Highlight articles

This page features highlight articles from EGU's open access journals Geoscientific Model Development and Solid Earth. These articles of particular interest are selected by journal editors.

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How can geologic decision-making under uncertainty be improved?

Solid Earth
DOI 10.5194/se-10-1469-2019
3 September 2019

In this paper, we outline the key insights from decision-making research about how, when faced with uncertainty, humans constrain decisions through the use of heuristics (rules of thumb), making them vulnerable to systematic and suboptimal decision biases. We also review existing strategies to debias decision-making that have applicability in the geosciences, giving special attention to strategies that make use of information technology and artificial intelligence.

Improved methodologies for Earth system modelling of atmospheric soluble iron and observation comparisons using the Mechanism of Intermediate complexity for Modelling Iron (MIMI v1.0)

MIMI v1.0 was designed for use within Earth system models to simulate the 3-D emission, atmospheric processing, and deposition of iron and its soluble fraction. Understanding the iron cycle is important due to its role as an essential micronutrient for ocean phytoplankton; its supply limits primary productivity in many of the world’s oceans. Human activity has perturbed the iron cycle, and MIMI is capable of diagnosing many of these impacts; hence, it is important for future climate studies.

Fault-controlled dolomitization in the Montagna dei Fiori Anticline (Central Apennines, Italy): record of a dominantly pre-orogenic fluid migration

The dolomitized intervals of the Lower Jurassic deposits exposed in the Montagna dei Fiori Anticline (Central Apennines, Italy) have been investigated. Accordingly, two fault-related dolomitization events were recognised and interpreted as having occurred before and during the Apenninic orogeny. The analyses suggest significant involvement of evaporitic fluids in both events, most likely derived from the underlying Upper Triassic Burano Formation in the detachment level.

Induced seismicity in geologic carbon storage

To meet the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit temperature increase below 2 ºC, geologic carbon storage (GCS) will be necessary at the gigatonne scale. But to successfully deploy GCS, seismicity induced by CO₂injection should be controlled and maintained below a threshold that does not generate nuisances to the population. We conclude that felt induced seismicity can be minimized provided that a proper site characterization, monitoring and pressure management are performed.

The Bortoluzzi Mud Volcano (Ionian Sea, Italy) and its potential for tracking the seismic cycle of active faults

The Ionian Sea in southern Italy is at the center of active convergence between the Eurasian and African plates, with many known M_w > 7.0 earthquakes. Here, a recently discovered mud volcano (called the Bortoluzzi Mud Volcano or BMV) was surveyed during the Seismofaults 2017 cruise (May 2017). The BMV is the active emergence of crustal fluids probably squeezed up during the seismic cycle. As such, the BMV may potentially be used to track the seismic cycle of active faults.

Time-lapse gravity and levelling surveys reveal mass loss and ongoing subsidence in the urban subrosion-prone area of Bad Frankenhausen, Germany

Subrosion, i.e. the underground leaching of soluble rocks, causes disastrous sinkhole events worldwide. We investigate the accompanying mass transfer using quarter-yearly time-lapse gravity campaigns over 4 years in the town of Bad Frankenhausen, Germany. After correcting for seasonal soil water content, we find evidence of underground mass loss and attempt to quantify its amount. This is the first study of its kind to prove the feasibility of this approach in an urban area.

Terrainbento 1.0: a Python package for multi-model analysis in long-term drainage basin evolution

Terrainbento 1.0 is a Python package for modeling the evolution of the surface of the Earth over geologic time (e.g., thousands to millions of years). Despite many decades of effort by the geomorphology community, there is no one established governing equation for the evolution of topography. Terrainbento 1.0 thus provides 28 alternative models that support hypothesis testing and multi-model analysis in landscape evolution.

Devito (v3.1.0): an embedded domain-specific language for finite differences and geophysical exploration

This paper presents Devito, a Python-based software. The aim of this software is to provide a high-level simple interface to users for the description and discretization of the mathematical definition of the physics. This research initially started as an attempt to improve research time, portability, and performance in exploration geophysics. We present the latest version of the software that is already making an impact in academics and industry.

The Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM) v1.1

Mountain glaciers are one of the few remaining subsystems of the global climate system for which no globally applicable community-driven model exists. Here we present the Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM; www.oggm.org), developed to provide a modular and open-source numerical model framework for simulating past and future change of any glacier in the world.

Power spectra of random heterogeneities in the solid earth

Solid Earth
DOI 10.5194/se-10-275-2019
5 February 2019

Recent seismological observations clarified that the velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle is randomly heterogeneous. I compile reported power spectral density functions of random velocity fluctuations based on various types of measurements. Their spectral envelope is approximated by the third power of wavenumber. It is interesting to study what kinds of geophysical processes created such a power-law spectral envelope at different scales and in different geological environments.

GMPV Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology Highlight articles