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Landslide initiation thresholds in data-sparse regions: Application to landslide early warning criteria in Sitka, Alaska, USA

Probabilistic models to inform landslide early warning systems often rely on rainfall totals observed during past events with landslides. However, these models are generally developed for broad regions using large catalogs, with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of landslide occurrences. This study evaluates strategies for training landslide forecasting models with a scanty record of landslide-t
Authors
Annette Patton, Lisa Luna, Josh J. Roering, Aaron Jacobs, Oliver Korup, Benjamin B. Mirus

The 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, Earthquake: Relic railroad offset reveals rupture

In the absence of documented surface rupture during the 1 September 1886 Charleston earthquake, there has been considerable speculation about the location and mechanism of the causative fault. We use an inferred coseismic offset of the South Carolina Railroad and additional numerical constraints to develop an elastic deformation model—a west‐dipping fault following strands of two previously identi
Authors
Roger Bilham, Susan E. Hough

Analyzing spatial distributions and alignments of pitted cone features in Utopia Planitia on Mars

Martian geomorphology and surface features provide links to understanding past geologic processes such as fluid movement, local and regional tectonics, and feature formation mechanisms. Pitted cones are common features in the northern plains basins of Mars. They have been proposed to have formed from upwelling volatile-rich fluids, such as magma or water-sediment slurries. In this study, we map th
Authors
Mackenzie M. Mills, Alfred S. McEwen, Amanda N. Hughes, Ji-Eun Kim, Chris Okubo

Mapping methane reduction potential of tidal wetland restoration in the United States

Coastal wetlands can emit excess methane in cases where they are impounded and artificially freshened by structures that impede tidal exchange. We provide a new assessment of coastal methane reduction opportunities for the contiguous United States by combining multiple publicly available map layers, reassessing greenhouse gas emissions datasets, and applying scenarios informed by geospatial inform
Authors
James Holmquist, Meagan J. Eagle, Rebecca Molinari, Sydney K. Nick, Liana Stachowicz, Kevin D. Kroeger

How long do runoff-generated debris-flow hazards persist after wildfire?

Runoff-generated debris flows are a potentially destructive and deadly response to wildfire until sufficient vegetation and soil-hydraulic recovery have reduced susceptibility to the hazard. Elevated debris-flow susceptibility may persist for several years, but the controls on the timespan of the susceptible period are poorly understood. To evaluate the connection between vegetation recovery and d
Authors
Andrew Paul Graber, Matthew A. Thomas, Jason W. Kean

The inevitability of large shallow craters on Callisto and Ganymede: Implications for crater depth-diameter trends

Complex craters with diameters (D) ≥ 40 km on Callisto and Ganymede are shallower than would be expected from simply extrapolating the depth-diameter trend from smaller (D ≤ 40 km) craters. This unusual depth-diameter (d-D) trend, and associated changes in crater morphology, have been hypothesized to result from rheological transitions, including the existence of an ocean, within the moons' ice sh
Authors
Michael T. Bland, Veronica Bray

Episodic evolution of a protracted convergent margin revealed by detrital zircon geochronology in the Greater Caucasus

Convergent margins play a fundamental role in the construction and modification of Earth's lithosphere and are characterized by poorly understood episodic processes that occur during the progression from subduction to terminal collision. On the northern margin of the active Arabia-Eurasia collision zone, the Greater Caucasus Mountains provide an opportunity to study a protracted convergent margin
Authors
Dylan A Vasey, Leslie Garcia, Eric S. Cowgill, Charles Cashman Trexler, Tea Godoladze

Multiphysics modelling in PyLith: Poroelasticity

PyLith, a community, open-source code for modelling quasi-static and dynamic crustal deformation with an emphasis on earthquake faulting, has recently been updated with a flexible multiphysics implementation. We demonstrate the versatility of the multiphysics implementation by extending the code to model fully coupled continuum poromechanics. We verify the newly incorporated physics using standard
Authors
Robert L. Walker, Matthew G. Knepley, Brad T. Aagaard, Charles A. Williams

Evidence for fine-grained material at lunar red spots: Insights from thermal infrared and radar data sets

Lunar red spots are small spectrally red features that have been proposed to be the result of non-mare volcanism. Studies have shown that a number of red spots are silicic, and are spectrally distinct from both highlands and mare compositions. In this work, we use data from LRO Diviner, Mini-RF, and Arecibo to investigate the material properties of 10 red spots. We create albedo maps using Diviner
Authors
Benjamin Byron, Catherine Elder, Timothy Glotch, Paul Hayne, Lori M Pigue, Joshua T. S. Cahill

Crustal thickness and the VP/VS ratio within the Arabia Plate from P-wave receiver functions at 154 broadband seismic stations

As part of a joint Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) and United States Geological Survey project, we analyzed P-wave receiver functions from seismic stations covering most of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to map the thickness of the crust across the Arabia Plate. We present an update of crustal thickness estimates and fill in gaps for the western Arabian Shield and the rifted margin at the Red Sea (the
Authors
Alexander R. Blanchette, Simon L. Klemperer, Walter D. Mooney

Toward probabilistic post-fire debris-flow hazard decision support

Post-wildfire debris flows (PFDF) threaten life and property in western North America. They are triggered by short-duration, high-intensity rainfall. Following a wildfire, rainfall thresholds are developed that, if exceeded, indicate high likelihood of a PFDF. Existing weather forecast products allow forecasters to identify favorable atmospheric conditions for rainfall intensities that may exceed
Authors
Nina S. Oakley, Tao Liu, Luke McGuire, Matthew Simpson, Benjamin J. Hatchett, Alexander Tardy, Jason W. Kean, Christopher Castellano, Jayme L. Laber, Daniel Steinhoff

Comment on “A new decade in seismoacoustics (2010–2022)” by Fransiska Dannemann Dugick, Clinton Koch, Elizabeth Berg, Stephen Arrowsmith, and Sarah Albert

An increase in seismic stations also having microbarographs has led to increased interest in the field of seismoacoustics. A review of the recent advances in this field can be found in Dannemann Dugick et al. (2023). The goal of this note is to draw the attention of the readers of Dannemann Dugick et al. (2023) to several additional interactions between the solid Earth and atmosphere that have not
Authors
Adam T. Ringler, Robert E. Anthony, Brian Shiro, Toshiro Tanimoto, David C. Wilson