TerraMosaic Daily Digest: July 14, 2026
Daily Summary
Flood projections and monitoring converge on a central result: temporal and process resolution can alter the hazard signal itself. Hourly simulations of Alpine catchments reverse the projected sign of flood change in strongly snow-influenced basins because intensifying subdaily rainfall outweighs declining snowmelt, an effect obscured by daily data. Satellite flood mapping advances from binary extent to mechanism attribution with a 464-scene, 120-event dataset spanning 48 countries, while SWOT-derived training data support pixel-scale depth estimates that are more robust to elevation-model error. River segmentation and balanced hydraulic sampling further reduce the computational cost of high-resolution inundation mapping.
Slope-instability studies resolve both protective surface processes and concealed marine failure systems. Biological soil crusts reorganize near-surface water storage on loess slopes and raise shear strength by 25-30%, limiting saturation-driven shallow failure under repeated wetting and drying. At Graham Bank, five-metre bathymetry and sub-bottom profiles distinguish debris avalanches, fault-controlled rockfalls and deformed soft sediments, including deposits more than 20-30 m thick near submarine infrastructure. Coastal-slope modelling in Calabria independently identifies groundwater level and perched aquifers as the dominant controls on progressive instability.
Earthquake, volcanic and infrastructure studies increasingly locate damage at transitions between mechanical regimes. The 2025 Mw 7.6 Aomori rupture remained confined to a compact asperity bounded by slab geometry and rheological zonation; at Etna, surface fractures, relocated seismicity and an exhausted elastic-energy budget jointly explain dike arrest. Fault-rupture simulations show that stick-slip motion produces stronger tunnel ovalization and broader longitudinal damage than creep, while bridge and immersed-tunnel observations quantify how deep foundations, thick loess and joint stiffness redistribute subsidence. These results place structural boundaries, hydrological state and observation scale inside the hazard model rather than treating them as secondary uncertainty.
Key Trends
Five methodological shifts connect today's hazard, observation, and modelling studies.
- Subdaily forcing changes the projected hazard: Hourly rainfall-runoff simulations reveal flood increases that daily data can suppress or even reverse in snow-influenced Alpine catchments.
- Flood products move from extent to mechanism and depth: Global flood-type labels, SWOT water-surface observations and hydraulically structured training turn inundation masks into more diagnostic response products.
- Slope stability is governed by evolving interfaces: Biocrust-soil architecture, calcarenite-clay contacts, perched groundwater and tectonically conditioned submarine slopes determine where progressive failure localizes.
- Independent observations constrain rupture boundaries: GNSS, field fractures, relocated earthquakes, focal mechanisms and energy budgets identify where megathrust rupture and volcanic dikes stop, not only where they propagate.
- Infrastructure models couple permanent ground movement with shaking: Subsidence monitoring, fault slip-weakening and nonlinear soil response expose damage patterns that uniform settlement or seismic-only analyses miss.
Selected Papers
Hazard estimates change when observations resolve the process at its operative scale. Hourly forcing overturns daily Alpine flood projections; biological soil crusts alter both infiltration and strength on loess slopes; high-resolution marine mapping reveals cascading controls on submarine mass movement; and integrated geodetic, structural and seismic evidence bounds megathrust rupture and volcanic dike arrest. The remaining studies extend these advances into flood depth and type, fault-crossing infrastructure, wildfire, permafrost and transferable Earth-observation methods.
1. Rethinking future flood hazard: Hourly data challenge daily flood projections in Alpine catchments
Core Problem: Daily streamflow projections can conceal the subdaily rainfall intensification that controls future flood peaks in snow-influenced Alpine basins.
Key Innovation: Hourly simulations show that daily data systematically understate flood change and can reverse its projected sign from decrease to increase when intensified short-duration rainfall outweighs declining snowmelt.
2. The 2025 Mw 7.6 Aomori Megathrust Earthquake in Northeast Japan: Failure of a Structurally and Rheologically Bounded Asperity Beneath a Cold Mantle Wedge
Core Problem: The physical boundaries that confined the 2025 Mw 7.6 Aomori megathrust rupture were unresolved, limiting interpretation of its shaking and tsunami potential.
Key Innovation: Coseismic GNSS inversion places more than 2.5 m of slip in a compact 25-50 km-deep asperity whose termination coincides with slab bending and mantle-wedge rheological transitions, linking structural segmentation to fast-slow slip zonation.
3. The 2008 Mt. Etna dike arrest: integration of structural investigation, seismic and energy-balance analysis
Core Problem: Dike-arrest mechanisms are difficult to diagnose rapidly because surface deformation, seismicity and the intrusion's energy budget are usually interpreted separately.
Key Innovation: Field fractures constrain the dike tip to 200-600 m depth, relocated earthquakes and focal mechanisms identify late compression, and the cumulative seismic moment matches the available elastic energy, providing convergent evidence for arrest.
4. Geomorphological characterization and marine geohazard assessment of mass transport deposits in the Graham Bank (Sicily Channel, Central Mediterranean)
Core Problem: Mass-transport deposits around Graham Bank had not been resolved at the scale needed to distinguish volcanic, tectonic and sedimentary instability near submarine infrastructure.
Key Innovation: Five-metre bathymetry and CHIRP profiles map debris avalanches up to 2.2 km2 and more than 20-30 m thick, fault-controlled rockfalls and soft-sediment failures, supporting a cascading model of tectonic preconditioning and transient seismic, volcanic and current-driven forcing.
5. Biological soil crusts mitigate shallow landslide and erosion risks on loess slopes under intense dry-wet cycles: mechanisms and disaster prevention implications
Core Problem: Repeated intense wetting and drying can saturate and weaken shallow loess, but the hydromechanical protection supplied by biological soil crusts was not quantified.
Key Innovation: Scaled-slope tests show that a fibre-EPS soil architecture redistributes water across the upper 50 cm and raises shear strength by 25-30%, coupling ecological water retention with mechanical resistance to shallow landsliding and erosion.
6. From flood extent mapping to mechanism-aware flood products: integrating flood type classification into satellite-based flood monitoring
Core Problem: Binary satellite inundation maps omit the flood mechanism that controls flow behaviour, contamination and recovery, particularly where gauges and models are unavailable.
Key Innovation: A U-Net plus Inception-ResNet framework combines imagery, elevation and water connectivity to map extent and classify dominant flood type; the new WFT dataset contains 464 scenes from 120 events in 48 countries and supports 93.0% scene-level accuracy.
7. Longitudinal deformation of immersed tunnel with prefabricated push-out closure joint under ground subsidence: experimental insights and a unified analytical framework
Core Problem: The response of immersed tunnels to localized subsidence is complicated by shear deformation and the stiffness contrast between flexible and prefabricated closure joints.
Key Innovation: Two large-scale tests and a unified finite-difference model locate the most sensitive rotation beside the closure joint and quantify stiffness thresholds that limit excessive deformation and uneven internal forces.
8. Rapid and high-resolution prediction of fluvial flood inundation using machine learning models trained on hydraulically derived data and river segmentation
Core Problem: Rapid flood mapping often trains on unstructured pixel samples that discard the longitudinal organization of a river and transfer poorly between reaches.
Key Innovation: River segmentation and segment-wise balanced sampling preserve hydraulic structure in random-forest, gradient-boosting and neural models, producing computationally efficient extent and depth maps across five return-period scenarios.
9. Fragility-based seismic resilience and recovery assessment for municipal emergency planning in Mediterranean urban environments
Core Problem: Municipal earthquake plans require recovery time, displacement and emergency-access information that static building-damage maps do not provide.
Key Innovation: A GIS-compatible fragility framework combines damage-state probabilities, time to 90% functionality, habitability loss and accessibility, exposing masonry-dominated recovery and displacement hotspots in a Mediterranean municipality.
10. Dynamic deformation response of a large bridge to mid-to-deep coal extraction in thick loess regions
Core Problem: Free-surface subsidence models can overstate bridge deformation where thick loess and deep foundations modify mining-induced ground movement.
Key Innovation: Nine months of monitoring reveal a three-stage asymmetric response with 43 mm maximum settlement, far below the 170 mm free-surface estimate, and attribute the attenuation to loess energy dissipation and pile-foundation load redistribution.
11. Forest Fire Monitoring Based on Cloud Parameters: A Case Study in Southern Hunan
Core Problem: Persistent cloud obscures optical fire signatures, creating a monitoring gap precisely when rapid confirmation is needed.
Key Innovation: Himawari-8/9 cloud optical thickness and effective radius are combined with XGBoost to infer fire beneath cloud; the case study reports an AUC of 0.968 and a nine-percentage-point F1 gain for thick-cloud conditions.
12. AVANET: A Multiscale Weak-Texture-Aware Network for Snow Avalanche Recognition Using Aerial Imagery
Core Problem: Snow avalanches are difficult to delineate in aerial imagery because deposits and surrounding snow share weak texture and low spectral contrast across scales.
Key Innovation: AVANET combines weak-texture response fusion with multiscale contextual enhancement, reaching 86.13% overall accuracy and 90.67% F1 while attention maps localize release zones, tracks and debris deposits.
13. Modelling of slopes in the Ionian coastal area of Calabria region
Core Problem: Groundwater fluctuations can progressively destabilize stratified coastal cliffs, but simplified equilibrium methods may suppress failure complexity at permeable-low-permeability contacts.
Key Innovation: Finite-element strength reduction resolves rotational-translational strain localization near the calcarenite-clay interface and shows that groundwater level and perched aquifers dominate the long-term susceptibility of the Calabria slope.
14. Flood depth mapping with SWOT-derived training data: evaluating the potential of open-source datasets
Core Problem: Operational flood-depth mapping lacks pixel-level training observations and is sensitive to elevation-model error.
Key Innovation: SWOT observations provide flood-depth reference data for open-source machine- and deep-learning models; multisource attention improves feature use, and the deep model reduces RMSE by 10-50% under DEM perturbations across three test datasets.
15. Dynamic response of fault-crossing tunnel under coupled effects of stick-slip fault dislocation and seismic motion
Core Problem: Fault-crossing tunnel assessments commonly separate permanent fault displacement from the pulse-like shaking generated by stick-slip rupture.
Key Innovation: A slip-weakening rupture model and cross-scale submodelling couple both effects, showing that stick-slip motion causes wider longitudinal damage and stronger ovalization than creep and defining major and minor influence zones around the fault.
16. Hy-Embodied-VLM-1.0: Efficient Physical-World Agents
Core Problem: Embodied foundation models must connect visual state, action transitions and adaptive multi-step reasoning without becoming too large for latency-sensitive deployment.
Key Innovation: Hy-Embodied-VLM-1.0 uses an action-centric training taxonomy and a mixture-of-experts architecture with 3B active parameters, leading similarly sized models on 19 of 38 benchmarks and approaching a predecessor with 32B active parameters.
17. The Spectrum Is Not Enough: When Context Helps Time-Series Forecasting
Core Problem: Spectral predictability indices do not determine whether longer context, retrieval or a pretrained model will improve a particular time-series forecast.
Key Innovation: An impossibility result and phase-randomized surrogate pairs separate second-order predictability from beyond-spectrum context value; a label-free coverage-deficit diagnostic predicts when contextual methods add skill across seven benchmarks.
18. GDP.pdf: Benchmarking Grounded Multimodal Reasoning over Professional PDF Documents
Core Problem: Document benchmarks usually isolate OCR, layout, tables or charts and therefore do not test whether a model can answer grounded professional questions that require several capabilities at once.
Key Innovation: GDP.pdf contributes 100 practitioner-authored tasks with atomic rubrics across ten fields; among seven frontier multimodal models, the best strict pass rate is 15%, with failures concentrated in tables, charts, footnotes, scans and superseded text.
19. A comprehensive analysis of three meteorological datasets for the East Siberian continuous permafrost zone: long-term changes in air temperature, snow depth and precipitation
Core Problem: Meteorological observations over East Siberian continuous permafrost are exceptionally sparse and frequently contain multidecadal gaps, obstructing consistent climate and ground-stability analysis.
Key Innovation: Three archives are quality-controlled and merged into a daily 1966-2025 database of temperature, precipitation and snow depth with source-level indicators, gap-filling support and an interactive dashboard.
20. An ERA5-derived mesovortex tracking framework for investigating tropical cyclogenesis
Core Problem: Tropical-cyclone archives document mature storms but provide little objective information on the paired low- and mid-level vortices that precede genesis.
Key Innovation: The ERA5-based MAST framework tracks mesovortex couples across the western North Pacific for 1984-2023, detects 96% at formation and identifies more than half at least 48 hours earlier while distinguishing genesis from non-genesis tilt evolution.
21. Critical assessment of metrics and methods used to quantify temporal loading of rainfall events
Core Problem: Dozens of incompatible metrics describe when rainfall intensity is loaded within an event, limiting comparison of flood, runoff and erosion responses across studies.
Key Innovation: Fifty-three metrics applied to 233,128 Danish events resolve five independent dimensions of temporal loading and yield one resolution-tested representative metric for mass timing, peak timing, magnitude concentration, temporal concentration and intermittency.
22. Wildfire-induced disruptions to evapotranspiration, runoff, and water-balance closure across California's water supply watersheds
Core Problem: The basin-scale effects of high-severity wildfire on evapotranspiration, runoff and water-balance closure remain poorly quantified across major water-supply watersheds.
Key Innovation: Four decades of satellite evapotranspiration, precipitation, natural-flow and fire-perimeter data show first-year ET losses of 100-250 mm and recovery times of 4-10 years, motivating disturbance-aware calibration of postfire water budgets.
23. Rising dust pollution across Europe in a changing climate
Core Problem: The geographic rise in European desert-dust exposure and the relative roles of atmospheric circulation and source-region aridification were unresolved.
Key Innovation: A daily dust-metal database and machine-learning reconstruction quantify 2012-2021 PM10 dust exposure and associated mortality, while circulation analysis and an Alpine ice core separate recent transport changes from a 110% pre-industrial increase linked to North African desertification.
24. Surface processes darkening the southwestern ice sheet of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)
Core Problem: The respective contributions of particles, ice structure and biological growth to regional darkening of southwestern Greenland ice were not empirically separated.
Key Innovation: Laboratory, field and probabilistic analyses attribute darkening primarily to cryoconite accumulation and ice-column densification, followed by microalgal blooms, and produce a physically constrained albedo model for ice-sheet mass-loss simulations.
25. A simplified method for determining the equivalent peak ground acceleration of near-fault pulse-like ground motions
Core Problem: Near-fault design commonly applies peak ground acceleration without explicit correction for pulse effects, source distance and directional amplification.
Key Innovation: Regression of 1,576 NGA-West2 records yields continuous distance and orientation correction factors, providing a simplified equivalent-PGA method for engineering design in near-fault regions.
26. Residual Noise Learning for Atmospheric Correction of InSAR Unwrapped Maps
Core Problem: Atmospheric artifacts can obscure tectonic deformation in interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) observations, while conventional correction methods often depend on external atmospheric data.
Key Innovation: The study proposes a supervised residual-learning framework that directly predicts noise components in unwrapped InSAR maps rather than reconstructing deformation signals.
27. Toward Remote Sensing of Wildland Fuel Combustibility: A Pilot Study Evaluating an Experimental Method to Link Fuel Spectral Reflectance with Fire Behaviour and Emissions
Core Problem: Remote sensing can map fuel structure, but spectral reflectance has rarely been linked experimentally to independent measures of combustibility, free-spreading fire behaviour and emissions.
Key Innovation: Twenty-six wind-tunnel burns combine 400-2500 nm imaging spectroscopy with fuel chemistry, moisture, spread rate and emissions; spectral differences resolve fuel type and combustibility, and pre-fire spectra predict several behaviour and emission metrics.
28. Preserving frozen ground with active cooling under seasonal forcing-An experimental study
Core Problem: Mountain-permafrost infrastructure needs active thermal protection that remains effective under seasonal warming, rainfall and intermittent solar power.
Key Innovation: A portable solar-powered demonstrator sustains a frozen barrier for six outdoor summer months, quantifies rainfall-driven thaw and refreezing-induced frost heave, and links cooling demand to panel and battery sizing.
29. Geometric controls on heterogeneous recession and vulnerability of glaciers in the Mount Everest region, central Himalaya
Core Problem: The competing influence of glacier geometry, debris and lakes on heterogeneous recession in the central Himalaya remained uncertain at regional scale.
Key Innovation: High-resolution ZY-3 mapping and an AHP-random-forest index assign 98.03% of relative control to geometry and classify 81.5% of individual glaciers as highly or very highly vulnerable despite the moderate vulnerability of the largest glaciers.
30. On the storm direction and peak floods in the continental United States, 1950-2024
Core Problem: Storm travel direction is rarely represented explicitly in continental flood climatology, despite its potential interaction with basin orientation and peak discharge.
Key Innovation: A new direction model applied to ERA5-Land and AORC for 1950-2024 shows that aligned storm and stream directions raise median flood peaks by 50-100% in mid-sized basins and lengthen storm travel by about 35 km.
31. Seismic analysis of radial gate-spillway dam
Core Problem: High-dam seismic assessments often omit radial spillway gates even though gate failure can initiate secondary flooding and operational loss.
Key Innovation: A refined gate-spillway finite-element model across six shaking levels couples acceleration, displacement, damage and buckling indices, identifying the dam heel, pier transition and upper gate arms as critical regions under strong motion.
32. Seismic response analysis of assembled monolithic subway station based on single bounding surface model
Core Problem: Assembled monolithic subway stations contain joints and interfaces whose seismic response depends on large, nonlinear deformation of the surrounding soil.
Key Innovation: A validated single-bounding-surface soil model embedded in a three-dimensional station-soil-building system shows that nonlinear soil response amplifies displacement and damage, while vertical motion and the aboveground structure materially alter the failure pattern.
33. The influence of cementation types on the structure and collapsibility of sediments formed by air-fall deposition
Core Problem: However, the specific effects of different cementation types on collapsibility and structural integrity remain unclear.
Key Innovation: The study constructed loess-like deposits under controlled conditions using air-fall deposition and selected cementation materials, and examines the influence of cementation on structure and collapsibility through one-dimensional compression and collapse tests, along with small-strain stiffness (G0) measurements.
34. Three-Dimensional High-Fidelity Modeling of Reclamation-Induced Consolidation Settlement in Spatially Variable Soils Using Unit-Cell Simulation of Prefabricated Vertical Drains
Core Problem: Accurate prediction of time-dependent, differential settlements remains challenging and computationally prohibitive when 3D full-scale numerical simulation is performed, incorporating thousands of PVDs and spatially variable soil properties from limited site investigation (e.g., cone penetration test, CPT) data obtained at the site.
Key Innovation: It is shown that integration of physics-based unit-cell FEM simulation with a data-driven reconstruction method achieves computationally efficient and physically consistent prediction of high-fidelity, field-scale spatiotemporal settlements, with full utilization of CPT data obtained from the reclamation site.
35. Developing novel hybrid reefs to provide both wave energy reduction and opportunities for ecological restoration
Core Problem: Hybrid artificial-biological reefs have emerged as a promising strategy for achieving the longer-term goal of ecological coral restoration while providing immediate coastal defense benefits.
Key Innovation: The study presents a new type of hybrid reef structure composed of porous sub-elements that conduct water through the reefs via engineered flow pathways that are intended to (1) dissipate wave energy through breaking and internal friction, and (2) mimic the flow field of natural coral reefs.
36. Effects of coral degradation on irregular wave transformation over reef-lagoon systems
Core Problem: Coral degradation is progressively weakening the natural buffers of coral reef systems.
Key Innovation: In addition, a parameterized coral reef model is developed in this study by incorporating wave conditions and coral cover.
37. Wave dissipation by rigid suspended canopies: Laboratory experiments and model evaluation
Core Problem: Wave dissipation models, most of which have been developed for benthic canopies, have not been systematically evaluated for suspended canopies due to limited experimental data.
Key Innovation: Several wave dissipation models originally developed for benthic canopies are extended to suspended scenarios and evaluated against the new experimental data, together with a recently proposed analytical model specifically developed for suspended seaweed farms.
38. Numerical and experimental investigation of hydrodynamic characteristics of solitary waves interacting with mangroves
Core Problem: With the increasing likelihood of extreme wave events due to climate change and sea-level rise, mangrove forests provide an effective nature-based solution for coastal protection.
Key Innovation: The study investigates the solitary wave attenuation effect by mangroves via laboratory tests and numerical simulations based on the immersed boundary method.
39. Wave overtopping at rubble mound breakwaters with submerged berms: A novel design tool
Core Problem: Wave overtopping represents a critical design issue for rubble-mound breakwaters, particularly in the current context of climate change.
Key Innovation: The study investigates the influence of submerged berms on overtopping phenomena at rubble mound breakwaters through an integrated experimental-numerical approach, considering its inclusion both in the design of new structures and in the upgrading of existing ones.
40. Spectral and time-domain comparison of GNSS and accelerometer wave buoys
Core Problem: GNSS- and accelerometer-based wave buoys may agree on bulk sea-state statistics while diverging in spectral shape, directionality and individual-wave extremes.
Key Innovation: Nearly 24,000 hours of consistently processed displacement records at two ocean sites isolate instrument-dependent differences: GNSS buoys report broader directional spreading and occasional unphysical wave heights after signal loss, whereas accelerometer buoys retain more high-frequency energy.
41. On the transverse shoreline morphology in swash uprush experiments
Core Problem: The transition between straight and fingered shorelines during swash uprush was not mechanistically linked to wave breaking, bed permeability and near-front capillary dynamics.
Key Innovation: Laboratory observations and a thin-film interpretation show that fingering appears only during late uprush on smooth, impermeable mild slopes when turbulence does not reach the front; viscosity, friction, breaking turbulence and permeability suppress the capillary ridge and restore a straight front.
42. AGPC: An Annual 500 m Grided Population (1990–2020) for China Incorporating 3D Building Volume Dynamics
Core Problem: However, existing population products often fail to adequately represent population distribution in vertically developed urban environments.
Key Innovation: The study presents the AGPC dataset, a temporally consistent gridded population dataset for China at 500 m spatial resolution covering the period 1990-2020.
43. Enabling More Efficient Dynamic Earth Observation: Wide-Area, High-Resolution Dual-Axis Bidirectional Scanning Imaging and the Associated Multi-Parameter Optimization
Core Problem: Expanding an Earth-observation swath through bidirectional mirror scanning introduces motion mismatch that can erase the intended gain in spatial resolution.
Key Innovation: High-resolution dual-axis bidirectional scanning is coupled to optimized scan paths and adaptive detector row-transfer frequency, reducing simulated full-orbit image-motion residuals below 0.1 pixel without requiring satellite-platform manoeuvres.
44. GENCP: GAN-Based Ground Control Point Generation for Satellite Image Georeferencing
Core Problem: Satellite georeferencing remains constrained by sparse, temporally unstable surveyed ground-control points and inconsistent reference data across sensors and regions.
Key Innovation: GenCP trains generative adversarial networks at 50 cm and 10 m resolution to synthesize geometrically consistent image chips from vector maps; radiometric, geometric and model tests support their use as scalable references for automated calibration and validation.
45. Influence of anchorage angle on rock mass mechanical response and slip damage under cyclic dynamic loading
Core Problem: The anchorage angle that best limits cyclic slip and damage in jointed rock cannot be inferred from monotonic bolt tests.
Key Innovation: Split-Hopkinson-bar loading, bolt strain, digital image correlation and ABAQUS simulations resolve two-stage slip and angle-dependent damage localization; among the tested configurations, 45 degrees gives the most coordinated restraint and dowel response.
46. Deformation and progressive failure behavior of silty sand stabilized with waterborne polyurethane: A stress-strain-strength perspective
Core Problem: Polymers present a promising avenue for soil stabilization, yet the full deformation process and progressive failure characteristics of polymer-treated soils remain insufficiently understood.
Key Innovation: The study investigates the strength and deformation mechanisms of silty sand stabilized with a widely used waterborne polyurethane (WPU) through unconfined compression tests.
47. A Bayesian Modeling-Optimization Approach for Efficient Geostress Inversion Under Uncertainty
Core Problem: The inversion of geostress fields in large-scale engineering projects is often limited by the trade-off between predictive accuracy and computational efficiency, as well as the challenge of handling uncertainties in observational data.
Key Innovation: To address this challenge, this study proposes a novel framework that integrates Bayesian modeling with Bayesian optimization (BM-BO).
48. Numerical Investigation of Meso-Scale Damage Mechanisms and Mechanical Degradation in Granite Under Freeze-Thaw Cycling Using a 3D Grain-Based Model
Core Problem: The study presents a three-dimensional discrete-element Freeze-Thaw Grain-Based Model (FT-GBM3D) to address key limitations of existing granite freeze-thaw simulations, including simplified 3D grain structures, oversimplified water distribution, and insufficient characterization of nonlinear damage.
Key Innovation: FT-GBM3D explicitly represents polymineralic 3D grains and introduces grain-boundary ice particles whose freezing-thawing deformation is driven by a transient temperature field obtained from the heat-conduction equation; the resulting nonuniform phase-change expansion pressure serves as the direct micro-damage driver.
49. Multi-scale discrete element method-discrete fracture network modelling of excavation-induced damage in the large underground powerhouse at the Kala Hydropower Station
Core Problem: Engineering-scale cavern models must represent fracture-controlled damage near excavated walls without explicitly simulating every discontinuity throughout the rock mass.
Key Innovation: A multiscale DEM-DFN workflow retains progressively fewer fracture scales from the highly damaged zone outward, derives equivalent properties from synthetic-rock-mass tests and reproduces observed deformation while resolving near-wall opening, delayed shear slip and block motion.
50. Factors controlling asymmetry in submarine channels and submarine canyons: Insights from global morphological analysis
Core Problem: Submarine-channel asymmetry is commonly attributed to Coriolis forcing or bottom currents, although their diagnostic morphological signatures remain contradictory.
Key Innovation: A global analysis of 24 canyons and channels shows that relief, thalweg position and side-slope asymmetry change along individual systems, so morphology alone cannot identify the dominant force; a new classification instead frames asymmetry as locally coherent but non-predictive evidence.
51. Unpacking the practices of compound hazard communication
Core Problem: Communication practices for simultaneous or rapidly successive natural hazards remain poorly characterized despite their distinct demands during preparedness, response and recovery.
Key Innovation: Interviews with hazard communicators and community focus groups at three Australian locations use practice theory to identify how everyday activities and discourses shape compound-hazard communication, treating complexity as a property to organize rather than suppress.
52. Probabilistic prediction of pavement icing onset using a DeepONet-Accelerated Bayesian framework
Core Problem: Deterministic pavement-icing forecasts do not state the probability that icing will begin within the lead time available for preventive treatment.
Key Innovation: A chamber-calibrated Bayesian framework uses a DeepONet surrogate of a physics-based icing model to estimate onset probabilities of 0.06, 0.54 and 0.96 at a 60-minute lead under mild, moderate and severe cooling, while attributing uncertainty to different controls in each regime.
53. Cryo-hydrogeological mapping in the Arctic: A multi-seasonal ground penetrating radar assessment of active layer in Spitsbergen
Core Problem: Active-layer mapping in Arctic catchments must separate seasonal dielectric contrasts from true thaw depth and correct even modest topographic variation.
Key Innovation: More than 23 km of frozen- and thaw-season ground-penetrating-radar profiles, validated by borehole temperatures and piezometers, produce two-dimensional active-layer and basal-elevation maps that resolve hydrological connections, seawater influence and locally deeper thaw.
54. Upscaling micro-mechanical heterogeneity to predict macroscopic failure in coal using deep learning and grain-based DEM
Core Problem: Coal-failure models rarely connect microscopic sedimentary heterogeneity and natural fractures to macroscopic strength and damage pathways.
Key Innovation: X-ray tomography, ultrasonic and mechanical tests, deep-learning fracture segmentation and grain-based DEM reveal stress concentration around stiff inertinite and show that the vitrinite-to-inertinite ratio can dominate thermal maturity in controlling strength and failure mode.
55. Continuous spatial stress variations within a granitic rock mass: Revealed by cross-sectional ellipticity of an array of boreholes
Core Problem: Conventional in situ stress measurements are too spatially sparse to resolve local stress concentrations and fault-related perturbations within heterogeneous rock masses.
Key Innovation: Acoustic-televiewer measurements of borehole cross-sectional ellipticity are converted into continuous stress profiles across the Bedretto Underground Laboratory, resolving depth-dependent stress orientation and relative magnitude without direct stress tests.
56. Spatiotemporal hydrological connectivity on karst hillslopes: Insights from high-frequency moisture monitoring
Core Problem: Karst runoff models often average soil thickness even though subsurface heterogeneity may determine when saturated patches connect across a hillslope.
Key Innovation: Five-minute moisture records on 35 cm- and 66 cm-deep hillslopes show fill-and-spill expansion but distinct activation thresholds of 46.4 and 53.0 mm; shallow soil connects faster and remains more sensitive to antecedent moisture and bedrock microtopography.
57. Possibility of SWE estimation from snow cover extent using the dynamic non-Gaussian snow depletion curve
Core Problem: Seasonal snow cover in mountainous regions has been regularly monitored by ground-based snow surveys and remote sensing techniques to serve as a predictor of water availability during the upcoming spring season in downstream regions.
Key Innovation: The results suggest that the non-Gaussian component can improve the estimation of SWE in addition to the regular Gaussian correlation method, while the MI generally decreases as the SCF approaches 1 (complete snow cover).
58. An efficient lumped mass model for seismic response analysis of triple-layer seismic isolation super high-rise structures
Core Problem: Triple-layer isolation systems require many nonlinear analyses, while simplified models have not been validated for the response distribution among several isolation floors.
Key Innovation: An equivalent three-mass model derived from base-shear, acceleration and energy equivalence predicts a 27-storey structure with 5.80% base-shear error, 1.59% top-acceleration error and isolation-displacement errors of 3.68-14.01%.
59. Unraveling Dissolution-Precipitation Evolution in Basalt During Supercritical CO2-Water-Rock (CWR) Interaction: A Mesoscale Mechanical Perspective
Core Problem: However, the long‐term integrity of reservoirs is governed not only by geochemical kinetics but also by meso‐mechanical performances of mineral grain interfaces during CO 2 ‐water‐rock (CWR) interactions.
Key Innovation: Results reveal a three‐stage degradation in tensile strength: an initial activation phase (reduction up to 12.8%), followed by nonlinear decay (additional 9.9% loss), and stabilization after 150 days, well characterized by the proposed Weibull probabilistic model.
60. How Pre-Existing Strength Heterogeneities and Differential Extension Shaped Rift Initiation and Propagation in the South China Sea: An Analog Perspective
Core Problem: However, the mechanisms driving V‐shaped rifts located far from such poles, such as the South‐China Sea (SCS), remain less well understood.
Key Innovation: Our results demonstrate that the V‐shaped opening of basins can be governed by the combined effects of differential extension and inherited strength heterogeneities in the lithosphere.
61. OmniPMNet: Bridging discrete and gridded PM10 forecasts via omni-query neural processes
Core Problem: Forecasting particulate matter (PM10) requires both station-scale accuracy and continuous spatial fields, especially during severe dust storms.
Key Innovation: Here we present OmniPM-Net, a Convolutional Conditional Neural Process (ConvCNP)-based fusion model that reconciles these two forecast types within a shared spatial representation.
62. Repairing Shape-Prior Shortcuts in Long-Range Single-Shot Fringe Projection Profilometry
Core Problem: Single-shot fringe-projection systems can infer depth from object-shape shortcuts instead of recovering phase, causing large errors at unseen discontinuities.
Key Innovation: PhiCalNet predicts wrapped phase as sine-cosine components and converts it through a fixed differentiable calibration layer; conformal uncertainty localizes the same failure boundary, where rejecting the least-consistent 5% of pixels cuts RMSE by 64%.
63. Beyond Perfect Priors: Adaptive Gaussian Graph for 4D Driving Reconstruction in the Wild
Core Problem: Four-dimensional driving-scene reconstruction becomes unstable when camera poses, depth and object labels estimated from uncontrolled video are noisy or incomplete.
Key Innovation: Adaptive Gaussian Graph alternates background-camera and dynamic-agent updates, then repairs the scene graph by spawning missing agents, reassigning Gaussians and pruning false positives; tests on KITTI and the new Wild-30 benchmark improve fidelity under noisy priors.
64. Improving Autonomous Nano-drones Performance via Automated End-to-End Optimization and Deployment of DNNs
Core Problem: Vision models for nano-drones must fit severe memory and power limits, but manual compression and deployment workflows are slow and error-prone.
Key Innovation: An automated end-to-end workflow reduces PULP-Dronet memory by twofold and inference time by 1.6-fold at unchanged accuracy, enabling closed-loop flight up to 1.96 m/s while consuming less than 1.6% of the drone power budget; the full design is open source.
65. Thermo-mechanical coupled behaviour of a silty clay under K 0 consolidation
Core Problem: Moderate heating and cooling can produce irreversible volumetric and shear strains in saturated clay, but their dependence on overconsolidation and fabric anisotropy is incompletely represented.
Key Innovation: Temperature-controlled K0 tests reveal thermo-plastic contraction and expansion and support state-dependent analytical relations that couple thermal volume change, shear dilation, residual elasticity and fabric anisotropy.
66. Effect of consolidation state on undrained shear strength of marine structured soft clay under discontinuous loading conditions
Core Problem: The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of consolidation state on the undrained shear strength of marine structured soft clay (MSSC) under discontinuous loading conditions.
Key Innovation: To interpret these mechanisms, a bounding surface constitutive model incorporating state-dependent dilatancy and structural degradation is developed.
67. Frequency dependency of elastic wave velocities: determination of wave dispersion in sand under K0 compression
Core Problem: Bender and extender elements are effective tools for measuring elastic wave velocities in soils, yet their application to quantify frequency-dependent dispersion, a critical property reflecting particulate media dynamics, remains methodologically challenging.
Key Innovation: The study establishes an approach to determine the soil wave dispersion characteristics by bender/extender elements using frequency sweep excitations.
68. Effect of confining pressure on shear strength and dilatancy responses of saturated sands
Core Problem: Sand strength and dilatancy change with confinement, limiting stability parameters extrapolated from conventional low-pressure tests.
Key Innovation: High-pressure drained triaxial tests resolve a transition from dilative strain softening to contractive hardening and establish correlations among peak friction angle, critical-state friction, relative density and effective confining pressure.
69. Experimental and DEM analyses of factors affecting the structural degradation rate of structured clays
Core Problem: Constitutive models of structured clay require a degradation rate that responds to bonding, pore structure and loading path rather than a single fitted constant.
Key Innovation: Compression tests and discrete-element simulations introduce a normalized bond parameter whose decay quantifies structural loss, showing faster degradation with stronger bonding, larger void ratio and one-dimensional loading.
70. 3D analysis of short floating pile response to adjacent excavation: geometric and cross-sectional effects in soft clay
Core Problem: Deep excavations in urban soft clay soils pose stability risks to adjacent pile foundations.
Key Innovation: The study presents a three-dimensional coupled mechanical-fluid numerical analysis of long-term interactions between deep excavations and adjacent short floating circular and X-shaped concrete core (XCC) piles in soft clay.
71. Analytical framework for parabolic soil arching and stress evolution in deep-buried twin parallel rectangular tunnels
Core Problem: Stress redistribution by soil arching between deep parallel rectangular tunnels is difficult to express analytically when cohesion and tunnel spacing interact.
Key Innovation: A parabolic-arch limit-equilibrium model incorporates cohesion into elastic and frictional arch evolution and is tested across 72 numerical scenarios, reproducing the nonlinear decline and stabilization of minor principal stress with tunnel spacing.
72. The monotonic and cyclic shear behaviour of low plasticity soil treated with biopolymer
Core Problem: The monotonic and cyclic response of xanthan-gum-treated low-plasticity soil is insufficiently constrained for repeatedly loaded subgrades.
Key Innovation: Triaxial tests show increased hardening, dilatancy and cyclic resistance with reduced excess pore pressure and settlement; synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy links those responses to chemical interactions at the biopolymer-soil interface.
73. Beyond Gradation: Effect of Crushing-Induced Roundness Evolution on the Critical States of Granular Media
Core Problem: While previous studies have shown that gradation broadening shifts the critical state line (CSL) downward in the mean stress-void ratio ( p - e ) plane without significantly affecting critical state shear strength, the role of shape evolution and its interaction with gradation has received less attention.
Key Innovation: Similar combined effects of size and shape distributions are observed in the CSL representations in p -mean mechanical coordination number ( Z m )-and p -contact normal anisotropy coefficient ( a c )-planes.
74. Constitutive Model for Sensitive Clays under Nonisothermal Conditions
Core Problem: Sensitive-clay models used near operational stress levels generally omit the shift in apparent preconsolidation pressure caused by moderate temperature change.
Key Innovation: A temperature-sensitive Creep-SClay1S formulation calibrated on intact and remoulded clay improves predictions near preconsolidation and retains an effective-stress form suitable for multiphysics thermal-consolidation models.
75. Spatial and temporal variability of δ18O and δ2H in rivers and precipitation in Eastern Europe
Core Problem: However, in many parts of the world, such data is lacking or has numerous gaps.
Key Innovation: In this context, we present a database of monthly δ 18 O and δ 2 H in precipitation (22 stations) and rivers (19 stations) in Romania and Republic of Moldova, spanning the period between January 2015 and December 2017.
76. Hydrologic, biogeochemical, microbial, and macroinvertebrate responses to network expansion, contraction, and disconnection across headwater stream networks with distinct physiography in Alabama, USA
Core Problem: Non-perennial headwater networks need colocated observations that connect changing flow continuity to biogeochemical and ecological response across contrasting physiography.
Key Innovation: A public 2021-2024 Alabama dataset integrates sensors and spatial-temporal sampling of hydrology, chemistry, microbes and macroinvertebrates across Piedmont, Appalachian Plateau and Coastal Plain stream networks.
77. Physical and Geochemical Characterization of Mineral Dust Samples Collected by the DUST^2 Project and Precursors, 2011–2025
Core Problem: Mineral dust is a key component of Earth’s Critical Zone, transporting minerals, nutrients, and trace elements across regions and linking distant components of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere, yet quantitative understanding of these connections is limited by the availability of spatially distributed, well-characterized datasets.
Key Innovation: Here, we present a multi-year dataset of mineral dust samples collected as part of the DUST^2 Critical Zone Thematic Cluster and precursor projects using a network of 20 passive dust collectors deployed across a source-to-sink transect from arid dust-emitting regions of the Great Basin to downwind mountain environments in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.
78. Spectral correction factors for the removal of glint perturbations in above-water radiometry
Core Problem: Sky-glint corrections for above-water radiometry vary with wavelength, atmosphere, water type and wind-roughened reflection, complicating satellite-product validation.
Key Innovation: Coupled plane-parallel radiative transfer and three-dimensional Monte Carlo reflection calculate correction factors from 340 to 1020 nm for inland, coastal and open-ocean waters, with total- and diffuse-sky products released publicly.
79. The Boundary Layer Dispersion and Footprint Model: a fast numerical solver of the Eulerian steady-state advection-diffusion equation
Core Problem: Understanding how greenhouse gases and pollutants move through the atmosphere is essential for predicting and mitigating their effects.
Key Innovation: The authors present the Boundary Layer Dispersion and Footprint Model (BLDFM), which solves the three-dimensional steady-state advection-diffusion equation in Eulerian form using a numerical approach based on the Fourier, linear shooting, and exponential integrator methods.
80. ICON coupled to HAM-lite 1.0 in limited-area mode: an efficient framework for targeted kilometer-scale simulations with interactive aerosols
Core Problem: Global aerosol-climate models are too costly for targeted kilometre-scale simulations, while simplified regional treatments omit interactive aerosol effects.
Key Innovation: A limited-area ICON-HAM-lite configuration reproduces regional pollution, Arctic sea salt, and concurrent Australian smoke-dust patterns and diurnal cycles, while isolating biases from simplified emissions, microphysics and chemistry.
81. Marine Heatwaves and NAO-Related Ocean–Atmosphere Variability in the North Atlantic
Core Problem: The atmospheric circulation patterns that organize North Atlantic marine-heatwave frequency and intensity remain spatially heterogeneous.
Key Innovation: A 1982-2022 analysis links positive North Atlantic Oscillation phases to mid-latitude events and negative phases to subpolar and tropical events, while persistent weak-gradient highs distinguish individual heatwave growth and instability accompanies decline.
82. Seasonal Variability of the Surface Circulation in the Tyrrhenian Sea: New Insights from SWOT Altimetry and Tide Gauge Records
Core Problem: However, the seasonal evolution and coastal circulation patterns of its surface circulation remain only partially resolved by previous observations, particularly at mesoscale and submesoscale.
Key Innovation: In this study, we investigate the seasonal and coastal variability of Tyrrhenian Sea surface circulation by combining high-resolution wide-swath altimetry from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission with conventional multi-mission altimetry, satellite-derived Sea Surface Temperature (SST), and coastal tide gauge observations.
83. Dynamic Mechanisms and Multiscale Characterization of Bedding-Controlled Fracture Formation Driven by Methane Explosive Loading
Core Problem: Methane in situ explosive fracturing (MISEF) aims to create efficient fracture channels in perforations by utilizing detonation loading to facilitate methane migration, yet the confined propagation of methane-oxygen explosive loading and its control on through-going fracture formation in bedding shale remain insufficiently understood.
Key Innovation: In this study, core-scale methane-oxygen explosive fracturing experiments were combined with high-fidelity numerical simulations to investigate the multiscale fracture evolution and dynamic failure mechanism of bedding shale.
84. Numerical Simulation of Hydraulic Fracturing in Bedding Reservoir Rocks with Natural Fractures
Core Problem: The interaction between hydraulic fractures (HFs) and natural fractures (NFs) in bedding tight reservoirs is a critical factor to consider in fracturing operations.
Key Innovation: The simulation results demonstrate that when both NFs and bedding planes are present, NFs exert a more pronounced influence on the morphology of HFs.
85. Development of a Critical State Elastoplastic Constitutive Model for Carbonate Sands Incorporating Particle Breakage and Shear Hardening
Core Problem: Carbonate sands crush at relatively low stress, so fixed critical-state lines cannot reproduce their evolving dilatancy and strength.
Key Innovation: A 13-parameter elastoplastic model couples stress-dependent breakage to a translating critical-state line and evolving CASM yield surface, reproducing drained, undrained and constant-mean-stress tests up to 8 MPa.
86. Marsh expansion accelerates mud accumulation on low-energy sandy coasts
Core Problem: On low-energy sandy coasts, the seaward expansion of Spartina alterniflora creates new sinks for both, yet the quantitative relationships between marsh expansion, mud accumulation, and external forcing remain unclear.
Key Innovation: The authors developed a simplified numerical model, the Margin-Affected Marsh Morphodynamics model (MAMM v1.0), which focuses on first-order physical controls and explicitly accounts for wave influence near the marsh seaward boundary that inhibits mud trapping.
87. A dynamic multilevel behavioural framework for emergency preparedness
Core Problem: Despite widespread endorsement, a major challenge lies in the absence of a shared conceptualization that captures the behaviour of the various actors involved in the multi-level, dynamic, and time-dependent nature of preparedness.
Key Innovation: By mapping these dynamic interconnections, the framework provides practical guidance for designing policies and protocols.
88. Reframing responsibility: towards a consolidated framework for responsibility (CFR) in disaster risk management
Core Problem: However, the principle faces criticism for its conceptual vagueness and practical limitations.
Key Innovation: The study develops and applies a structured four-dimensional framework of responsibility to address the conceptual vagueness of shared responsibility.
89. Extending beyond “strength of knowledge”: Introducing “strength of justification” judgments in risk assessment
Core Problem: Strength-of-knowledge ratings assess the evidence behind a risk estimate but not the rigor of the steps that transform evidence into probability and risk judgments.
Key Innovation: The proposed strength-of-justification concept evaluates both the knowledge base and its inferential transformation, extending uncertainty characterization and overall risk descriptions.
90. Time-dependent system-reliability-based resilience analysis: Formulation and neural-operator acceleration
Core Problem: Instantaneous resilience indices can miss cumulative threshold crossings and subsequent system collapse under time-varying deterioration and loading.
Key Innovation: A first-passage reliability formulation is accelerated by a damage-aware neural operator with boundary-emphasized loss and targeted Gaussian-mixture augmentation, retaining limit-state accuracy in deteriorating load-sharing and bridge examples.
91. Recent advances in computational methods for enhancing supply chain resilience in disasters: A state-of-the-art review
Core Problem: Disaster-supply-chain studies use incompatible representations of dependence, recovery and validation, limiting comparison and operational use.
Key Innovation: A structured review organizes methods into network, probabilistic, optimization and data-driven families, documents the shift toward temporal multilayer planning and proposes reporting requirements for dependence, endogenous recovery and stress-tested validation.
92. A hybrid machine learning and data assimilation framework for penman-monteith evapotranspiration estimation over China
Core Problem: The FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM) model provides a framework for ET estimation, but its performance is sensitive to uncertainties in meteorological inputs and model states.
Key Innovation: To address this limitation, we developed an integrated machine-learning (ML) and data-assimilation (DA) framework for improving PM-based ET estimates over China.
93. Depth-guided attenuation compensation for real-time color restoration in deep-sea stereo imaging
Core Problem: Deep-sea colour loss varies with source-scene-camera distance, violating the spatially uniform illumination assumptions of shallow-water restoration methods.
Key Innovation: A depth-guided red-green attenuation model with intensity and saturation controls reduces coral colour error from about 43 to 14 and runs at 15 fps in 1080p or 50 fps in 720p on an embedded Jetson TX2.
94. Towards data-free and model-agnostic black-box attacks against SAR-ATR via dual-diversity augmentation
Core Problem: The vulnerability of deep neural networks (DNNs) to adversarial examples is a growing concern in synthetic aperture radar automatic target recognition (SAR-ATR).
Key Innovation: Given the rigorous data-free and model-agnostic black-box (DFMABB) attack scenario, where the internal parameters, architecture, outputs, or training data of the target victim model are completely inaccessible, and only a similar source domain is available, this paper proposes a novel generative attack method via dual-diversity augmentation (DDA) to systematically enhance adversarial transferability.
95. A high-resolution interchange classification model enhanced by multi-scale geometric structural feature fusion
Core Problem: However, current research on classifying high-resolution remote sensing images of interchanges remains limited, particularly due to the lack of dedicated high-resolution datasets.
Key Innovation: To address this issue, this study constructs a high-resolution interchange classification dataset (HRIC dataset) using Gaofen-2 and Jilin-1 satellite imagery with a spatial resolution of 0.5-0.75 m.
96. Spatiotemporal mapping of PM2.5 exposure in China (2009-2020) using PMMamba model: Impacts on vulnerable populations and regional inequality
Core Problem: Despite national improvements, substantial spatial inequalities remained.
Key Innovation: Trained on multi-source satellite, meteorological, and land surface datasets, PMMamba achieved high estimation accuracy, with an overall R2 of 0.93, RMSE of 8.12 μg/m3, and MAPE of 23.79%.
97. A hybrid RF-LSTM framework for predicting road surface friction in cold-region winter conditions using roadside weather sensor data
Core Problem: Winter-road decisions need friction forecasts before hazardous icing develops, rather than contemporaneous weather observations alone.
Key Innovation: A random-forest LSTM combines nonlinear weather relationships with temporal memory, validates sensor thresholds in the laboratory and keeps errors below 10% for forecasts up to three hours, performing best during surface transitions.
98. Estimation method for icing distribution along a railway catenary using CNN-SimAM-PINN hybrid deep learning
Core Problem: Railway-catenary icing is difficult to infer from sparse observations because traction heating and atmospheric thermodynamics jointly control its distribution.
Key Innovation: CNN-SimAM-PINN reconstructs location-dependent traction-load heating and embeds physical constraints in training, achieving R2 = 0.9953 without adding attention parameters.
99. Dynamic compression tests and fragmentation energy partitioning of frozen clay
Core Problem: Fragmentation of frozen clay under impact depends on how absorbed energy partitions between fracture damage and fragment motion across temperature and strain rate.
Key Innovation: Split-Hopkinson-bar tests and three-dimensional digital image correlation separate kinetic from dissipated energy and fit an empirical partition model; the dissipated share falls from 95.4% to 70.3% as strain rate rises.
100. Experimental investigation of blasting stress wave attenuation and fracturing behavior in frozen rock in cold regions
Core Problem: Conventional blasting often leaves large blocks in frozen rock, but temperature-dependent stress-wave attenuation and crack development are poorly measured.
Key Innovation: Laboratory blasts with high-speed digital image correlation show exponential strain-wave and power-law stress-wave decay; ice-filled defects and freezing-induced strength increase attenuation near boreholes and suppress fragmentation.
101. An assessment methodology for tunnelling beneath bridges considering soil-structure interaction
Core Problem: Greenfield settlement predictions may misrepresent bridge response where structural and foundation stiffness alter tunnel-induced ground movement.
Key Innovation: Field monitoring and coupled finite-element models validate a spring-based two-stage method: scaled greenfield movement can represent flexible bridges, whereas stiff bridges require explicit soil-structure interaction from early design.
102. Multiphysics modeling and multiscale experimental validation of microwave-induced damage in granite with embedded micro-mineral models
Core Problem: Microwave-assisted rock breaking requires a mineral-scale account of where thermal stress and damage initiate in heterogeneous granite.
Key Innovation: A coupled electromagnetic-thermal-mechanical-damage model built from observed mineral geometry and validated by heating and nanoindentation tests identifies feldspar as the main tensile-damage carrier, contributing more than 73% of damaged volume after three minutes at 2 kW.
103. Numerical modeling of self-sealing process in cracked clayey rocks by using Enhanced Finite Element Method (E-FEM)
Core Problem: In the context of the geological disposal of radioactive waste, the self-sealing of excavation-induced cracks in host rock is a key issue to investigate.
Key Innovation: In this study, we develop a novel numerical model based on Enhanced Finite Element Method (E-FEM).
104. True triaxial mechanical behavior and damage mechanisms of water-saturated shale under blasting dynamic disturbance
Core Problem: Deep roadway excavation in water-rich shale formations faces coupled challenges of long-term water saturation and cyclic blasting dynamic disturbance, yet the true triaxial mechanical behavior and coupled damage mechanisms of water-saturated shale under such conditions remain unclear.
Key Innovation: The developed neural network model achieves high accuracy in predicting post-disturbance mechanical properties.
105. Machine learning of geophysical data: An innovative methodology to understand the nature and tectonic evolution of cratonic lithosphere
Core Problem: Deep-lithosphere composition is non-unique in geophysical data because seismic velocity and density vary with mineralogy, pressure, temperature and fluids.
Key Innovation: Machine learning trained on P- and S-wave velocity, density and derivative properties for 36 rock types predicts lithology in the South China Block, identifying mantle refertilization beneath the Sichuan Basin and a four-stage post-Mesozoic evolution farther east.
106. Sequential estimation of aquifer parameters using water table elevations
Core Problem: Recharge, pumping and specific yield are strongly correlated in water-table models, causing non-unique estimates when calibrated simultaneously.
Key Innovation: A sequential uncertainty-aware inversion reduces synthetic recovery errors below 13%, compared with errors up to 110% for simultaneous fitting, and retrieves plausible parameters from 73 field borewells while diagnosing omitted abstraction.
107. Spatial and temporal indicators of soil hydrodynamic response: the capillarity-gravity length and gravimetric time
Core Problem: Hydrological measurements need simple indicators that distinguish capillary- from gravity-dominated infiltration across soils and management states.
Key Innovation: Capillarity-gravity length and gravimetric time, derived from sorptivity and saturated conductivity, separate gravity-dominated values below 1 cm and 250 s from capillary-dominated values above 3 cm and 2500 s and respond to field aridity and management gradients.
108. Tide-induced groundwater table fluctuations in a coastal unconfined aquifer with the seaward boundary featuring a slope break
Core Problem: Such boundary conditions are common along reclaimed or protected shorelines but have been poorly studied.
Key Innovation: The authors developed an analytical solution, based on a Fourier series approximation of the slope-break boundary condition, to examine the mechanism of the observed tidal groundwater dynamics, validated by numerical simulations.
109. An efficient solver for the Richards equation for variably saturated flows in porous media
Core Problem: The authors present a nonlinear multigrid solver for the Richards equation in variably saturated porous media with strongly nonlinear and spatially heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity and water-retention relationships.
Key Innovation: The central innovation of the solver is a Nonlinear Gauss-Seidel (NGS) smoother that combines a triangular splitting of the diffusion operator with diagonal stabilization.
110. Dielectric properties of saline soils during freezing and a water-salinity inversion model for sandy soil
Core Problem: Monitoring soil water and salt content in seasonally frozen regions using Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) sensors is essential but remains challenging due to low temperatures and complex salinity effects.
Key Innovation: A water-salinity inversion model for sandy soil was established by modifying the Topp equation with ε″ and temperature for soil water content inversion, and by improving the Hilhorst-based framework with water content and temperature correction factors for soil salt content inversion.
111. Numerical investigation on the crack propagation mechanism and influencing factors of hydraulic fracturing for hot dry rock after cyclic thermal stimulation
Core Problem: The grain-scale influence of repeated thermal stimulation on hydraulic-fracture initiation and network complexity in hot dry rock was unresolved.
Key Innovation: A grain-breakable thermo-hydro-mechanical block model shows that thermal cycling lowers initiation pressure and shifts failure toward multiple, increasingly complex tensile fracture paths, with the largest change after the first cycle.
112. Dynamic response of unsaturated porous media subjected to buried moving strip loads
Core Problem: Buried moving loads generate coupled displacement and water-air pressure in unsaturated soil, but analytical solutions rarely represent saturation, permeability and load depth together.
Key Innovation: A Helmholtz-Fourier solution resolves displacement, effective stress and both pore pressures, identifying sharp amplification above 0.9 shear-wave speed and a pore-pressure rise once water saturation exceeds 0.90.
113. Study on the size effect model of mode I fracture characteristics in Longmaxi formation shale based on DIC and acoustic emission technology
Core Problem: As a key unconventional energy source, shale gas extraction depends on hydraulic fracturing, with fracture toughness determining crack initiation and propagation.
Key Innovation: DIC (Digital image correlation) and AE (Acoustic Emission) monitoring method were employed to track fracture initiation and propagation and a size effect model for shale mode I fracture toughness was developed.
114. Mechanical properties and stochastic damage constitutive model of the frozen soil-grout interface under low temperatures
Core Problem: Frozen soil-grout interfaces need a tensile-damage model that accounts for initial compaction and water-content-dependent freezing strength.
Key Innovation: Splitting tests and full-field digital image correlation calibrate a Weibull-Griffith constitutive model whose theoretical damage agrees with measured strain-field damage and reproduces compaction through final failure better than two existing models.
115. Long-term mechanical response of shield tunnel linings in consolidating soft ground
Core Problem: With the rapid development of underground space in coastal reclamation areas, an increasing number of shield tunnels are being or to be constructed in consolidating soft ground.
Key Innovation: In this study, an improved three-dimensional numerical model is first established and then validated against monitoring data from Shanghai Metro Line 2.
116. An improved permeameter utilizing the steady-state method for hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated Toyoura sand using membrane filter technique
Core Problem: Steady-state hydraulic-conductivity tests for unsaturated sand are slow when filters restrict seepage area and add appreciable head loss.
Key Innovation: A membrane-filter permeameter secured without a confining plate enlarges flow area and reaches steady state rapidly for Toyoura sand; 0.45 micrometre filters provide repeatable conductivity over 20-80% saturation.
117. A method to determine contact parameters for particulate geomaterials: a guide to inter-particle experiments and their analysis
Core Problem: However, the problems related to compliance, out-of-plane forces, and resolution of true normal and tangential forces have not yet been completely solved.
Key Innovation: The efficacy of these solutions is presented through an example test on Leighton Buzzard sand.
118. Effects of salt specific gravity on the post-dissolution mechanical behaviours of gap-graded soils
Core Problem: Salt-dissolution analogues of internal erosion may confound fines-loss amount with the initial volume occupied by salts of different density.
Key Innovation: Triaxial tests with three salts show that lower-specific-gravity salt produces greater dissolution strain and looser post-loss fabric, while friction angle and the shifted critical-state-line position remain nearly independent of salt density.
119. Effects of quantitative water rinsing on vegetation compatibility and shear strength of enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation-treated soils
Core Problem: Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation strengthens soil but residual soluble ions can prevent vegetation establishment in ecological applications.
Key Innovation: Rinsing with four pore volumes restores vegetation survival to 94% of untreated soil while three EICP cycles raise effective cohesion from 3.52 to 13.91 kPa, reconciling plant compatibility with reinforcement.