Geoscience Community Research Articles

WebNORM: a web application for calculating normative mineralogy

Normative mineralogy is a valuable tool for interpreting the mineralogical composition of rocks based on their bulk rock geochemical data. Despite the development of various computational tools for normative mineralogy calculations, the accessibility and continued usage of many existing tools is limited by the use of older languages, licensing constraints, and restricted access to the source code. In this paper, we introduce a Python-based implementation of the normative mineralogy algorithm, which is accessible through a user-friendly web application webNORM, or as part of the pyrolite Python package. The algorithm uses major, minor, and trace element oxides as input and returns up to 31 normative minerals. It offers two methods for estimating the Fe2O3:FeO ratio. The web application offers a convenient interface for users without programming experience, while the pyrolite integration allows more advanced users to leverage the Python ecosystem for end-to-end geochemical data analysis. Comparison between our implementation of the normative calculation and previous implementations shows that our version is accurate and reliable. webNORM offers the geoscience community an accessible solution for calculating normative mineralogy. The algorithm and web application are open-source, and we encourage contributions and adaptations by the community for specific needs and improvements.

Statistical self-similarity of detrital zircon U-Pb ages reveals sedimentary provenance: A case study from the Chinese Loess Plateau

A major concern of the geoscience community is often where sediments originally come from — this is a material's provenance. Tracing provenance allows us to determine how a material moved from its source to its sink, and thereby to evaluate the tectonic and paleoclimatic history. Detrital zircon UPb geochronology has long been used for this purpose. However, current approaches to measuring (dis)similarity in zircon age distributions may lead to erroneous geologic interpretations. Here we propose an Age-Number fractal model to characterize zircon age densities and perform intersample comparisons using multidimensional scaling. The advantage of the new method is that compared to such traditional methods as Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, it accentuates holistic rather than partial differences between two age distributions and is less-affected by data biases related to grain-size sorting and uneven sample sizes. We then use this model to unravel the debatable provenance of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) by comparing the zircon ages of Quaternary loess on the CLP with that of loose sediments from potential source regions. The model divides the CLP into four distinct provenance zones, receiving materials primarily from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, upper Yellow River, and/or Mu Us Desert. Our observations corroborate that the aeolian (East Asian monsoon and Westerlies) and fluvial (Yellow River) processes play a joint role in the dust deposition. A new pattern of spatial heterogeneity in the loess provenance is established and can be interpreted as a combined effect of atmospheric circulation patterns, availability of riverine sediments, and such factors as aridification, implying a more dynamically-evolved CLP than previous thought. Our results will aid future development and interpretation of the dust-based paleoclimatic proxies.

For a Sustainable Future: A Survey about the 2030 Agenda among the Italian Geosciences Community

The combined annual Congress of the Italian Geological Society (Società Geologica Italiana, SGI) and the Italian Mineralogical and Petrological Society (Società Italiana di Mineralogia e Petrologia, SIMP), dedicated to Geosciences for a sustainable future, took place in Turin in September 2022. This was an opportunity to critically reflect on the role of geosciences for our society and planet, and the role that geoscientists have to play in the education of citizens, for the prevention of natural hazards and the conservation of cultural and natural heritage. In continuity with our previous work on the awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals among young geoscientists in Italy, the present study attempts to expand the investigated sample to include the entire Italian community of geoscientists. The aim is to highlight: (1) the most widespread opinions on the link between Earth Sciences and the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda; (2) what steps have been taken by Italian Earth Sciences departments for sustainability education and what could be the best strategies to develop sustainability related to geoscience topics. According to 229 answers to a questionnaire sent to congress participants (corresponding to 20% of the total amount), the results highlight that the Italian geocommunity (at least its younger members) has a high awareness of the implications of its work and research with sustainability issues, and, in particular, their responsibility to the environment; notwithstanding this awareness, the level of average familiarity with the 2030 Agenda and its goals is still low. In order to bridge this gap, it is recognized that there is an urgent need for sustainability education efforts in departments and the use of inter- and trans-disciplinary teaching approaches that can educate both students and practitioners to be capable of addressing the challenging issues of today.

Semi-supervised learning for shale image segmentation with fast normalized cut loss

In analyzing the geological processes, the segmentation of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of geological samples is crucial but time-consuming because it needs to distinguish the boundaries for various mineral objects in natural rocks. To automate the segmentation, prior research has adopted supervised learning approaches that train convolutional neural networks (CNNs) using datasets consisting of images and labels. Although supervised learning techniques can produce a high accuracy for a substantial amount of data, the label preparation process is expensive and prone to mistakes because human experts must annotate millions of pixels for each image. To lessen the needs for labeling, in this work we investigated both unsupervised and semi-supervised approaches for fine-grained shale by developing a semi-supervised learning model, SU-Net, based on the U-Net architecture. We also proposed a novel algorithm to speed up the semi-supervised loss function in SU-Net using caching, skip zeros, and batching optimizations. Evaluation results demonstrate that SU-Net can achieve a higher accuracy than U-Net in the case of few labeled data. In addition, SU-Net can be trained as fast as U-Net and is 33 × faster than the state-of-the-art unsupervised model. Overall, SU-Net can benefit the geoscience community by demonstrating its utilities that shale images can be segmented with similar quality even when only limited labels are available.

Quantification of data‐related uncertainty of spatially dense soil moisture patterns on the small catchment scale estimated using unsupervised multiple regression

AbstractMultiple regression analysis is a valuable method to reduce information gaps in a sparse soil moisture data set by fusing its information content with those of densely mapped data sets. Regression analysis utilizing uncertain data results in an indeterminate regression model and indeterminate soil moisture predictions when applying the regression model. We employ an unsupervised multiple regression approaches, taking optimally located sparse soil moisture measurements directly as coefficients in a linear regression model. We propagate data uncertainties into our probabilistic soil moisture estimation results by embedding the regression in a Monte Carlo approach. The computed uncertainty defines the quantitative limit for information retrieval from the resultant ensemble of soil moisture maps. This raises doubts on the true presence of some prominent channel‐like features of increased soil moisture that are clearly visible in a previously and deterministically derived soil moisture map ignoring the presence of data uncertainty. The approach followed in this work is computationally simple and could be applied routinely to databases of similar size. Insufficient uncertainty communication by the data provider became the biggest obstacle in our efforts and led us to the insight that the geoscientific community may need to revise their standards with regard to uncertainty communication related to measured and processed data.

Advancing science, technology and innovation for disaster risk reduction: The Kuala Lumpur Consensus on Disaster Risk Reduction

The Kuala Lumpur Consensus on Disaster Risk Reduction was the outcome of the 2020 Asia Pacific Science and Technology Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (APSTCDRR), documenting renewed commitment to accelerate the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in four priority areas, drawing on multi-disciplinary knowledge including geoscience. The 2020 APSTCDRR offered an opportunity for science-policy interfacing to enhance the appropriate role of science, technology and innovation, facilitate the inclusion of empowered young scientists, and accentuate the integration of risk from all perspectives into planning and development at all levels. Highlights of the 2020 APSTCDRR include the status of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the Asia Pacific, and means of addressing systemic risk including Natural Hazards Triggering Technological Disasters (NATECH) and its associated shortcomings in the region. There was also focus on climate risk and local action spotlighting the Kuala Lumpur Multi-hazard Platform, as well as youth engagement in science and technology through U-INSPIRE Alliance, an alliance of young professionals in DRR. Many of the initiatives showcased in the 2020 APSTCDRR are of relevance to the geoscience community, to strengthen their role in DRR in Malaysia and the region.

Rapid and integrated petroleum systems analysis with dynamic gas fraction and flexural reconstructions: Application to hydrocarbon charge and commodity risk

The most time consuming and computationally intensive steps in petroleum systems analysis involve building heat flow boundary conditions that are consistent with regional geologic observations, solving the transient heat equation, and translating a range of hydrocarbon charge predictions from source intervals into prospect specific predictions that can be used for decision making in oil and gas exploration. Furthermore, three-dimensional regional flexure, which can have a significant impact on paleo-migration pathways, often is not included in the critical step of translating charge calculations into trap specific predictions due to the time-consuming nature of map preparation. In this paper, an efficient and integrated petroleum systems analysis (IPA) workflow is presented with a new fast, semi-analytical, decoupled approach for solving the transient heat equation that is fully integrated with a rapid inversion methodology for transient heat flow boundary conditions and a 3D regional flexural reconstruction that uses standard basin modeling inputs and requires little to no additional map preparation. A charge-to-trap model is also described that translates hydrocarbon expulsion calculations with dynamic parameterized gas fractions that vary with transformation ratio into trap specific predictions using flexurally restored migration polygons. This fully integrated and efficient approach enables rapid interactive investigation of uncertainty space and fast probabilistic modeling that is ideal for evaluating hydrocarbon charge and commodity risk in data-sparse frontier basins. The applicability of this approach is demonstrated for assessing charge and commodity risk with a case study from the Colorado Basin, Argentina, whereby two alternative hydrocarbon accumulation hypotheses that postulate that traps are filled to structural spill with undersaturated oil are tested for reservoirs located in the upper Colorado Formation that are charged by postulated Aptian and Neocomian source rocks. This application indicates that it is unlikely that the tested traps are filled to structural spill with undersaturated oil, and how incorrect conclusions on hydrocarbon commodity may be reached if 3D regional flexure is not considered during petroleum systems analysis. Finally, it is also shown how this integrated and efficient approach can be implemented with low-cost computational platforms such as Python Anaconda or in spreadsheet programs that empower modelers to rapidly translate their ideas into benchmarked prototypes that can be immediately leveraged by the geoscience community (www.github.com/eakneller/ipatoolkit3D).

Frontier of Understanding Earth's Dynamics

Frontier of Understanding Earth's Dynamics

Accuracy Assessment of High-Resolution Globally Available Open-Source DEMs Using ICESat/GLAS over Mountainous Areas, A Case Study in Yunnan Province, China

The Open-Source Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is fundamental data of the geoscientific community. However, the variation of its accuracy with land cover type and topography has not been thoroughly studied. This study evaluates the accuracy of five globally covered and open-accessed DEM products (TanDEM-X90 m, SRTEM, NASADEM, ASTER GDEM, and AW3D30) in the mountain area using ICESat/GLAS data as the GCPs. The robust evaluation indicators were utilized to compare the five DEMs’ accuracy and explore the relationship between these errors and slope, aspect, landcover types, and vegetation coverage, thereby revealing the consistency differences in DEM quality under different geographical feature conditions. The Taguchi method is introduced to quantify the impact of these surface characteristics on DEM errors. The results show that the slope is the main factor affecting the accuracy of DEM products, accounting for about 90%, 81%, 85%, 83%, and 65% for TanDEM-X90, SRTM, NASADEM, ASTER GDEM, and AW3D30, respectively. TanDEM-X90 has the highest accuracy in very flat areas (slope < 2°), NASADEM and SRTM have the greatest accuracy in flat areas (2 ≤ slope < 5°), while AW3D30 accuracy is the best in other cases and shows the best consistency on slopes. This study makes a new attempt to quantify the factors affecting the accuracy of DEM, and the results can guide the selection of open-source DEMs in related geoscience research.

Unlocking national treasures: the core scanning approach

Abstract Drill core is a vital resource for subsurface characterization and informs process understanding. However, it is expensive to collect and, as a result, the geoscience community increasingly relies on data from legacy core to address today's energy challenges. Many countries store geological materials collected over decades in national archives. In the UK, over 600 km of drill core is currently stored at the UK national core repository, which covers a breadth of the UK's geology, including those targeted for resources, energy and waste storage. The challenge is to maximize the value of these analogue archives and new core when deposited – improving access to materials and associated data, whilst simultaneously maximizing preservation to ensure optimized use, now and in the future. This paper summarizes the BGS approach to characterize drill core more efficiently and consistently using a multiple-technique core scanning approach set within a project-specific core scanning workflow to increase core data acquisition and complement traditional core characterization practices. Thus, creating a digital record of the core, preserving it beyond its physical lifetime and improving accessibility. This paper highlights the benefits and challenges of this long-term endeavour, especially in making the data open access and discoverable.

Free Geoscience Communication Training for SSSA Members

CSA NewsVolume 68, Issue 4 p. 28-28 MEMBERSHIP Free Geoscience Communication Training for SSSA Members First published: 24 March 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/csan.21000Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume68, Issue4April 2023Pages 28-28 RelatedInformation

How language can be used to promote gender equality in geoscience

Gender inequality is detrimental to individuals and ultimately to organizations. Furthermore, addressing this issue will become more important to be eligible for research funds, as already occurs in Europe. Since language shapes the way we think, some simple changes in the words we use daily in geoscience and in other academic fields could promote gender equality. Journal editorial boards could adopt similar measures to foster such changes in the geoscience community.

Critically Assessing Undergraduate Field Experiences: Understanding Conceptualizations and Opportunities for Building Inclusive Programs.

Undergraduate field experiences (UFEs) are key components of many biology, ecology, and geoscience programs and important steps to successful recruitment into careers. Through semistructured interviews of diverse field program leaders, we seek to understand how field program leaders conceptualize both their scientific disciplines and the intentional design factors they implemented within the UFE itself. Additionally, this study explores critical considerations these program leaders use to approach designing inclusive UFEs as well as the institutional and practical challenges of designing and implementing their UFEs. We acknowledge the limitations of the small sample of respondents, and our intent with this article is to explore these responses as a way to share critical design factors for designing and implementing inclusive UFEs with the broader geoscience community. Building an early understanding of these factors will help new field program leaders address multiple, simultaneous challenges that currently foment the underrepresentation of students from marginalized backgrounds in biology, ecology, and the geosciences. Through these explicit conversations, we hope to support the professional development of a scientific community that values the creation of safe, encouraging field experiences in which students can enhance their self-identity in the sciences, build peer and professional networks, and develop memorable field experiences that support their trajectories toward successful careers.

How Can Geoscience Communication Foster Public Engagement with Geoconservation?

Geoscience and geodiversity, two sides of the same coin, deal with very poor social visibility and recognition. Ensuring the protection of geodiversity is not only in the geoscientists’ hands and all of society needs to be involved. Therefore, public engagement with geodiversity demands new solutions and a change of paradigm in geoscience communication. Most of the science communication activities undertaken by geoscientists, even when they use modern approaches and technologies, are mainly designed based on empirical experience, laid on didactical approaches and assuming the public’s knowledge deficit. In order to engage the society with geodiversity, it is not enough to focus on scientific literacy and deficit models in which lack of knowledge is considered to be the main obstacle between science and society. It is fundamental to establish a commitment between society and science based on dialogue where lay public is not seen anymore as a single entity with a knowledge deficit. Non-experts must become also protagonists in scientific decisions with social impact and integrate their knowledge and concerns in public participation and decision-making. Engagement with geoscience and geodiversity would benefit from more effective and targeted communication strategies, with different approaches to engage with communities, local stakeholders, media, students and teachers, scientific community, tourists, politicians or policy-makers, and groups with different concerns and distinct relations with science. In the last 20 years, science communication research has made many relevant contributions in order to promote more participatory processes with which society is asked to engage. Regarding geoscience communication as a discipline, it is a very recent Earth science branch that also incorporates social science, behavioral science, and science communication, but still lacks a clear and formal definition. This study provides a comprehensive review of the literature in order to develop a conceptual framework for geoscience communication research, identifying the main challenges and opportunities.

Geophysical Open Seismic Hardware: Design of a Vertical Seismic Profiling Instrument

Geophysics can help provide guidance as we adapt to our changing environment. However, with advent of microelectronics, embedded systems and field programmable gate arrays, geophysical instruments have largely become a black box for most users: experiments are limited by the budgets that are available rather than the imagination of the geoscientific community. The solution we propose is to introduce affordable, modular and lightweight multi-component seismic instruments that can be deployed easily by researchers and explorers alike. We have developed a system that allows seismic data acquisition using very sensitive and compact accelerometers. These sensors are coupled to high-speed, multi-channel 24-bit downhole acquisition modules that were developed for this project. The control and synchronization of the system is engineered around microcontrollers that are compatible with the Arduino ecosystem. Communication between the parts of the system is done via a novel frequency modulated RS-485 communication protocol. This protocol makes it possible to send power and data over a wireline with only two conductors. The small diameter and the low cost of this system facilitates the deployment of a large number of channels or in configurations that may not be feasible with commercial equipment. The modular nature of the system makes it easy to adapt to other downhole applications or for draggable sensor arrays on surface. We consider that these efforts will contribute to the democratization of seismic survey in exploration, civil engineering and water prospecting to help reduce the global environmental impacts of human activities. <strong>Metadata Overview</strong> Main design files: <a href="https://github.com/Geophysical-Instrumentation-Group-UL/Geophysical-Open-Seismic-Hardware" target="_blank">Geophysical Open Seismic Hardware</a>, in <em>Hardware</em> and <em>Firmware</em> directories. Target group: Geoscientists and engineers. Skills required: 3D printing – easy; electronics – intermediate; Programming – intermediate. Replication: No builds known to the authors so far. See section “Build Details” for more detail.

Critical workforce skills for bachelor-level geoscientists: An analysis of geoscience job advertisements

AbstractUnderstanding the skills bachelor-level geoscientists need to enter the workforce is critical to their success. The goal of this study was to identify the workforce skills that are most requested from a broad range of geoscience employers. We collected 3668 job advertisements for bachelor-level geoscientists and used a case-insensitive, code-matching function in Matlab to determine the skills geoscience employers seek. Written communication (67%), field skills (63%), planning (53%), and driving (51%) were most frequently requested. Field skills and data collection were frequently found together in the ads. Written communication skills were common regardless of occupation. Quantitative skills were requested less frequently (23%) but were usually mentioned several times in the ads that did request them, signaling their importance for certain jobs. Some geoscience-specific skills were rarely found, such as temporal understanding (5%) and systems thinking (0%). We also subdivided field skills into individual tasks and ranked them by employer demand. Site assessments and evaluations, unspecified field tasks, and monitoring were the most frequently requested field skills. This study presents the geoscience community with a picture of the skills sought by employers of bachelor-level geoscientists and provides departments and programs with data they can use to assess their curricula for workforce preparation.

CHALLENGES OF INSAR DEM DERIVATION WITH SENTINEL-1 SAR IN DENSELY VEGETATED HUMID TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract. Since the launch of the Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in 2014 by the European Space Agency (ESA), there has been renewed interest in SAR data for various application, including DEM derivation with SAR Interferometry (InSAR) technique. However, the success of the InSAR technique in deriving DEM with Sentinel-1 SAR which has been largely acknowledged in sparsely vegetated regions, remains controversial in the densely vegetated environment due to certain challenges, which have rarely been reported. The aim of this study is to highlight some of the obstacles of InSAR DEM derivation with Sentinel-1 SAR over densely vegetated humid tropical environment. Suitable Sentinel-1 image pairs over part of Johor, Peninsular Malaysia, determined in terms of perpendicular and temporal baselines using the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) online baseline computation tool, were downloaded from the ASF archive and processed accordingly using the Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP). Difficulty in acquiring suitable image pairs, phase decorrelation and poor coherence, and unwrapping problems are some of the encountered challenges of InSAR DEM derivation with Sentinel-1 SAR in the densely vegetated humid tropics reported in this study. This study shall provide to the geoscientific community insights on InSAR DEM derivation with Sentinel-1 SAR in densely vegetated environments and initiate discussion on the technique’s promise in such environments.

From volcanoes to sedimentary systems

Abstract Volcanoes produce probably the most spectacular geological phenomena on Earth. Any of their eruptions can have a strong consequence on the surrounding environment, often captured in great detail in the sedimentary records of volcanically active regions. In addition, flank landslides and background erosive processes affecting volcanic sequences release volcanic particles that circulate within sedimentary environments up to billions of years after their generation. Therefore, exploring volcanically influenced sedimentary environments is an exciting and challenging scientific exercise requiring insights across multiple geological disciplines, drawing upon an increasing varied range of expertise and analytical approaches from across the geoscientific community. This book aims to provide an updated collection of works that illustrate the state-of-the-art in this topic, and to define the future directions of the geological sciences in utilizing and interpreting sedimentary records of volcanism.

3-D azimuthal anisotropy structure reveals different deformation modes of the crust and upper mantle in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

The tectonic evolution and deformation process of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau has been one of the focuses of the geoscience community in recent decades. However, the crustal and mantle deformation mechanism in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau is still under debate. Seismic anisotropy inferred from surface wave tomography could provide critical insights into the deformation mechanism of the Earth’s tectonosphere. Here, we constructed a 3-D azimuthal anisotropy velocity model with Rayleigh wave phase velocity dispersion data from 132 permanent stations to analyze the deformation modes in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. In the upper crust, the azimuthal anisotropy near the main strike-slip faults exhibits strong magnitude with fast axis subparallel to the fault strike, which is consistent with the rigid block extrusion pattern. In the mid-lower crust, two low-velocity anomalies appeared beneath the Sonpan-Ganzi Terrane and Xiaojiang Fault zone with strong azimuthal anisotropy, which may indicate ductile deformation of the weak mid-lower crust. However, the two low-velocity anomalies are separated by a high-velocity barrier with weak azimuthal anisotropy in the inner zone of the Emeishan large igneous province. In the upper mantle, the anisotropy pattern is relatively simple in the rigid Yangtze Craton and mainly represents fossil anisotropy. In the southern part, the lithosphere thinned beneath the Indochina and Cathaysia Blocks, and the anisotropy is plausibly caused by the upwelling and lateral flows of upwelling hot asthenospheric materials.

The Status of Geoethical Thinking in the Educational System of Greece: An Overview

In recent years, the concern about geoethics in Greece has begun to grow. This review aims to present the current geoethical thinking in Greece’s educational system through a thorough research of all educational levels’ curricula and the actions developed on this topic in the Greek geoscientific community. In the Greek educational reality, geoeducation is not widespread, and geoethics is used in limited school curricula. The research highlighted a significant lack of initiatives to promote geoethical thinking and the values related to geological heritage and the need to protect it.