In less than one decade the open-access data journal Earth System Science Data (ESSD, a member of the Copernicus Open Access Publisher family) grew from a start-up venture into one of the highest-rated journals in global environmental science. Stimulated by data needs of the International Polar Year 2007-2008, ESSD now serves a very broad community of data providers and users, ensuring that users get free and easy access to quality data products and that providers...

We provided an approach to estimate hydraulic diffusivity of a single fault by solving the linear diffusion equation in a partly open rough fracture under drained conditions when applying small pressure drop fluctuations (10^-5 Pa) along the fault. In contrast to the traditional calculation for the fracture hydraulic diffusivity using parameters such as hydraulic aperture, fluid compressibility, fluid viscosity, we here directly used time-dependent pressure profile p(x, y, t) to match the analytical solution for...

Cliffs line many erosional coastlines. Localized failures can cause land loss and hazard, and impact ecosystems and sediment routing. Links between cliff erosion and forcing mechanisms are poorly constrained, due to limitations of classic approaches. Combining multi-seasonal seismic and drone surveys, wave, precipitation and groundwater data we study drivers and triggers of 81 failures along the chalk cliffs on Germany’s largest island, Rügen. We have found that marine processes are negligible in triggering failures but...

This report summarises the Seismicity Rate Model (SRM) of the 2022 New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model revision. The SRM is comprised of multiple component models that fall into one of two classes: (1) inversion fault model (IFM) or (2) distributed seismicity model (DSM). The full details of each component model are further detailed in reports specific to each component. The IFM uses an inversion-based method to model occurrence rates for hundreds of thousands of...

The Mariana forearc provides a unique natural laboratory to study slab dehydration in an active subduction zone by its deep-rooted mud volcanism. To test if mantle wedge serpentinites would record the source fluid composition and thus the dehydration reactions in the slab, we investigated silicon (Si) isotopic compositions (δ30Si) in serpentine veins by in-situ femtosecond laser ablation ICP mass spectrometry. Our samples were recovered during IODP Expedition 366 and originate from three mud volcanoes that...

Weathering is the fundamental precondition for erosion and soil formation which sculpture Earth´s surface. It is a complex interplay of minerals, rock fabric, tectonical fractures, climate, and organic activity. To explore the dependences between these factors two weathering profiles on magmatic bedrock were compared using six-meter-deep soil pits and drill cores in both a humid and a Mediterranean climate regime of Chile. Detailed mineralogical and geochemical investigations of soil and saprolite were combined with spatially...

Additional file 1. Table S1: Dictionary of terms used for filtering out non-marine samples.

Debris-covered glaciers are fed from steep bedrock hillslopes that tower above the ice, so-called headwalls. Recent observations in high-alpine glacial environments suggest that rock walls are increasingly destabilized due to climate warming. An increase in debris delivery to glacier surfaces will modify glacial mass balances, as surface debris cover impacts on the melt behavior of the ice underneath. Consequently, we expect that the response of debris-covered glaciers to climate change is likely linked to how...

Tectonic faults are of great importance for many underground applications such as hydrocarbon extraction, geothermal operations or nuclear waste repositories. In particular, the fault reactivation potential is crucial in regards of safety and efficiency of these applications. Major influences on the reactivation potential are the contemporary tectonic stress field and changes to it due to anthropogenic activities. One measure of the reactivation potential of faults is the ratio of resolved shear stresses to normal stresses...

This position paper was drafted by the Task Group “Access to and Reuse of Research Software” of the Helmholtz Association Open Science Working Group and adopted by the Open Science Working Group on March 14, 2017.

Numerical simulations of the governing geophysical processes are crucial for geothermal applications in order to characterize the subsurface. This characterization presents us with major challenges ranging from the correct physical and geometrical characterization to the quantification of uncertainties. Quantifying rock physics uncertainties and performing other probabilistic inverse methods is, even with current state-of-the-art finite element solver and high-performance infrastructures, computationally not feasible for complex basin- and reservoir-scale geothermal applications due to the large spatial, temporal,...

For the resource development, geothermal systems need to be improved to increase the profitability of the investment. One aspect to support this aim is the reservoir productivity, a key parameter, which depends on the hydraulic and mechanical properties of the reservoir formation. In order to develop possible improvement strategies for the profitability enhancement of geothermal reservoirs and/or nuclear waste repositories, hydraulic and mechanical properties of artificial generated fractures were investigated. The importance of the fracture...

The Yarmouk River is the primary tributary to the Jordan River and a strategic transboundary freshwater resource of Syria, Jordan, and Israel. In the past decades, the Yarmouk watershed has been extensively exploited by the riparian with the construction of dams including the Al-Wehda and Adassiyeh dams. The operation of the dams is guided by international water agreements between Jordan and Israel and Jordan and Syria and control the flux of the Yarmouk River. Repeated...

We studied seafloor characteristics, water column anomalies, and sediment methane geochemistry in the German sector of the central North Sea during a research cruise with the German research vessel Heincke in summer 2019. An extensive hydroacoustic mapping campaign revealed the presence and distribution of flares in the water column, indicative for gas bubble releases as well as for geophysical subsurface indications of elevated gas concentrations. We analyzed the spatial distances of detected flares to subsurface...

Cosmogenic nuclide analysis in sediment from the Earth’s largest rivers yields mean denudation rates of the sediment-producing areas that average out local variations commonly found in small rivers. Using this approach, we measured in situ cosmogenic 26Al and 10Be in sand of >50 large rivers over a range of climatic and tectonic regimes covering 32% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface. In 35% of the analyzed rivers, 26Al/10Be ratios are significantly lower than these nuclides´ surface-production-rate...

With this study we revise and improve the three-dimensional lithospheric-scale structural and density model of Germany (3-D-D). Major shortcomings of this model resulted from joining three regional 3-D models that were poorly covered by data at their margins. Merging into a larger model revealed structural inconsistencies in these “marginal” domains. In order to resolve discrepancies between the units in a more consistent way we integrate newly available data from seismic reprocessing, tomography, and use 3-D...

Microbial mediation is considered an important process for the formation of primary dolomite at ambient temperature. Yet, no structural, mineralogical, chemical or isotopic means exist to discern this mode of dolomite formation from secondary dolomite. To explore the utility of metal isotopes in allowing this distinction we characterize magnesium and calcium stable isotope ratios in primary (proto)dolomites from a modern hypersaline environment. Samples from the Khor Al-Adaid sabkhas in Qatar show consistent isotopic differences of...

This document provides a high-level summary of the ground-motion characterisation model component of the 2022 New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model. This includes: development of a New-Zealand-specific ground-motion database; consideration of alternative empirical ground-motion models based on global datasets; two new New-Zealand-specific models that were developed as part of the project; comparisons of the alternative models against observational data; and considered modifications of the ‘base’ models to account for near-fault directivity, back-arc attenuation for subduction...

The analysis of Coulomb stress changes has become an important tool for seismic hazard evaluation because such stress changes may trigger or delay next earthquakes. Processes that can cause significant Coulomb stress changes include coseismic slip, earthquake-induced poroelastic effects and transient postseismic processes such as viscoelastic relaxation. In this study, we use 2D finite-element models for intracontinental normal and thrust faults to investigate the spatial and temporal evolution and the interaction of pore fluid pressure...

The supply of fresh minerals to Earth’s surface by erosion is thought to modulate global climate by removing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) through silicate weathering. In turn, weathering of accessory carbonate and sulfide minerals is a geologically-relevant CO2 source, which may dampen or reverse the effect of silicate weathering on climate. Although these weathering pathways commonly operate side by side, we lack quantitative constraints on their co-evolution across erosion-rate gradients. Using stream-water chemistry across a...

Sicily is a part of the central-Western Mediterranean area and represents a geotectonic boundary between the African and European plates. It is the result of a complex geological process based on a polyphasic evolution of a compressional step beginning with the Oligocene-Miocene clockwise rotation of Corsica-Sardinia simultaneously with the extensional processes of the Tyrrhenian basin. Consequently, the area is constrained by the continuing partial advance of the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain southwards and the Tyrrhenian extensional area...

Global growth of industry and population leads to increasing demand of industrial and consumer goods. This necessitates an increase in mining activities and resource extraction. Resulting mine waste, and tailings serve as a repository for unused overburden and for the accumulation of processed waste-products. It is typical for so-called secondary iron minerals (SIMs) to be formed during the weathering of these materials under different pH-value conditions. Acid mine drainage (AMD) can result from rainwater infiltration...

Geothermal energy represents around 30% of the produced electricity in Iceland with a cumulative capacity being equal to 755 MWe (Ragnarsson et al., 2020). In particular, the Theistareykir geothermal plant, which is located on the Mid-Atlantic ridge in North Iceland, produces 90 MWe using two turbines in operation since autumn 2017 and spring 2018, respectively. We will report on the hybrid micro-gravity monitoring and discuss how this technique will contribute to the sustainable management of...