New papers on Geology & geophysics
23 new papers on geology & geophysics in the last 7 days, within Earth & climate. These are the 23 Pipette rates most worth reading, with the main result in the authors' own words.
The best of the week
Dissecting land subsidence along United States coasts through hazard characterization and exposure disparities
Here, we present the first national-scale characterization of land subsidence hazard and exposure of population groups and infrastructure systems across 20 United States coastal states, explicitly accounting for spatial dependence.
Peer-reviewed journalClaims a big stepReal-world useCassiterite U–Pb geochronology: A framework for tin provenance in the Bronze Age world
Using U-Pb dating analysis on cassiterite grains surviving in various contexts including primary smelting site, metal resource hoard, and bronze casting workshop, this study demonstrates that cassiterite materials from the Great Hinggan Range polymetallic belt, Northeast China, were transported to the Middle Huai River region over 1,500 km to the south for tin bronze production during the Middle Shang period.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepPacific tsunami records suggest similar rupture locations of two great Kamchatka earthquakes only 73 years apart
Tsunami modeling shows that a range of relative rupture locations can produce the waveform similarity, but only nearly colocated ruptures can explain the travel time similarity.
Peer-reviewed journalPliny the Younger advances geochronology
The eruption of Vesuvius volcano witnessed by Pliny the Younger in 79 CE is dated by the argon-40/argon-39 ( 40 Ar/ 39 Ar) method to 1938 ± 13 years (SD) before measurement in 2025 CE.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepCascading magmatic unrest and aseismic faulting in the Aegean Sea enabled by elastic stress relay
We show that the 2025 earthquake swarm in the Christiana-Santorini-Kolumbo complex of the Aegean Sea was driven by elastic stress transfer between two magma reservoirs, a 9-kilometer-long dike, and a 17-kilometer-long, southeast-dipping fault.
Peer-reviewed journalSPBench: A Multi-Task Evaluation Benchmark for Exploration Seismic Processing
SPBench provides a reproducible basis for comparing learning-based seismic processing methods and characterizes how their relative advantages vary across data settings, degradation strengths, and evaluation criteria.
PreprintCore formation resolves Earth’s siderophile excess without a late veneer
Multistage accretion models reproduce the observed HSE abundances and ratios in the mantle without invoking a late veneer.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyLake- and groundwater-associated alteration of the olivine-rich Margin unit in Jezero crater, Mars
Here, we show that the Margin unit explored at high elevations (>−2350 m) has a texture and chemistry indicative of a slow-cooled, crystalline, olivine-rich rock without significant water exposure.
Peer-reviewed journalGrain size and sediment storage explain why postfire debris flows are absent in some mountainous landscapes
These results provide a mechanistic explanation for discrepancies in debris flow occurrence in mountainous landscapes.
Peer-reviewed journalChromium isotope constraints on deep mantle oxidation from the Early Archean to Paleoproterozoic
These results provide evidence for an oxidation of the mantle from Archean to Paleoproterozoic.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyHeavy boron isotopes reveal deep carbon recycling in hot subduction zones
These results demonstrate that substantial carbon can bypass shallow decarbonation in both modern and Archean hot subduction systems.
Peer-reviewed journalDistributed Proximal Stein Variational Gradient Descent Algorithm for Large-scale Bayesian Inference in Traveltime Tomography
We present a distributed framework for large-scale Bayesian inverse problems governed by the eikonal equation, with a specific focus on seismic traveltime tomography.
PreprintLimited impact of the 2025 Kamchatka tsunami explained by the complex seismic rupture
We also show that a smaller tsunami potential energy due to earthquake magnitude and relatively deep slip explains the moderate far-field impact.
Peer-reviewed journalRecurrent evacuation of mantle mush in ocean islands revealed by clinopyroxene from La Palma
Combining quantitative trace element mapping, thermobarometry, and cluster analysis, we show that preceding all eruptions, an evolved phonolitic crystal mush resided in the upper mantle (∼18-25 km depth) under relatively cool (1000-1025 °C) conditions.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyPredicting the Elastic Properties of a Cemented Granular Material during Chemical Damage (Debonding)
Facing the difficulties to estimate experimentally the impact of chemical damage on mechanical properties, a Digital Rock Physics approach is proposed in this contribution.
PreprintReal-world useShape matters: DEM investigation of geometry-controlled mechanical response in irregular rock fragments under static and dynamic loading
These findings establish a preliminary quantitative framework for interpreting mechanical measurements from irregular rock fragments when a standardized core is unavailable.
PreprintShallow-to-deep velocity model building via diffusion models-Part I: Method and Proof of concept
To address this issue, we propose a depth-progressive diffusion framework that constructs velocity models incrementally from shallow to deep by propagating prior information.
PreprintDirection-Aware Masked Pretraining for 3D Seismic Representation Learning and Transfer to Cross-Area Acoustic Impedance Inversion
With limited target-area well control, the proposed framework reduces normalized root-mean-square error by 20.8% relative to a pretrained conventional masked autoencoder across eight target-area test wells under matched tokenization and downstream settings.
PreprintReal-world useShallow-to-deep velocity model building via diffusion models-Part II: Realistic scenarios
As a result, this framework establishes a practical pathway to deploy generative diffusion models for velocity model building under realistic constraints.
PreprintReal-world useEvaluation of seismological evidence for decadal changes in Earth’s lowermost mantle and outer core
We demonstrate that the reported temporal changes in Earth’s deep interior can be largely explained by artifacts from imperfect source repeatability and station-related issues.
Peer-reviewed journalOn the use of seismic noise studies for landslide rock block hazard assessment
To address this, Pazzi et al. 1 propose estimating rock-block volumes—at least their order of magnitude—from their fundamental eigenfrequency ( f 0 ) in a lateral spread and block-slide setting on Malta Island.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useExperimental reproduction of a surface-encircling olivine rim in barred olivine chondrules
Our results suggests that BO chondrules form through total melting at high temperature ( > 1700 °C), rapid cooling to ~1300 °C to form olivine bars, and subsequent slow cooling that promotes rim formation and further crystallization.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyGravitational torque drives multidecadal variations in length of day
Multidecadal fluctuations in Earth’s length of day are shown to be driven by gravitational torque and resisted by electromagnetic and topographic forces, improving our understanding of the material properties and dynamics of Earth’s deep interior.
Peer-reviewed journal