlated with high gas-oil ratios and the aromaticities of both the free hydrocarbons residing in the rock and the pyrolysis products from its kerogen. Such characteristics indicate that irradiation has had a strong influence on the overall organic matter composition and hence on the petroleum potential. At high uranium content, macromolecules are less alkylated than their less irradiated counterparts and oxygen containing-compounds are enriched. However, the kerogen structure was less altered during catagenesis (420–340 Ma bp) than at present, and thus calibration is needed to predict petroleum generation in time and space. In southern central Sweden biogenic methane in the Alum Shale Formation was formed during oil degradation after the Quaternary glaciation following bitumen impregnation generated from local magmatic Carboniferous – Permian intrusions. Consequently, the Alum Shale Formation includes a mixed shale oil/biogenic gas play that resembles the formation of biogenic methane in the Antrim Shale (Michigan Basin, United States). In the Alum Shale Formation, low salinity pore water created a subsurface aqueous environment, which was favourable for microbes that have the potential to form biogenic methane. The ability to generate biogenic methane from samples of the Alum Shale Formation in incubation experiments still exists today. The permeability coefficients of highly mature Alum Shale Formation from Bornholm Island (southern Baltic Sea) cover a broad range from sub-nanodarcy to microdarcy, depending on fluid type (i.e. gas vs. liquid), (in-situ) fluid content, anisotropy, pore pressure and effective stress conditions. In general, the primary high total organic carbon content was not significantly reduced at overmature stages, consistently with the high sorption capacities. The Alum Shale Formation is thus an attractive gas shale candidate from the perspective of gas generation and retention. The strength of the overmature Alum Shale Formation on Bornholm, which is mainly determined by mineral composition, porosity and spatial distribution of the constituents, is relatively low compared to other well-studied shale formations. Based on brittleness estimates, the Alum Shale Formation may be regarded as an unconventional reservoir rock of medium quality from the mechanical point of view.

Description: In situ sulfur (S) isotope ratios and trace element chemistry were simultaneously determined in a wide selection of different (natural) sulfides and sulfates using femtosecond laser ablation split stream (fsLASS) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The laser aerosol is split between a sequential quadrupole ICP-MS for trace element quantification and a multi-collector ICP-MS (MC-ICP-MS) for stable sulfur isotope ratio measurements. This LASS method is able to simultaneously determine S isotope ratios and element chemistry without a compromise in the measurement precision and measurement accuracy of the S isotope ratios. The quantification of major and trace elements in sulfide minerals down to the μg g−1 level was achieved. LASS shows overall lower sensitivity and higher limits of detection in comparison to direct trace element determination using LA-ICP-MS only, due to the lower amounts of sample introduced into the ICP-qMS. This compromise is acceptable given the additional information gained from obtaining simultaneously both the isotopic and elemental compositions.

Description: Models of the glacial-isostatic adjustment (GIA) to past ice-mass changes exhibit large differences in north-east Greenland owing to insufficient knowledge about glacial history and Earth rheology. The GIA uncertainties feed back to uncertainties in present-day mass-balance estimates from satellite gravimetry. Geodetic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements allow to directly observe displacement of bedrock. We present results from repeated and continuous GNSS measurements conducted within five measurement campaigns between 2008 and 2017. We used the observed uplift rates to validate different GIA models in conjunction with estimates of the elastic response of the solid Earth to present-day ice-mass changes. To determine present-day ice-mass changes and the associated elastic deformations, we combined satellite altimetry data from CryoSat-2 with satellite gravimetry data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment for the entire Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and included peripheral glaciers and ice caps. The different GIA models were consistently used in all processing steps. The GNSS measurements in north-east Greenland revealed uplift rates in the range of 2.8 to 8.9 mm yr−1. The comparison of the total displacement predicted by GIA and elastic modeling with the GNSS-based displacement clearly favors GIA models that show low rates (0.7–4.4 mm yr−1 at the GNSS sites) against GIA models with higher rates of up to 8.3 mm yr−1. The correction due to the favored GIA model in north-east Greenland results in an ice-mass loss of 233 ± 43 Gt yr−1 for the GrIS including peripheral glaciers over the period July 2010 to June 2017.

Description: The water cloud model (WCM) can be inverted to estimate leaf area index (LAI) using the intensity of backscatter from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors. Published studies have demonstrated that the WCM can accurately estimate LAI if the model is effectively calibrated. However, calibration of this model requires access to field measures of LAI as well as soil moisture. In contrast, machine learning (ML) algorithms can be trained to estimate LAI from satellite data, even if field moisture measures are not available. In this study, a support vector machine (SVM) was trained to estimate the LAI for corn, soybeans, rice, and wheat crops. These results were compared to LAI estimates from the WCM. To complete this comparison, in situ and satellite data were collected from seven Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring (JECAM) sites located in Argentina, Canada, Germany, India, Poland, Ukraine and the United States of America (U.S.A.). The models used C-Band backscatter intensity for two polarizations (like-polarization (VV) and cross-polarization (VH)) acquired by the RADARSAT-2 and Sentinel-1 SAR satellites. Both the WCM and SVM models performed well in estimating the LAI of corn. For the SVM, the correlation (R) between estimated LAI for corn and LAI measured in situ was reported as 0.93, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.64 m2m−2 and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.51 m2m−2 . The WCM produced an R-value of 0.89, with only slightly higher errors (RMSE of 0.75 m2m−2 and MAE of 0.61 m2m−2 ) when estimating corn LAI. For rice, only the SVM model was tested, given the lack of soil moisture measures for this crop. In this case, both high correlations and low errors were observed in estimating the LAI of rice using SVM (R of 0.96, RMSE of 0.41 m2m−2 and MAE of 0.30 m2m−2 ). However, the results demonstrated that when the calibration points were limited (in this case for soybeans), the WCM outperformed the SVM model. This study demonstrates the importance of testing different modeling approaches over diverse agro-ecosystems to increase confidence in model performance.

Description: The high-precision X-ray diffraction setup for work with diamond anvil cells (DACs) in interaction chamber 2 (IC2) of the High Energy Density instrument of the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser is described. This includes beamline optics, sample positioning and detector systems located in the multipurpose vacuum chamber. Concepts for pump-probe X-ray diffraction experiments in the DAC are described and their implementation demonstrated during the First User Community Assisted Commissioning experiment. X-ray heating and diffraction of Bi under pressure, obtained using 20 fs X-ray pulses at 17.8 keV and 2.2 MHz repetition, is illustrated through splitting of diffraction peaks, and interpreted employing finite element modeling of the sample chamber in the DAC.

Description: TecVolSA (Tectonics and Volcanoes in South America) is a project dedicated to the development of an intelligent Earth Observation (EO) data exploitation system for monitoring various geophysical activities in South America. Three partners from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) are involved to combine their expertise in signal processing, geophysics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The first milestone of the project is to perform interferometric processing on tens of terabytes of SAR data to generate deformation products. Efficient algorithms have been designed to accommodate big data processing. Employing these algorithms, five-year data archives of Sentinel-1 have been processed thus far. The data archives span an area of over 770,000 km² surrounding the central volcanic zone of the Andes. Products in the form of surface deformation velocity and displacement time series are generated as point-wise measurements. To ensure highly accurate deformation estimates, two novel techniques have been utilized: large-scale atmospheric correction and covariance-based phase estimation for distributed scatterers. The second milestone is automatic mining of the wealth of the deformation products to gain insights about anthropogenic and geophysical signals in the region. Here two challenges are faced: the variety of crustal deformation processes as well as the sheer volume of the data. A closer analysis of the estimated deformation velocity verifies the presence of various signals including tectonic movements, volcanic unrest and slope-induced deformations. Such variety requires the classification of the observed signals. Furthermore, the dataset includes displacement time series and velocity estimates of over 750 million data points. This data volume necessitates the incorporation of AI for efficient mining of the products. The aforementioned challenges are met by combining geophysical and signal processing expertise of the project partners, and translating them to the AI algorithms. The use of AI in EO is a growing topic with numerous successful applications. However, compared to the well-established AI applications of cartography and ground cover classification, there is not enough training data available for the analysis of tectonic and volcanic signals. Therefore, there is a need for synthetic data generation. GFZ produces geophysical models for the simulation of a diverse database that is used for the training of neural networks to autonomously discover significant events in deformation products. DLR employs supervised machine learning techniques based on simulated data to automatically detect volcanic deformation from InSAR products. Apart from this application, signals which are not attributed to volcanic deformation are automatically clustered for further studies by expert geologists. For this approach, we depend on InSAR and geometrical feature engineering as well as advanced unsupervised learning algorithms. In the presentation, examples of clustering similar points in terms of temporal progression and a prototype system for the automatic detection of volcanic deformations will be illustrated. Our system is being developed with scalability and transferability in mind. South America serves as a generic and challenging case for this development, as it reveals manifold geophysical and anthropogenic signals. Our ultimate goal is to apply the developed AI-assisted system for global processing.

Description: The Salt Range in Pakistan exposes Precambrian to Pleistocene strata outcropping along the Salt Range Thrust (SRT). To better understand the in‐situ Cambrian and Pliocene tectonic evolution of the Pakistan Subhimalaya, we have conducted low‐temperature thermochronological analysis using apatite (U‐Th‐Sm)/He and fission track dating. We combine cooling ages from different samples located along the thrust front of the SRT into a thermal model that shows two major cooling events associated with rifting and regional erosion in the Late Palaeozoic and SRT activity since the Pliocene. Our results suggest that the SRT maintained a long‐term average shortening rate of ~5–6 mm/yr and a high exhumation rate above the SRT ramp since ~4 Ma.

Description: In April 2019, large parts of Khuzestan province in Iran were affected by intense record rainfall in the Zagros mountains. Persian Gulf catchment received approximately 30% of its long-term average rainfall over the course of a few days. Karkheh and Dez, two of the major rivers in this catchment, overflowed their banks. As several dams, including Karkheh, with the country's largest capacity, reached their limits, the water had to be released from the reservoirs, which resulted in flooding downstream of the dams. Several cities and more than 200 villages were flooded, and many people had to be evacuated. Many of the dams affected by the 2019 flood were embankment dams, previously reported to exhibit post-construction settlements, at places reaching 13 cm/yr. Therefore, during and after the flood, significant concerns were raised about their health and stability. In this study, we use Sentinel-1 InSAR to monitor embankment dams' response in Khuzestan to the 2019 flood event. We process the full archive of Sentinel-1 using the Small Baseline Subset approach and estimate the time series of displacement for three different embankment dams in Khuzestan province. The first two studied dams are Karkheh and Gotvand, which have the country's largest capacities and became operational in 2001 and 2012, respectively. The third studied dam is the Masjed-Soleyman dam, previously reported to sustain a high displacement rate since its operation in 2002. The Sentinel-1 InSAR displacement results indicate that all observed dams exhibit long-term post-construction settlement before the flood, with rates varies from approximately 1 cm/yr for the Karkheh dam to 5 cm/yr for Gotvand dam and 8 cm/yr for Masjed-Soleyman dam. The time series of displacement for Karkheh and Gotvand dams show gentle changes of displacement in response to the increase in water level following the flood. However, for the Masjed-Soleyman dam, the movement accelerates sharply after the flood with more than 2 cm of displacement on the crest in only two months. For the Masjed-Soleyman dam experiencing the most severe effect of the flood, we also analyzed high-resolution data from TerraSAR-X and COSMO-SkyMed. The results provide a detailed picture of the displacement pattern over the crest and the dam's body before and after the flood.

Description: Over the years, various satellites like ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat has been in use for the interferometric capability for a wide range of geophysical and environmental applications. With the launches of Sentinel-1A and 1B satellites in 2014 and 2016 respectively, the availability of SAR data from every part of the world has been increased many folds. With short revisit times of 1-6 days, the Sentinel-1 and the planned Tandem-Land NISAR missions provide an unprecedented wealth of topography and surface change data using InSAR technique. Utilizing these Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) acquisitions, repeated approximately from the same point in space at different times, it is possible to produce measurements of ground deformations at some of the world’s active volcanoes and can be used to detect signs of volcanic unrest. Most of the existing traditional algorithms like Permanent Scatterer (PS) analysis and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) technique are computationally extensive and cannot be applied in near real time to detect precursory deformation and transient deformations. To overcome this problem, we have adapted a minimum spanning tree (MST) based spatial independent component analysis (ICA) method to automatically detect deformation signals of volcanic unrest. We utilize the algorithm’s capability to isolate signals of geophysical interest from atmospheric artifacts, topography and other noise signals, before monitoring the evolution of these signals through time in order to detect the onset of a period of volcanic unrest, in near real time. We demonstrate our approach on synthetic datasets having different signal strengths, varying temporally. We also present the results of our approach on the volcanic unrest of Mt. Thorbjörn in Iceland on 2020 and also the volcanic unrest of a volcano in Mexico from 2017 to 2019.

Description: The Makran subduction zone has produced M 8+ earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis in historic times, hence indicating high risk for the coastal regions of southern Iran, Pakistan, and neighboring countries. Besides this, the Makran subduction zone is an end-member subduction zone featuring extreme properties, with one of the largest sediment inputs and the widest accretionary wedge on Earth. While surface geology and shallow structure of the offshore wedge have been relatively well studied, primary information on the deeper structure of the onshore part is largely absent. We present three crustal-scale, trench-perpendicular, deep seismic sounding profiles crossing the subaerial part of the accretionary wedge of the western Makran subduction zone in Iran. P-wave travel-time tomography based on a Monte Carlo Markov chain algorithm as well as the migration of automatic line drawings of wide-angle reflections reveal the crustal structure of the wedge and geometry of the subducting oceanic plate at high resolution. The images shed light on the accretionary processes, in particular the generation of continental crust by basal accretion, and provide vital basic information for hazard assessment and tsunami modeling

Description: This dataset provides mechanical test data for quartz sand (“MAM1ST-300”, Sibelco, Mol, Belgium), gypsum powder (plaster; “Goldband”, Knauf), kaolin clay powder, garnet sand, and mixtures of quartz sand and gypsum powder, used at the Analogue Laboratory of the Department of Geography at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, for simulating brittle rocks in the upper crust (Poppe et al., 2019). The measured properties are density ρ, tensile strength T0, shear strength σ, obtained by density measurements, ring-shear tests (RST; at Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ, Germany), direct shear tests, traction tests (at University of Maine, Le Mans, France) and extension tests. The obtained tensile strengths and shear strengths reconstruct two-dimensional failure envelopes for each material. By fitting linear Coulomb and non-linear combined Griffith failure criteria to the characterised failure envelopes (Jaeger et al., 2007), the internal friction coefficient µC, Coulomb cohesion CC and Griffith cohesion CG are obtained. The influence of the material emplacement technique has been investigated in Poppe et al. (2021) to which this data set is supplementary, by repeat characterisation of the above physical parameters under three emplacement conditions, i.e. sieving, pouring (non-dried state) and compaction after pouring (oven-dried state). We find that densities of the materials and mixtures range from ~1600 kg.m³ (sieved) and ~1700 kg.m³ (compacted) for pure quartz sand to ~600 kg.m³ (poured) to ~900 kg.m³ (compacted) for pure plaster. Tensile strengths range from ~166 Pa (sand) to ~425 Pa (plaster). Velocity ring-shear tests on a 90 wt% quartz sand – 10 wt% plaster mixture show a minor shear rate-weakening of 〈2% per ten-fold increase in shear velocity. The materials show a behavior ranging from Mohr-Coulomb behavior for the materials with coarser grain size (sands) to combined Griffith-Mohr-Coulomb behavior for the powder materials (plaster, kaolin), with the sand-plaster mixtures occupying a spectrum between both end-members. Peak friction coefficients range from ~0.5 (sand) to ~0.6 (plaster) with a maximum of ~0.9 (80:20 wt% sand:plaster), peak Coulomb cohesions range from 13 Pa (sand) to 248 Pa (plaster), peak Griffith cohesions range from ~10 Pa (sand) to ~425 Pa (plaster).

Description: The Lindero gold deposit is located in the Southern Puna plateau, northwest Argentina. The deposit is centered in a cluster of six subvolcanic intrusions emplaced at the margin of the Arizaro Basin. Three alteration types were recognized: (i) Ca–Na silicate (clinopyroxene + magnetite + K-feldspar + quartz + calcite ± plagioclase), (ii) K-silicate (K-feldspar + quartz + magnetite ± biotite ± anhydrite) and (iii) chlorite-calcite alteration. The highest ore grades are linked to the K-silicate alteration. The proven plus probable reserves of Lindero are 84,226 t with average grades of 0.63 g/t Au and 0.11% Cu. A previous study assigned Lindero to the iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposit type but many features of Lindero suggest that it is a porphyry gold deposit, including (i) the temporal and spatial link between alteration and the intrusive bodies, (ii) the alteration distribution pattern, particularly the small volume of rock affected by Ca–Na silicate alteration, (iii) the Au-rich and Cu-poor mineralization style. The magmatic complex at Lindero comprises an early-mineral unit (FPD), four inter-mineral units (CPD1, PBFD, CPD2 and DDP) and one post-mineral unit (PMI). In-situ U/Pb SIMS dating of the oldest (FPD), an intermediate (PBFD) and the youngest (DDP) intrusive units, confirms a middle Miocene age. The weighted mean ages of the oldest and youngest units are indistinguishable, with 15.36 ± 0.13 Ma (n = 21) and 15.47 ± 0.11 Ma (n = 16), respectively. Individual ages from each unit range by ~1 m.y. and the overall spread of zircon ages is 15.92 ± 0.23 to 14.44 ± 0.33 Ma. We suggest that emplacement of the subvolcanic stocks took place within this span time, likely at the lower end of this range (15.0–14.4 Ma). Two 40Ar/39Ar ages of hydrothermal biotites from the K-silicate alteration (14.99 ± 0.16 Ma and 14.93 ± 0.12 Ma) indicate that hydrothermal alteration began practically simultaneously with the emplacement of the porphyry units. All of the intrusive units are similar compositionally. They show a fine- to medium-grained porphyric texture (1–4 mm) comprising plagioclase, amphibole, clinopyroxene and scarce quartz phenocrysts (40–55 vol % of phenocrysts) in a K-feldspar ± quartz microcrystalline (0.02–0.07 mm) groundmass, except in the post-mineral unit which has a cryptocrystalline groundmass. Whole-rock analyses reveal a narrow range of dioritic composition (58.6–61.9 wt % SiO2) and high-K calc-alkaline character for all units. Trace element features (low Ba/Nb ratios, high Nb) of the Lindero magmas indicate a back-arc affinity, similar to those from the Southern Puna and distinct from the Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ) frontal arc. The Sr and Nd isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr = 0.706042 to 0.706607; 143Nd/144Nd = 0.512501 to 0.512582) from Lindero intrusives are also similar to Southern Puna back-arc volcanic rocks. The Pb isotope ratios of Lindero (206Pb/204Pb = 18.79 to 18.83; 207Pb/204Pb = 15.60 to 15.63; 208Pb/204Pb = 38.66 to 38.74) overlap with both back-arc and arc magmas in the CVZ. The narrow age range, spatial association and uniform chemical and isotopic composition of Lindero porphyry units suggest that were derived from a common magma source, which underwent fractionation and/or crustal assimilation before emplacement as suggest by the low concentrations of Mg, Cr, Ni and Sr. The Lindero porphyry units show chemical and isotopic similarities with those from porphyry gold deposits in the Maricunga belt, Chile, and with the porphyry copper deposits of Argentina located in a back-arc setting; however, they differ from porphyry copper deposits in the frontal-arc setting of Chile, notably by the lack of an adakite-like signature (high Sr/Y ratio).

Description: Located between the Northern Province of Zambia and the southeastern Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lakes Mweru and Mweru Wantipa are part of the southwest extension of the East African Rift System (EARS). Fault analysis reveals that, since the Miocene, movements along the active Mweru-Mweru Wantipa Fault System (MMFS) have been largely responsible for the reorganization of the landscape and the drainage patterns across the western branch of the EARS. To investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of fluvial-lacustrine landscape development, we determined in-situ cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. A total of twenty-six quartzitic bedrock samples were collected from knickpoints across the Mporokoso Plateau (south of Lake Mweru) and the eastern part of the Kundelungu Plateau (north of Lake Mweru). Samples from the Mporokoso Plateau and close to the MMFS provide evidence of temporary burial. By contrast, surfaces located far from the MMFS appear to have remained uncovered since their initial exposure as they show consistent 10Be and 26Al exposure ages ranging up to ~830 ka. Reconciliation of the observed burial patterns with morphotectonic and stratigraphic analysis reveals the existence of an extensive paleo-lake during the Pleistocene. Through hypsometric analyses of the dated knickpoints, the potential maximum water level of the paleo-lake is constrained to ~1200 m asl. High denudation rates (up to ~40 mm ka−1) along the eastern Kundelungu Plateau suggest that footwall uplift, resulting from normal faulting, caused rapid river incision, thereby controlling paleo-lake drainage. The complex exposure histories recorded by 10Be and 26Al may be explained because of lake water-level fluctuations caused by active normal faulting along the MMFS coupled with intense climate variations across southeastern Africa.

Description: We discuss the important role of tangential stretching in the Central Alps highlighting that the Alps are a truly three-dimensional orogen. A review of pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions allows us to define three major breaks in metamorphic pressure (P-breaks) across the nappe pile. We constrain the kinematics of mylonites associated with these P-breaks and report eight new Rbsingle bondSr multi-mineral isochrons that define the age of the mylonites. Kinematic data and Rbsingle bondSr geochronology indicate that the timing of top-SE normal shearing in the Avers-Turba mylonite zone (≥45–34 Ma; P-break1) and in a zone of distributed top-E normal shearing (〉35–30 Ma) above the (ultra)high-P Adula nappe of the distal, thinned European margin (P-breaks 2 and 3). The ages from both sets of mylonite are grading into each other at about 35–34 Ma. All ages appear to postdate high-P metamorphism in the Pennine nappes but are, in part, coeval with and predate (ultra)high-P metamorphism in the underlying Adula nappe of the distal European (Helvetic) margin. The oldest Rbsingle bondSr age of 42.3 ± 2.5 Ma (2σ uncertainties) dates the waning stage of mylonitization and indicates that the Avers-Turba mylonite zone started to operate ≥45 Ma, and predated the exhumation of the Adula nappe by ~10 Ma. We suggest that the motion in the Avers-Turba mylonite zone overlapped with backfolding of the Schams nappe in an extrusion wedge. When this process started, the Adula nappe was still being underthrust/underplated. The ages for distributed top-E normal shearing are contemporaneous with thrusting of the Adula nappe on top of distinctly lower-P Helvetic nappes. When the Adula nappe was being thrust onto non-high-P nappes the necessary reduction of its overburden was largely accomplished by distributed top-E normal faulting above the Adula nappe, and possibly still ongoing top-SE normal shearing. We discuss that major normal shearing occurred during lithospheric shortening. Our data indicate considerable tangential (out-of-plane) movements during overall top-N/NW thrust propagation in the Central Alps and have implications for current tectonic models of the Alps.

Description: Zircon petrochronology from amphibolites and retrogressed eclogites from the basement of the Western Tatra Mountains (CentralWestern Carpathians) reveals a complex rock evolution. An island-arc related basaltic amphibolite from Žiarska Valley shows three distinct zircon forming events: igneous zircon growth at ca. 498 Ma (Middle/Late Cambrian) and two phases of amphibolite-facies metamorphism at ca. 470 Ma (Early Ordovician) and at ca. 344 Ma (Early Carboniferous). A retrogressed eclogite from Baranèc Mountain records two zircon forming events: metamorphic zircon growth under eclogite-facies conditions at ca. 367 Ma (Late Devonian) and amphibolite-facies metamorphism at ca. 349 Ma (Early Carboniferous). These data contribute towards understanding and correlating major tectonothermal events that shaped the eastern margin of Gondwana in the Early Palaeozoic and its subsequent Variscan evolution. The metabasites record vestiges of two completely independent oceanic domains preserved within the Central Western Carpathians: (1) An Ediacaran to Cambrian oceanic arc related to the proto-Rheic - Qaidam oceans and metamorphosed to amphibolite-facies in the Early Ordovician subduction of the proto-Rheic - Qaidam arc during the Cenerian orogeny (ca. 470 Ma) and (2) Late Devonian oceanic crust related to a back-arc basin (Pernek-type), formed by the opening of the Paleotethys and metamorphosed to eclogite-facies during Devonian subduction (ca. 367 Ma). The common Variscan and later evolution of these oceanic remnants commenced with amphibolite-facies metamorphic overprinting in the Early Carboniferous (amphibolite: ca. 344Ma; retrogressed eclogite: ca. 349Ma) related to an Early Variscan consolidation and the formation of Pangea. None of the investigated rocks of the Central Western Carpathians show any evidence of being chronologically or palaeogeographically related to the Rheic Ocean, therefore any prolongation of the Rheic suture from the Sudetes into the Alpine-Carpathian realm is highly problematic. Instead, the Southern and Central Alpine Cenerian orogeny can be traced into the CentralWestern Carpathians.

Description: In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the “Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion.

Description: Flooding is a vast problem in many parts of the world, including Europe. It occurs mainly due to extreme weather conditions (e.g. heavy rainfall and snowmelt) and the consequences of flood events can be devastating. Flood risk is mainly defined as a combination of the probability of an event and its potential adverse impacts. Therefore, it covers three major dynamic components: hazard (physical characteristics of a flood event), exposure (people and their physical environment that being exposed to flood), and vulnerability (the elements at risk). Floods are natural phenomena and cannot be fully prevented. However, their risk can be managed and mitigated. For a sound flood risk management and mitigation, a proper risk assessment is needed. First of all, this is attained by a clear understanding of the flood risk dynamics. For instance, human activity may contribute to an increase in flood risk. Anthropogenic climate change causes higher intensity of rainfall and sea level rise and therefore an increase in scale and frequency of the flood events. On the other hand, inappropriate management of risk and structural protection measures may not be very effective for risk reduction. Additionally, due to the growth of number of assets and people within the flood-prone areas, risk increases. To address these issues, the first objective of this thesis is to perform a sensitivity analysis to understand the impacts of changes in each flood risk component on overall risk and further their mutual interactions. A multitude of changes along the risk chain are simulated by regional flood model (RFM) where all processes from atmosphere through catchment and river system to damage mechanisms are taken into consideration. The impacts of changes in risk components are explored by plausible change scenarios for the mesoscale Mulde catchment (sub-basin of the Elbe) in Germany. A proper risk assessment is ensured by the reasonable representation of the real-world flood event. Traditionally, flood risk is assessed by assuming homogeneous return periods of flood peaks throughout the considered catchment. However, in reality, flood events are spatially heterogeneous and therefore traditional assumption misestimates flood risk especially for large regions. In this thesis, two different studies investigate the importance of spatial dependence in large scale flood risk assessment for different spatial scales. In the first one, the “real” spatial dependence of return period of flood damages is represented by continuous risk modelling approach where spatially coherent patterns of hydrological and meteorological controls (i.e. soil moisture and weather patterns) are included. Further the risk estimations under this modelled dependence assumption are compared with two other assumptions on the spatial dependence of return periods of flood damages: complete dependence (homogeneous return periods) and independence (randomly generated heterogeneous return periods) for the Elbe catchment in Germany. The second study represents the “real” spatial dependence by multivariate dependence models. Similar to the first study, the three different assumptions on the spatial dependence of return periods of flood damages are compared, but at national (United Kingdom and Germany) and continental (Europe) scales. Furthermore, the impacts of the different models, tail dependence, and the structural flood protection level on the flood risk under different spatial dependence assumptions are investigated. The outcomes of the sensitivity analysis framework suggest that flood risk can vary dramatically as a result of possible change scenarios. The risk components that have not received much attention (e.g. changes in dike systems and in vulnerability) may mask the influence of climate change that is often investigated component. The results of the spatial dependence research in this thesis further show that the damage under the false assumption of complete dependence is 100 % larger than the damage under the modelled dependence assumption, for the events with return periods greater than approximately 200 years in the Elbe catchment. The complete dependence assumption overestimates the 200-year flood damage, a benchmark indicator for the insurance industry, by 139 %, 188 % and 246 % for the UK, Germany and Europe, respectively. The misestimation of risk under different assumptions can vary from upstream to downstream of the catchment. Besides, tail dependence in the model and flood protection level in the catchments can affect the risk estimation and the differences between different spatial dependence assumptions. In conclusion, the broader consideration of the risk components, which possibly affect the flood risk in a comprehensive way, and the consideration of the spatial dependence of flood return periods are strongly recommended for a better understanding of flood risk and consequently for a sound flood risk management and mitigation.

Description: Hochwasser sind ein großes Problem und treten hauptsächlich aufgrund extremer Wetterbedingungen (z. B. starker Regen und Schneeschmelze) auf. Die Folgen von Hochwasserereignissen können verheerend sein. Das Konzept des Hochwasserrisikos beinhaltet die drei Komponenten: Gefahr, Exposition und Vulnerabilität. Hochwasser sind natürliche Phänomene und können nicht sicher verhindert werden. Das Risiko kann jedoch gesteuert und gemindert werden. Für ein solides Hochwasserrisikomanagement und die Minderung des Risikos ist eine ordnungsgemäße Risikobewertung und ein klares Verständnis der Hochwasserrisikodynamik erforderlich. Beispielsweise verursacht der anthropogene Klimawandel eine höhere Intensität der Niederschläge und einen Anstieg des Meeresspiegels und damit eine Zunahme des Ausmaßes und der Häufigkeit von Hochwasserereignissen. Andererseits können unangemessene strukturelle Schutzmaßnahmen, das Anwachsen von Vermögenswerten und eine steigende Anzahl betroffener Personen in den hochwassergefährdeten Gebieten das Risiko erhöhen. Um diese Probleme zu adressieren, besteht ein Ziel dieser Arbeit aus der Durchführung einer Sensitivitätsanalyse, um die Auswirkungen von Änderungen in jeder Hochwasserrisikokomponente auf das Gesamtrisiko und deren Wechselwirkungen untereinander zu verstehen. Eine angemessene Risikobewertung wird auch durch die korrekte k Darstellung des realen Hochwasserereignisses erreicht. Traditionell wird das Hochwasserrisiko bewertet, indem homogene Wiederkehrintervalle von Hochwasserspitzen im gesamten Einzugsgebiet angenommen werden. In der Realität sind Hochwasserereignisse jedoch räumlich heterogen, weshalb die traditionelle Annahme von Homogenität das Hochwasserrisiko insbesondere für große Einzugsgebiete falsch einschätzt. In dieser Arbeit wird die Bedeutung der räumlichen Abhängigkeit bei der Bewertung des Hochwasserrisikos in großem Maßstab in zwei Studien für verschiedene räumliche Skalen untersucht. In der ersten Untersuchung wird die „reale“ räumliche Abhängigkeit durch einen kontinuierlichen Risikomodellierungsansatz dargestellt. Zusätzlich werden die Risikoabschätzungen unter dieser modellierten Abhängigkeitsannahme mit zwei weiteren Annahmen zur räumlichen Abhängigkeit der Wiederkehrintervalle von Hochwasser verglichen: vollständige Abhängigkeit und Unabhängigkeit für das Elbeeinzugsgebiet in Deutschland. Die zweite Studie repräsentiert die „reale“ räumliche Abhängigkeit durch ein copula-basiertes Abhängigkeitsmodell. In ähnlicher Weise werden die drei verschiedenen Annahmen zur räumlichen Abhängigkeit der Wiederkehrintervalle von Hochwasser auf nationaler und kontinentaler Ebene verglichen. Außerdem wird der Einfluss von „Tail-dependences“ im Modell sowie von Hochwasserschutzmaßnahmen auf die räumliche Abhängigkeit untersucht. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit unter Anwendung des Sensitivitätsanalyse-Frameworks zeigen, dass das Hochwasserrisiko aufgrund möglicher Änderungsszenarien dramatisch variieren kann. Der Einfluss des Klimawandels kann durch Änderungen anderer Risikokomponenten (z. B. Änderungen der Deichsysteme und der Vulnerabilität) überdeckt werden. Die Untersuchung zur räumlichen Abhängigkeit zeigen, dass der Schaden unter der Annahme vollständiger Abhängigkeit für Ereignisse mit Wiederkehrintervalle von mehr als ungefähr 200 Jahren im Elbeeinzugsgebiet 100 % größer als der Schaden unter modellierter Abhängigkeit. Die Annahme vollständiger Abhängigkeit überschätzt den 200-jährigen Hochwasserschaden, einen Referenzindikator für die Versicherungsbranche, um 139 %, 188 % und 246 % für Vereinigte Königreich, Deutschland und Europa. Die Fehleinschätzung des Hochwasserrisikos kann unter verschiedenen Annahmen von Abhängigkeit zwischen Oberlauf und Unterlauf eines Einzugsgebietes stark variieren. Zudem können „Tail-dependences“ im Modell sowie der Hochwasserschutz im Einzugsgebiet die Ergebnisse der Risikoabschätzung, unter verschiedenen Annahmen der räumlichen Abhängigkeit, beeinflussen. Abschließend wird eine umfangreiche Berücksichtigung der Risikokomponenten und insbesondere der räumlichen Abhängigkeit von Wiederkehrintervallen stark empfohlen, um das Hochwasserrisiko und damit dessen Management und Minderung besser verstehen zu können.

Description: The extreme heat from wildfire alters soil properties and incinerates vegetation, leading to changes in infiltration capacity, ground cover, soil erodibility, and rainfall interception. These changes promote elevated rates of runoff and sediment transport that increase the likelihood of runoff-generated debris flows. Debris flows are most common in the year immediately following wildfire, but temporal changes in the likelihood and magnitude of debris flows following wildfire are not well constrained. In this study, we combine measurements of soil-hydraulic properties with vegetation survey data and numerical modeling to understand how debris-flow threats are likely to change in steep, burned watersheds during the first 3 years of recovery. We focus on documenting recovery following the 2016 Fish Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains, California, and demonstrate how a numerical model can be used to predict temporal changes in debris-flow properties and initiation thresholds. Numerical modeling suggests that the 15-minute intensity-duration (ID) threshold for debris flows in post-fire year 1 can vary from 15 to 30 mm/hr, depending on how rainfall is temporally distributed within a storm. Simulations further demonstrate that expected debris-flow volumes would be reduced by more than a factor of three following 1 year of recovery and that the 15-minute rainfall ID threshold would increase from 15 to 30 mm/hr to greater than 60 mm/hr by post-fire year 3. These results provide constraints on debris-flow thresholds within the San Gabriel Mountains and highlight the importance of considering local rainfall characteristics when using numerical models to assess debris-flow and flood potential.

Description: By bringing concepts of precision farming to intensive aquaculturem fish production can be optimized to be more sustainable while focusing on fish welfare criteria. This means to shift from mass to smart production which requires to consider each fish as an individual instead of viewing on the total stock of fish. Therefore it is required to be able to identify each fish in a tank or sea cage. In this paper, we prove the feasibility of fish identification using the iris as biometric characteristic. For this purpose, a new database was captured which enables us to consider the basic feasibility as well as to prove the permanence of the iris pattern of Atlantic salmon in terms of ageing. Results show that the iris pattern of Atlantic salmon is suited for biometric identification, but the pattern changes significantly in short periods.

Description: Direct correlations between terrestrial and marine climate-proxy records are essential in order to determine potential lead/lag relationships in the response of the terrestrial and marine realms to climate forcing. In the Eastern Mediterranean region, such land-sea correlations have not yet been established beyond c. 200 ka. To explore the potential of tephra layers for Late and Middle Pleistocene land-sea correlations in the Eastern Mediterranean region, we have revisited yet unconfirmed tephra layers previously reported from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 964 (Ionian Basin) for the past c. 800 kyr in order to identify their origin and examine potential terrestrial counterparts. Using major- and trace-element glass analyses, we confirmed the presence of seven visible tephra layers with ages from 623 to 38 ka. These tephra layers represent known tephra isochrons from Italian volcanic centers (Y-5, Y-7, X-6, and V-0) and three yet unknown eruptions from Etna (623 ka), the Campanian Volcanic Zone (CVZ; 238 ka), and Pantelleria (238 ka). Because the majority of the previously reported tephra layers from ODP Site 964 were identified as clastic layers of non-volcanic origin, cryptotephra analyses were carried out for cores spanning Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 13 to 9 (500–320 ka). This effort yielded 19 cryptotephra layers originating from Santorini volcano, the CVZ, possibly Roccamonfina volcano, and an undefined source in either the Aeolian Islands or the South Aegean Volcanic Arc. Two tephra layers are correlated with potential equivalents from terrestrial archives on the Italian and Balkan Peninsulas, including tephra isochrons SC5/A7/OH-DP-1966 (c. 493 ka; Mercure basin, Acerno basin, and Lake Ohrid) and TP09–65.95 (c. 359 ka; Tenaghi Philippon) that represent an unknown eruption of Roccamonfina and the Cape Therma 1 eruption of Santorini, respectively. Direct linking of the marine record from ODP Site 964 with the terrestrial records from Tenaghi Philippon, Lake Ohrid, and the Acerno basin via tephra tie points allowed us to circumvent shortcomings of the individual age models, and to obtain a comprehensive picture of climate variability in the greater Eastern Mediterranean region for the MIS 13–9 interval.

Description: Seit dem 01.08.2019 ist der Kodex „Leitlinien zur Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis“ der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) gültig. Für viele der im DFG-Kodex enthaltenen Leitlinien sind Open-Science-Aspekte relevant. Das Helmholtz Open Science Office stellt für diese Aspekte die vorliegende Handreichung bereit. Diese Handreichung beschreibt praxisnah anhand ausgewählter Empfehlungen des DFG-Kodexes die Relevanz von Open Science bei der Implementierung des Kodexes an den Helmholtz-Zentren. Anliegen des Helmholtz Open Science Office ist es, mit dieser Handreichung Impulse zur Verankerung von Open Science in der guten (digitalen) wissenschaftlichen Praxis zu geben. [Die vorliegende Version 2.0 ist eine aktualisierte Version der Handreichung].

Description: On 17 June 2020, a large debris flow triggered by continuous heavy precipitation hit the Danba County in southwest China, blocked the river and a barrier lake was formed. Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, a large-scale landslide was triggered due to the reactivation of the ancient landslide body. Then an evacuation of more than 20000 people leaving their home town was urgently conducted. This study exploits multi-sensor remote sensing techniques to assess landslide deformation, precursory deformation and post-failure motion of Danba landslide. We start with optical remote sensing images using the cross correlation method to investigate the overall information about this collapse, such as magnitude and moving direction of the sliding. Two high-resolution remote sensing optical images from Planet are processed right before and after the failure. Moreover, we apply the advanced Multi-temporal InSAR (MTI) techniques such as Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) and Small Baseline Subsets (SBAS) to analyze the precursors of the landslide over the long term. Based on the results of optical remote sensing, the descending Sentinel-1 data in 2014-2020 are extensively exploited with a better geometry of satellite observation. The long-term and transient of the deformation are analyzed against variations of precipitation, and then the related early warning systems are further explored. The last stage of the work is the monitoring of current movements in the collapse region after the failure. It is explored by using multiple SAR datasets including C-band Sentinel-1 and X-band TerraSAR-X (TSX) high-resolution SAR images. With the help of the field works by our collaborators, stable artificial corner reflectors (CR) are deployed on selected sites to evaluate their performance in deriving landslide kinematics. Different from the traditional Triangle CR (TCR), the new design of dihedral CR (DCR) are introduced and exploited on the scene. The performance of this new design towards MTI processing and sub-pixel offset-tracking processing is examed and tested in this study. Results are presented and further discussed for a better assessment of Danba landslide. The results of this paper can provide new strategies for developing an early warning system in this landslide using remote sensing technologies. Besides, the post-failure results are compared with the pre-event analysis, which could give an associated and comprehensive understanding of the whole landslide kinematics.

Description: Ecosystem respiration is a major component of the global terrestrial carbon cycle and is strongly influenced by temperature. The global extent of the temperature–ecosystem respiration relationship, however, has not been fully explored. Here, we test linear and threshold models of ecosystem respiration across 210 globally distributed eddy covariance sites over an extensive temperature range. We find thresholds to the global temperature–ecosystem respiration relationship at high and low air temperatures and mid soil temperatures, which represent transitions in the temperature dependence and sensitivity of ecosystem respiration. Annual ecosystem respiration rates show a markedly reduced temperature dependence and sensitivity compared to half-hourly rates, and a single mid-temperature threshold for both air and soil temperature. Our study indicates a distinction in the influence of environmental factors, including temperature, on ecosystem respiration between latitudinal and climate gradients at short (half-hourly) and long (annual) timescales. Such climatological differences in the temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration have important consequences for the terrestrial net carbon sink under ongoing climate change.

Description: The relationship between climate, landscape connectivity and sediment export from mountain ranges is key to understanding the propagation of erosion signals downstream into sedimentary basins. We explore the role of connectivity in modulating the composition of sediment exported from the Frontal Cordillera of the south‐central Argentine Andes by comparing three adjacent and apparently similar semi‐glaciated catchment‐fan systems within the context of an along‐strike precipitation gradient. We first identify that the bedrock exposed in the upper, previously glaciated reaches of the cordillera is under‐represented in the lithological composition of gravels on each of three alluvial fans. There is little evidence for abrasion or preferential weathering of sediment sourced from the upper cordillera, suggesting that the observed bias can only be explained by sediment storage in these glacially widened and flattened valleys of the upper cordillera (as revealed by channel steepness mapping). A detailed analysis of the morphology of sedimentary deposits within the catchments reveals catchment‐wide trends in either main valley incision or aggradation, linked to differences in hillslope–channel connectivity and precipitation. We observe that drier catchments have poor hillslope–channel connectivity and that gravels exported from dry catchments have a lithological composition depleted in clasts sourced from the upper cordillera. Conversely, the catchment with the highest maximum precipitation rate exhibits a high degree of connectivity between its sediment sources and the main river network, leading to the export of a greater proportion of upper cordillera gravel as well as a greater volume of sand. Finally, given a clear spatial correlation between the resistance of bedrock to erosion, mountain range elevation and its covariant, precipitation, we highlight how connectivity in these semi‐glaciated landscapes can be preconditioned by the spatial distribution of bedrock lithology. These findings give insight into the extent to which sedimentary archives record source erosion patterns through time.

Description: The 3D geomechanical-numerical modelling of the in-situ stress state aims at a continuous description of the stress state in a subsurface volume. It requires observed stress information within the model volume that are used as a reference. Once the modelled stress state is in agreement with the observed reference stress data the model is assumed to provide the continuous stress state in its entire volume. The modelled stress state is fitted to the reference stress data records by adaptation of the displacement boundary conditions. This process is herein referred to as calibration. Depending on the amount of available stress data records and the complexity of the model the manual calibration is a lengthy process of trial-and-error modelling and analysis until best-fit boundary conditions are found. The Fast Automatic Stress Tensor Calibration (FAST Calibration) is a Python function that facilitates and speeds up this calibration process. By using a linear regression it requires only three model scenarios with different boundary conditions. The stress states from the three model scenarios at the locations of the reference stress data records are extracted. The differences between the modelled and observed stress states are used for a linear regression that allows to compute the displacement boundary conditions required for the best-fit modelled stress state. If more than one reference stress state is provided, the influence of the individual observed stress data records on the best-fit boundary conditions can be weighted. The script files are provided for download at: http://github.com/MorZieg/PyFAST_Calibration

Description: Neogene indentation of the Adriatic plate into Europe led to major modifications of the Alpine orogenic structures and style of deformation in the Eastern and Southern Alps. The Giudicarie Belt is a prime example of this, as it offsets the entire Alpine orogenic edifice; its activity has been kinematically linked to strike-slip faulting and lateral extrusion of the Eastern Alps. Remaining questions on the exact role of this fold-and-thrust belt in the structure of the Alpine orogen at depth necessitate a quantitative analysis of the shortening, kinematics, and depth of decoupling beneath the Giudicarie Belt and adjacent parts of the Southern Alps. Tectonic balancing of a network of seven cross sections through the Giudicarie Belt parallel to the local NNW–SSE shortening direction reveals that this belt comprises two kinematic domains that accommodated different amounts of shortening during overlapping times. These two domains are separated by the NW–SE-oriented strike-slip Trento-Cles–Schio-Vicenza fault system, which offsets the Southern Alpine orogenic front in the south and merges with the Northern Giudicarie Fault in the north. The SW kinematic domain (Val Trompia sector) accommodated at least ∼ 18 km of Late Oligocene to Early Miocene shortening. Since the Middle Miocene, this domain experienced at least ∼ 12–22 km shortening, whereas the NE kinematic domain accommodated at least ∼ 25–35 km shortening. Together, these domains contributed an estimated minimum of ∼ 40–47 km of sinistral strike-slip motion along the Northern Giudicarie Fault, implying that most offset of the Periadriatic Fault is due to Late Oligocene to Neogene indentation of the Adriatic plate into the Eastern Alps. Moreover, the faults linking the Giudicarie Belt with the Northern Giudicarie Fault reach ∼ 15–20 km depth, indicating a thick-skinned tectonic style of deformation. These fault detachments may also connect at depth with a lower crustal Adriatic wedge that protruded north of the Periadriatic Fault and are responsible for N–S shortening and eastward, orogen-parallel escape of deeply exhumed units in the Tauern Window. Finally, the E–W lateral variation of shortening across the Giudicarie Belt indicates internal deformation and lateral variation in strength of the Adriatic indenter related to Permian–Mesozoic tectonic structures and paleogeographic zones.

Description: Natural gas hydrate occurrences contain predominantly methane; however, there are increasing reports of complex mixed gas hydrates and coexisting hydrate phases. Changes in the feed gas composition due to the preferred incorporation of certain components into the hydrate phase and an inadequate gas supply is often assumed to be the cause of coexisting hydrate phases. This could also be the case for the gas hydrate system in Qilian Mountain permafrost (QMP), which is mainly controlled by pores and fractures with complex gas compositions. This study is dedicated to the experimental investigations on the formation process of mixed gas hydrates based on the reservoir conditions in QMP. Hydrates were synthesized from water and a gas mixture under different gas supply conditions to study the effects on the hydrate formation process. In situ Raman spectroscopic measurements and microscopic observations were applied to record changes in both gas and hydrate phase over the whole formation process. The results demonstrated the effects of gas flow on the composition of the resulting hydrate phase, indicating a competitive enclathration of guest molecules into the hydrate lattice depending on their properties. Another observation was that despite significant changes in the gas composition, no coexisting hydrate phases were formed.

Description: While wetlands are the largest natural source of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere, they represent a large source of uncertainty in the global CH4 budget due to the complex biogeochemical controls on CH4 dynamics. Here we present, to our knowledge, the first multi-site synthesis of how predictors of CH4 fluxes (FCH4) in freshwater wetlands vary across wetland types at diel, multiday (synoptic), and seasonal time scales. We used several statistical approaches (correlation analysis, generalized additive modeling, mutual information, and random forests) in a wavelet-based multi-resolution framework to assess the importance of environmental predictors, nonlinearities and lags on FCH4 across 23 eddy covariance sites. Seasonally, soil and air temperature were dominant predictors of FCH4 at sites with smaller seasonal variation in water table depth (WTD). In contrast, WTD was the dominant predictor for wetlands with smaller variations in temperature (e.g., seasonal tropical/subtropical wetlands). Changes in seasonal FCH4 lagged fluctuations in WTD by ~17 ± 11 days, and lagged air and soil temperature by median values of 8 ± 16 and 5 ± 15 days, respectively. Temperature and WTD were also dominant predictors at the multiday scale. Atmospheric pressure (PA) was another important multiday scale predictor for peat-dominated sites, with drops in PA coinciding with synchronous releases of CH4. At the diel scale, synchronous relationships with latent heat flux and vapor pressure deficit suggest that physical processes controlling evaporation and boundary layer mixing exert similar controls on CH4 volatilization, and suggest the influence of pressurized ventilation in aerenchymatous vegetation. In addition, 1- to 4-h lagged relationships with ecosystem photosynthesis indicate recent carbon substrates, such as root exudates, may also control FCH4. By addressing issues of scale, asynchrony, and nonlinearity, this work improves understanding of the predictors and timing of wetland FCH4 that can inform future studies and models, and help constrain wetland CH4 emissions.

Description: The “guest exchange” of methane (CH4) by carbon dioxide (CO2) in naturally occurring gas hydrates is seen as a possibility to concurrently produce CH4 and sequester CO2. Presently, process evaluation is based on CH4−CO2 exchange yields of small- or mediumscale laboratory experiments, mostly neglecting mass and heat transfer processes. This work investigates process efficiencies in two large-scale experiments (210 L sample volume) using fully water-saturated, natural reservoir conditions and a gas hydrate saturation of 50%. After injecting 50 kg of heated CO2 discontinuously (E1) and continuously (E2) and a subsequent soaking period, the reservoir was depressurized discontinuously. It was monitored using electrical resistivity, temperature and pressure sensors, and fluid flow and gas composition measurements. Phase and component inventories were analyzed based on mass and volume balances. The total CH4 production during CO2 injection was only 5% of the initial CH4 inventory. Prior to CO2 breakthrough, the produced CH4 roughly equaled dissolved CH4 in the produced pore water, which balanced the volume of the injected CO2. After CO2 breakthrough, CH4 ratios in the released CO2 quickly dropped to 2.0−0.5 vol %. The total CO2 retention was the highest just before the CO2 breakthrough and higher in E1 where discontinuous injection improved the distribution of injected CO2 and subsequent mixed hydrate formation. The processes were improved by the succession of CO2 injection by controlled degassing at stability limits below that of the pure CH4 hydrate, particularly in experiment E2. Here, a more heterogeneous distribution of liquid CO2 and larger availability of free water led to smaller initial degassing of liquid CO2. This allowed for quick re-formation of mixed gas hydrates and CH4 ratios of 50% in the produced gases. The experiments demonstrate the importance of fluid migration patterns, heat transport, sample inhomogeneity, and secondary gas hydrate formation in watersaturated sediments.

Description: Land surface elevation changes can cause damage to infrastructure and other resources; thus, its monitoring is crucial for the safety and economics of the city. Long-term excessive extraction of underground water is one of the factors that causes ground to sink. Faridabad, the industrial hub of Haryana, a state in north India is staring a severe water crisis in the near future and has already been declared as a dark zone with regard to groundwater resources. At many places, the underground water table has dropped more than 150m. The plummeting groundwater levels and the geology of this region make it prone to subsidence. Continuous monitoring of land surface elevations using traditional surveying techniques can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Several studies have shown the potential of remote sensing techniques in monitoring the changes in topography to an mm level accuracy. In this study, we used the elevation change map (derived using 200+ sentinel -1 images), subsidence gradient, groundwater in-situ data, population, population density, land cover, and lithology. These information were then processed and analyzed in a geographical information system to perform a hazard vulnerability and risk assessment. The final risk map was classified into three different classes viz high, medium, and low risk pertaining to ground movement. The results indicate that the high-risk zone covers an area of more than 2.5 square kilometers. New Industrial Town (NIT) in Faridabad with an estimated population of more than 1.5 million, is found to be at high risk of ground movement. Groundwater levels in this area are currently depleting by more than 5m/year. Some other areas which are under high risk are the Dabua colony, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Nagar, and Gandhi colony. All these regions have a high population density and demand urgent government attention.

Description: Coal fires, land subsidence, roof collapse, and other life-threatening risks are a predictable phenomenon for the mineworkers and the neighbourhood population in coalfields. Jharia Coalfields in India are suffered heavily from land subsidence and coal fires for over a century. In addition to the loss of precious coal reserves, this has led to severe damage to the environment, livelihood, transportation, and precious lives. Such incidents highlight the dire need for a well-defined methodology for risk analysis for the coalfield. In this study, we regenerated a Land Use Land Cover map prepared using Indian Remote Sensing satellite imagery and ground survey. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry analysis using Sentinel -1 images was carried out to study the land subsidence phenomenon between Nov 2018 and Apr 2019. For the same study period, coal fire zones were identified with Landsat – 8 thermal band imagery. Integration of coal fire maps, subsidence velocity maps, and land use maps was further implemented in a geographical information background environment to extract the high-risk zones. These high-risk areas include residential areas, railways, and mining sites, requiring immediate attention. The results show that the coal mines are affected by subsidence of up to 20 cm/yr and a temperature anomaly of nearly 20oC is noticed. A high-risk zone of almost 18 sq. km. was demarcated with Kusunda, Gaslitand, and West Mudidih collieries being the most critically affected zones in the Coal mines. The study demonstrates the potential to combine data from multiple satellite sensors to build a safer ecosystem around the coal mines.

Description: Time series of wetland methane fluxes measured by eddy covariance require gap-filling to estimate daily, seasonal, and annual emissions. Gap-filling methane fluxes is challenging because of high variability and complex responses to multiple drivers. To date, there is no widely established gap-filling standard for wetland methane fluxes, with regards both to the best model algorithms and predictors. This study synthesizes results of different gap-filling methods systematically applied at 17 wetland sites spanning boreal to tropical regions and including all major wetland classes and two rice paddies. Procedures are proposed for: 1) creating realistic artificial gap scenarios, 2) training and evaluating gap-filling models without overstating performance, and 3) predicting half-hourly methane fluxes and annual emissions with realistic uncertainty estimates. Performance is compared between a conventional method (marginal distribution sampling) and four machine learning algorithms. The conventional method achieved similar median performance as the machine learning models but was worse than the best machine learning models and relatively insensitive to predictor choices. Of the machine learning models, decision tree algorithms performed the best in cross-validation experiments, even with a baseline predictor set, and artificial neural networks showed comparable performance when using all predictors. Soil temperature was frequently the most important predictor whilst water table depth was important at sites with substantial water table fluctuations, highlighting the value of data on wetland soil conditions. Raw gap-filling uncertainties from the machine learning models were underestimated and we propose a method to calibrate uncertainties to observations. The python code for model development, evaluation, and uncertainty estimation is publicly available. This study outlines a modular and robust machine learning workflow and makes recommendations for, and evaluates an improved baseline of, methane gap-filling models that can be implemented in multi-site syntheses or standardized products from regional and global flux networks (e.g., FLUXNET).

Description: We present an interactive graphical tool for extraction of group‐velocity dispersion curves of seismic traces for rapid manual picking of large amounts of data: a task commonly encountered in ambient‐noise tomography. The program can be used for group‐velocity analysis of surface waves from earthquakes and controlled source data as well as of Green’s functions from cross‐correlated ambient‐noise data. The presented tool is especially suited to datasets in which automatic picking algorithms fail and so dispersion analysis is only possible by visual inspection. Such situations can occur in highly heterogeneous regions with complex surface‐wave dispersion or where surface‐wave arrivals are poorly emerged (as can often be the case with ambient‐noise‐derived Green’s functions from temporary seismic deployments). In these datasets, the poor signal‐to‐noise ratio, spectral holes, or limited bandwidth may therefore mean that manual analysis is the only choice. However, without an efficient workflow the feasibility of this can be seriously constrained by the analysis time for the potentially vast number of traces to be analyzed. We tackled this problem by implementing well‐known techniques of dispersion curve analysis (traditional frequency–time analysis) in a fast and interactive graphical environment. It is specifically developed for high user processing speed, prioritizing fast computation, and high display responsiveness. This solution retains the benefits of manual dispersion picking for complex datasets, while maintaining good user processing efficiency. An experienced analyst can measure upward of 200 traces per hour. xdcpick stands for an X‐window‐based picking of dispersion curves.

Description: As theoretically hypothesized for several decades in group IV transition metals, we have discovered a dynamically stabilized body-centered cubic (bcc) intermediate state in Zr under uniaxial loading at sub-nanosecond timescales. Under ultrafast shock wave compression, rather than the transformation from a-Zr to the more disordered hex-3 equilibrium x-Zr phase, in its place we find the formation of a previously unobserved nonequilibrium bcc metastable in- termediate. We probe the compression-induced phase transition pathway in zirconium using time-resolved sub-picosecond x-ray diffraction analysis at the Linac Coherent Light Source. We also present molecular dynamics simula- tions using a potential derived from first-principles methods which indepen- dently predict this intermediate phase under ultrafast shock conditions. In contrast with experiments on longer timescale (〉 10 ns) where the phase diagram alone is an adequate predictor of the crystalline structure of a material, our recent study highlights the importance of metastability and time dependence in the kinetics of phase transformations.

Description: On September 16, 2015, a Mw 8.3 earthquake struck the north-central Chile coast, triggering a tsunami observed along 500 km of coastline, between Huasco (28.5°S) and San Antonio (33.5°S). This tsunami provided a unique opportunity to examine the nature of tsunami deposits in a semi-arid, siliciclastic environment where stratigraphic and sedimentological records of past tsunamis are difficult to distinguish. To improve our ability to identify such evidence, we targeted one of the few low-energy, organic-rich depositional environments in north-central Chile: Pachingo marsh in Tongoy Bay (30.3°S). We found sedimentary evidence of the 2015 and one previous tsunami as tabular sand sheets. Both deposits are composed of poorly to moderately sorted, gray-brown, fine-to medium-grained sand and are distinct from underlying and overlying organic-rich silt. Both sand beds thin (from ∼20 cm to 〈1 cm) and fine landward, and show normal grading. The older sand bed is thicker and extends over 125 m further inland than the 2015 tsunami deposit. To model the relative size of the tsunamis that deposited each sand bed, we employed tsunami flow inversion. Our results show that the older sand bed was produced by higher flow speeds and depths than those in 2015. Anthropogenic evidence along with 137Cs and 210Pb dating constrains the age of the older tsunami to the last ∼110 years. We suggest that the older sand bed was deposited by the large tsunami in 1922 CE sourced to the north of our study site. This deposit represents the first geologic evidence of a pre-2015 tsunami along the semi-arid north-central Chile coast and highlights the current and continuing tsunami hazard in the region.

Description: The Earth’s upper atmosphere – a part of it, the ionosphere- is a dynamic partly ionized region with temporal and spatial variations under different phases of solar activity. The ionosphere being a dispersive medium causes signal strength fluctuation, propagation delay, signal attenuation, and signal degradation. These have constituted significant threats to both communication and navigation systems operating in microwave band which is due to the presence of high electron density and its irregularities. The key parameter of the ionosphere which is closely related to most of these delay effects on radio signals is the electron density and density gradients, in particular - its vertical integral, the Total Electron Content (TEC) which can be estimated from the Global Positioning System (GPS) data. The estimated TEC profiles, and TEC perturbation are studied to gain insights into the occurrence of irregular structures in the ionosphere and their distribution. One of the ionospheric irregularities located within the F region, and E region top side are Traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs). TIDs are propagating perturbations in the ionospheric electron density as a consequence of Atmospheric Gravity Waves (AGWs) passage. The AGWs originate in the troposphere or stratosphere, and exhibit neutral wind perturbations propagating to the F region heights (i.e. ionospheric heights), where the neutral wind perturbations interact with the plasma via collisions, carrying it along the magnetic field lines (i.e. ion-neutral collision). This entire process in the ionosphere is manifested as oscillations of the ionospheric electron density, resulting in a TID. However, TIDs vary in scale sizes ranging within a few hundred kilometers (km) to over one thousand km, and based on this, they are categorized as either medium-scale TIDs (MSTIDs) or large scale TIDs (LSTIDs). In this thesis, we focus only on MSTIDs as one of the major and frequent ionospheric irregularity phenomena which may degrade positioning systems and could cause a delay in GPS signal transmission between a satellite and the GPS receiver. Multiple studies of ionospheric irregularities with the main focus on MSTIDs over different regions and continents around the world have been carried out, but studies of MSTIDs over the African region have neither been carried out nor reported probably due to lack of GPS data set, and the question of what drives its occurrence in the region which is not yet documented. The objective of this thesis is to study and describe for the first time the occurrence of MSTIDs and its characteristics over the African region under quiet geomagnetic condition (Kp ≤ 3) during the years 2008 – 2016. In addition, this thesis presents novel results of the time series of MSTIDs percentage occurrence rate (POR) during daytime and nighttime, and seasonal occurrence. Ionneutral coupling processes like the connection between AGW and MSTIDs are also discussed in the study. Observational TEC data used in this thesis are obtained from ground-based GPS networks within the African region and nearby stations. Additionally, temperature data from COSMIC radio occultation and SABER satellite observations for some case studies were used to validate AGWs passage as a driving source of MSTIDs, especially during the daytime. Consequently, regional MSTIDs distribution maps have been generated to capture the latitudinal, seasonal, and local time extent of the MSTID occurrence. Investigation of regional ionospheric irregularities over Africa (IRIA) gives a novel result of a climatological view of MSTIDs over Northern and Southern hemispheres in the African region.

Description: Inspired by exhumed subduction shear zones that commonly exhibit block-in-matrix characteristics (mélanges), we create synthetic models with different proportions of strong clasts within a weak matrix and compare them to natural mélange outcrops. Using 2D Finite Element visco-plastic numerical simulations in simple shear kinematic conditions, we determine the effective rheological parameters of such a two-phase medium, comprising blocks of basalt embedded within a wet quartzitic matrix. We treat our models and their structures as scale-independent and self-similar and upscale published field geometries to km-scale models, compatible with large-scale far-field observations. Like in the laboratory deformation experiments, we vary confining pressures, temperatures and strain rates to evaluate effective rheological estimates for a natural subduction interface. As expected, the block-in-matrix ratio affects deformation and strain localization, with the effective dislocation creep parameters (A, n, and Q) varying between the values of the strong and the weak phase, in cases where both materials deform by viscous creep. At conditions where the blocks are frictional and the matrix viscous, the mélange deforms effectively by dislocation creep but the locally frictional deformation of the blocks leads to higher stresses. This results in an effective value of the stress exponent, n, greater than that of both pure phases, as well as an effective rate-dependent viscosity lower than that of the weak phase. In combination with an appropriate evolution law for the block concentration of a mélange, our effective rheology parameters may be used in large scale geodynamic models as a proxy for a heterogeneous subduction interface.

Description: Knowledge of the microscopic structure of fluids and changes thereof with pressure and temperature is important for the understanding of chemistry and geochemical processes. In this work we investigate the influence of sodium chloride on the hydrogen-bond network in aqueous solution up to supercritical conditions. A combination of in situ X-ray Raman scattering and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations is used to probe the oxygen K-edge of the alkali halide aqueous solution in order to obtain unique information about the oxygen's local coordination around the ions, e.g. solvation-shell structure and the influence of ion pairing. The measured spectra exhibit systematic temperature dependent changes, which are entirely reproduced by calculations on the basis of structural snapshots obtained via ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Analysis of the simulated trajectories allowed us to extract detailed structural information. This combined analysis reveals a net destabilizing effect of the dissolved ions which is reduced with rising temperature. The observed increased formation of contact ion pairs and occurrence of larger polyatomic clusters at higher temperatures can be identified as a driving force behind the increasing structural similarity between the salt solution and pure water at elevated temperatures and pressures with drawback on the role of hydrogen bonding in the hot fluid. We discuss our findings in view of recent results on hot NaOH and HCl aqueous fluids and emphasize the importance of ion pairing in the interpretation of the microscopic structure of water.

Description: Tsunamis are unpredictable and infrequent but potentially large impact natural disasters. To prepare, mitigate and prevent losses from tsunamis, probabilistic hazard and risk analysis methods have been developed and have proved useful. However, large gaps and uncertainties still exist and many steps in the assessment methods lack information, theoretical foundation, or commonly accepted methods. Moreover, applied methods have very different levels of maturity, from already advanced probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis for earthquake sources, to less mature probabilistic risk analysis. In this review we give an overview of the current state of probabilistic tsunami hazard and risk analysis. Identifying research gaps, we offer suggestions for future research directions. An extensive literature list allows for branching into diverse aspects of this scientific approach.

Description: Land subsidence hazard affects many highly populated urban areas of the world as a consequence of natural and/or anthropogenic derived geomechanical rock alterations. Here we exploit the full archive of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR data) and present a 16-years history (2004-2020) of surface displacement affecting the federal capital of Maceió (Alagoas, Brazil), where sinkhole formation and fractures on infrastructures have been intensified since early 2018, forcing authorities to relocate the affected residence and pose the building under demolition. The geodetic result shows that precursory deformations were already visible in early 2000’s, reaching in November 2020 a maximum cumulative subsidence of approximately 2 m near the Mundaú lagoon coast. The maximum rate of subsidence is estimated at 27 cm/year. Numerical elastic source modelling proves that the subsidence is associated with localized, deep seated material removal at the location and depth where salt mining is performed. More sophisticated 2D distinct element method highlights the formation of cracks in sedimentary layers that eventually enables strong water percolation from rather superficial aquifers into the deeper underground, with potential increase of material dissolution and erosion. We discuss the accelerating subsidence rates, the influence of severe precipitation events to the aforementioned geological instability and the related dynamic evolution of the subsidence hazard by generating dynamic geohazard maps valuable for further infrastructure risk assessment.