Featured
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Obituary |
W. Jason Morgan, discoverer of plate tectonics (1935–2023)
Geophysicist who showed how segments of Earth’s crust move.
- Lawrence M. Cathles
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Article |
Earth’s early continental crust formed from wet and oxidizing arc magmas
The use of two zircon oxybarometers to simultaneously determine fO2 and H2O contents shows that Archaean granitoids were mostly formed from relatively oxidizing and H2O-rich magmas, probably at ancient subduction zones.
- Rong-Feng Ge
- , Simon A. Wilde
- & Xiao-Lei Wang
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Career Feature |
Research at the intersection of ‘human rage and nature’s fury’
Geochemist Charles Balagizi monitors water safety and volcanic activity in a region where violence is common. The deaths of colleagues means he never assumes an area is safe.
- Shihab Jamal
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News |
This is what Earth’s continents will look like in 250 million years
Only a fraction of the planet’s surface will be habitable to mammals when the next supercontinent, Pangaea Ultima, forms.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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Article
| Open AccessEvidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago
Wooden artefacts from waterlogged deposits in Zambia dating back 477 ka indicate hitherto unknown sophistication in woodworking at an early date.
- L. Barham
- , G. A. T. Duller
- & P. Nkombwe
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World View |
Bringing space rocks back to Earth could answer some of life’s biggest questions
Safe delivery of samples from an asteroid on 24 September will be the start of a global scientific journey — but similar missions need support.
- Meenakshi Wadhwa
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News Explainer |
Why was the Morocco earthquake so deadly?
The quake, which has killed thousands, was unusually large for Morocco and struck a region where most buildings are not earthquake-resilient.
- Michael Marshall
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News Explainer |
India’s Moon mission: four things Chandrayaan-3 has taught scientists
In just two weeks, the Indian mission has made some surprising discoveries about the composition of the Moon
- T.V. Padma
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Research Highlight |
Tiny bubbles make massive glaciers fade away faster
Air pockets trapped between ice crystals are an underappreciated factor in the melting at the glacier–ocean boundary.
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Article
| Open AccessIdentifying attacks in the Russia–Ukraine conflict using seismic array data
Analysis of seismic waves caused by explosions in northern Ukraine recorded by a local network in 2022 demonstrated the ability to automatically identify individual attacks during the Russia–Ukraine conflict in close to real time.
- Ben D. E. Dando
- , Bettina P. Goertz-Allmann
- & Alexander Liashchuk
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Where I Work |
Diving deep into hot springs to find Earth’s subsurface microbes
Geomicrobiologist Karen Lloyd explores the roles of microorganisms that dwell in the planet’s most remote regions.
- Virginia Gewin
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Where I Work |
Is there life on Mars? What a cave on Earth can teach us
Seventeen-year-old Zahra Ronizi jump-starts her dream of becoming an astronaut and going to Mars by joining a simulated mission in a Spanish cave as a crew biologist.
- Chris Woolston
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Article |
New reptile shows dinosaurs and pterosaurs evolved among diverse precursors
A well-preserved partial skeleton (Upper Triassic, Brazil) of the new lagerpetid Venetoraptor gassenae gen. et sp. nov. offers a more comprehensive look into the skull and ecology of dinosaur and pterosaur precursors.
- Rodrigo T. Müller
- , Martín D. Ezcurra
- & Sterling J. Nesbitt
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Article |
Carbonate-rich crust subduction drives the deep carbon and chlorine cycles
New experiments show that most carbonates in carbonate-rich crustal rocks survive devolatilization and hydrous melting in cold and warm subduction zones, demonstrating their role in driving the deep carbon and chlorine cycles since the Mesoproterozoic.
- Chunfei Chen
- , Michael W. Förster
- & Svyatoslav S. Shcheka
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Article |
Sustained wet–dry cycling on early Mars
Observations by the Curiosity rover at Gale Crater on Mars indicate that high-frequency wet–dry cycling occurred on the early Martian surface, indicating a possible seasonal climate conducive to prebiotic evolution on early Mars.
- W. Rapin
- , G. Dromart
- & N. L. Lanza
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Research Briefing |
Sources of seismic activity imaged using telecom fibre cables
A telecommunications fibre cable was used to capture signals of seismic activity during a moderate-sized earthquake in California in 2021. The signals revealed sources of high-frequency seismic activity and, together with simulations, suggest that these sources arise from breaks in asperities: patches where friction usually locks two sides of a fault together.
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Article |
The break of earthquake asperities imaged by distributed acoustic sensing
Distributed acoustic sensing technology is utilized to image four high-frequency rupture subevents of the 2021 Antelope Valley, California, earthquake; the results indicate that the subevents are due to the breaking of fault asperities.
- Jiaxuan Li
- , Taeho Kim
- & Zhongwen Zhan
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Where I Work |
Plastic rocks are threatening wildlife on Brazil’s easternmost island — I’m studying how
Geologist Fernanda Avelar Santos finds that fishing gear and packaging are creating a new type of pollution.
- Virginia Gewin
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Article
| Open AccessRift-induced disruption of cratonic keels drives kimberlite volcanism
Most kimberlites erupting in the past billion years on Earth did so about 30 million years after continental breakup, with dynamical and analytical models suggesting a control from rifting-related mantle delamination.
- Thomas M. Gernon
- , Stephen M. Jones
- & Anne Glerum
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Article
| Open AccessEarth’s evolving geodynamic regime recorded by titanium isotopes
Titanium isotope measurements for chondrites, ancient terrestrial mantle-derived lavas and modern ocean island basalts imply the preservation of a primordial lower-mantle reservoir for most of Earth’s geologic history.
- Zhengbin Deng
- , Martin Schiller
- & Martin Bizzarro
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News |
India’s Moon lander successfully launches — but biggest challenge lies ahead
With Chandrayaan-3, India will attempt to join the exclusive club of countries that have explored the lunar surface.
- T. V. Padma
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Research Briefing |
An in situ search for organic molecules in Mars’s Jezero Crater
Samples from the surface of Jezero Crater on Mars have been analysed by the SHERLOC instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover. Signatures from these samples are consistent with the presence of organic molecules and, together with earlier measurements, could constitute the first in situ detection of organic molecules on another planet.
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News |
This quiet lake could mark the start of a new Anthropocene epoch
The dawn of a new geological epoch is recorded in the contaminated sediment at the bottom of Crawford Lake in Canada.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article
| Open AccessVariation in bridgmanite grain size accounts for the mid-mantle viscosity jump
Bridgmanite-enriched rocks in the deep lower mantle of Earth have a larger grain size and higher viscosity than those of the overlying pyrolitic rocks, which explain the mid-mantle viscosity jump.
- Hongzhan Fei
- , Maxim D. Ballmer
- & Tomoo Katsura
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Article |
Enhanced inner core fine-scale heterogeneity towards Earth’s centre
We create a three-dimensional model of inner core fine-scale heterogeneity, showing that inner core scattering is ubiquitous and that it substantially increases in strength 500–800 km beneath the inner core boundary.
- Guanning Pang
- , Keith D. Koper
- & Garrett Euler
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Article |
Remote detection of a lunar granitic batholith at Compton–Belkovich
Measurements from the Chang’e-1 and Chang’e-2 microwave instruments reveal an anomalously hot geothermal source on the Moon that is best explained by a roughly 50-kilometre-diameter granitic system below the geological feature known as Compton–Belkovich.
- Matthew A. Siegler
- , Jianqing Feng
- & Mackenzie N. White
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Article |
Medieval demise of a Himalayan giant summit induced by mega-landslide
Observations and samples from the central Himalayas show that a giant rockslide occurring around 1190 ad in the Annapurna massif led to the collapse of an elevated palaeo-summit, illustrating the episodic mode of erosion of the glaciated high relief by mega-rockslides.
- Jérôme Lavé
- , Cyrielle Guérin
- & Valier Galy
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News |
Mars mission snaps striking ultraviolet view — image of the week
The spacecraft is boosting understanding of the Martian surface and atmosphere.
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News |
Rampant groundwater pumping has changed the tilt of Earth’s axis
Human depletion of underground reservoirs has shifted the global distribution of water so much that the North Pole has drifted by more than 4 centimetres per year.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Article
| Open AccessHadaean to Palaeoarchaean stagnant-lid tectonics revealed by zircon magnetism
Magnetic palaeointensity data from the Barberton Greenstone Belt (South Africa) as well as the Jack Hills (Western Australia) show nearly constant palaeofield values between 3.9 Ga and 3.4 Ga, providing evidence for stagnant-lid mantle convection.
- John A. Tarduno
- , Rory D. Cottrell
- & Gautam Mitra
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News & Views |
Phosphate discovery hints at geochemistry and origin of Enceladus
Evidence of phosphates in the subsurface ocean of Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, confirms that the water is alkaline. The finding provides clues about the geochemistry and origin of this moon and its ability to support life.
- Mikhail Yu. Zolotov
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Article
| Open AccessSilicon isotope constraints on terrestrial planet accretion
The nucleosynthetic composition of silicon in meteorites indicates that material akin to early-formed differentiated asteroids must represent a major constituent of terrestrial planets such as Earth and Mars.
- Isaac J. Onyett
- , Martin Schiller
- & Martin Bizzarro
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News |
Hawaii volcano Kīlauea creates fiery landscape of lava
One of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the world has burst into life again.
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Article |
Major southern San Andreas earthquakes modulated by lake-filling events
Analysis of new geologic and palaeoseismic data using a 3D finite-element model suggests that the past six major earthquakes on the southern San Andreas Fault were probably triggered by highstands of ancient Lake Cahuilla.
- Ryley G. Hill
- , Matthew Weingarten
- & Yuri Fialko
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News |
New Zealand volcano: science agency pleads guilty to risk-assessment charge
The charge relates to how GNS Science communicated volcanic risk to contractors in the years before the Whakaari White Island eruption in 2019.
- Dyani Lewis
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Article |
Dynamics, interactions and delays of the 2019 Ridgecrest rupture sequence
Data-assimilated three-dimensional dynamic rupture models of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence in California are used to reveal the dynamics, interactions and delays of the earthquake sequence.
- Taufiq Taufiqurrahman
- , Alice-Agnes Gabriel
- & František Gallovič
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Career Feature |
How geoscientists are making their field more welcoming
Grassroots initiatives aim to make the discipline more inclusive of researchers from under-represented communities.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Tonga volcano eruption triggered ‘mega-tsunami’
Detailed analysis of the January 2022 event shows how underwater blasts generated huge waves that battered coastlines throughout the island nation.
- Gemma Conroy
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News |
Plastic waste found chemically bonded to rocks in China
Researchers discover ‘plastic rocks’, probably formed from bags and other litter, in a freshwater creek.
- Katherine Bourzac
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News & Views Forum |
The medieval Moon unveils volcanic secrets
Innovative use of medieval musings about the Moon has revealed that volcanic eruptions coincided with abrupt, global-scale cooling events. The approach is exciting from the perspective of climate scientists and historians alike.
- Andrea Seim
- , Eduardo Zorita
- & Anne Lawrence-Mathers
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News |
Medieval accounts of eclipses shine light on massive volcanic eruptions
Descriptions of lunar eclipses by monks and other scholars help scientists to pinpoint effects of ancient eruptions.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Article |
Rapid, buoyancy-driven ice-sheet retreat of hundreds of metres per day
Analysis of more than 7,600 corrugation ridges on the Norwegian continental shelf shows that rapid grounding-line retreat of several hundred metres per day occurred across low-gradient ice-sheet beds during the last deglaciation.
- Christine L. Batchelor
- , Frazer D. W. Christie
- & Julian A. Dowdeswell
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News |
Mars rocks await a ride to Earth — can NASA deliver?
The stakes are high as the agency contemplates the technological and financial hurdles ahead for its sample-return mission.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: What Turkey’s earthquake tells us about the science of seismic forecasting
Despite decades of research, predicting exactly where an earthquake will strike remains practically impossible.
- Shannon Hall
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News |
Volcanoes on Venus? ‘Striking’ finding hints at modern-day activity
Discovery highlights need for future missions after NASA puts one on hold.
- Myriam Vidal Valero
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Editorial |
Asteroid collision shows how much amateur astronomers have to offer
Astronomy, like other scientific fields, continues to benefit from working scientists collaborating with amateur colleagues.
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News |
Ocean-drilling ship that revolutionized Earth science due to retire
Researchers will not be able to work aboard the JOIDES Resolution after next year.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Feature |
What Turkey’s earthquake tells us about the science of seismic forecasting
Geologists knew decades ago that a quake would strike southeastern Turkey, but precise prediction is still the stuff of science fiction.
- Shannon Hall
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News |
Asteroid lost 1 million kilograms after collision with DART spacecraft
Studies reveal final moments before NASA probe crashed into an asteroid.
- Alexandra Witze