Focus 26 January 2021

Earth science

Earth science encompasses geological, hydrological, atmospheric and meteorological research that paves the way towards better understanding of the planet on which we live. From deep in the Earth’s interior to the highest reaches of the atmosphere, the work highlighted here shows significant research advances in the physical, chemical and biological processes that shape the Earth system’s past, present and future.

Featured articles

Europium in plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions reveals mantle melting modulates oxygen fugacity

Distributions of the multivalent element Europium are used to recover the partial pressure of oxygen from basaltic mantle melt inclusions trapped in plagioclase crystals, suggesting Earth’s mantle is reduced by partial melting.
- Nicholas Dygert
- Gokce K. Ustunisik
- Roger L. Nielsen
ArticleOpen Access8 Apr 2024 Nature Communications
Treeline displacement may affect lake dissolved organic matter processing at high latitudes and altitudes

Shifts in the treeline may induce changes in organic matter composition of lakes at high altitude and latitude. Here, the authors experimentally unravel effects of soil-derived DOM for lake carbon biogeochemistry and bacterial carbon use efficiency.
- Núria Catalán
- Carina Rofner
- Hannes Peter
ArticleOpen Access26 Mar 2024 Nature Communications
Nitrogen and phosphorus trends in lake sediments of China may diverge

Nutrient levels in Chinese lakes have rapidly increased since 1950 but future trends in lacustrine nitrogen and phosphorus across China will differentiate, according to projections up to 2100.
- Panpan Ji
- Jianhui Chen
- Fahu Chen
ArticleOpen Access26 Mar 2024 Nature Communications
A mechanism for reconciling the synchronisation of Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles

In this study, an atmospheric perturbation mechanism is introduced that reconciles the synchronisation of Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger Cycles.
- Clemens Schannwell
- Uwe Mikolajewicz
- Florian Ziemen
ArticleOpen Access5 Apr 2024 Nature Communications
Amundsen Sea circulation controls bottom upwelling and Antarctic Pine Island and Thwaites ice shelf melting

On-shelf circulation modulates vertical velocity via bottom Ekman dynamics, controlling thermocline depth and melting of Amundsen Sea ice shelves. This mechanism does not support the widely believed linkage between off-shelf wind and on-shelf heat.
- Taewook Park
- Yoshihiro Nakayama
- SungHyun Nam
ArticleOpen Access11 Apr 2024 Nature Communications
Completing the loop of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous true polar wander event

The authors report three palaeomagnetic poles from the North China craton and document a large round-trip true polar wander oscillation during 155−141 Ma that may have affected biotic evolution in East Asia and global extinction and endemism.
- Yifei Hou
- Pan Zhao
- Rixiang Zhu
ArticleOpen Access12 Mar 2024 Nature Communications
Onset of double subduction controls plate motion reorganisation

In face-to-face double subduction, the development of subduction in the younger system restrains subduction in the older system and results in plate motion reorganisation, according to geodynamic modelling.
- Kuidi Zhang
- Jie Liao
- Taras Gerya
ArticleOpen Access19 Feb 2024 Nature Communications
Archaean continental crust formed from mafic cumulates

Earth’s early continental crust formed by the melting of plagioclase-cumulates. Melting of these rocks, and subsequent crustal delamination and remelting, can explain the growth and differentiation of the continental crust during the Archaean.
- Matthijs A. Smit
- Kira A. Musiyachenko
- Jeroen Goumans
ArticleOpen Access24 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
Structure and elasticity of CaC₂O₅ suggests carbonate contribution to the seismic anomalies of Earth’s mantle

Based on first-principle simulations of the properties of CaC₂O₅ under high pressure, the authors suggest that carbonates may contribute to the origins of the seismic velocity anomalies in Earth’s mantle and transport within the deep carbon cycle.
- Hanyu Wang
- Lei Liu
- Shide Mao
ArticleOpen Access25 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
Oxide nanolitisation-induced melt iron extraction causes viscosity jumps and enhanced explosivity in silicic magma

Oxide nanolites crystallisation in natural magma increases melt, and hence bulk magma viscosity mainly due to iron extraction. This increase can be sufficient to drive magma fragmentation depending on magma degassing and ascent dynamics.
- Francisco Cáceres
- Kai-Uwe Hess
- Donald B. Dingwell
ArticleOpen Access19 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
Nanoscale silicate melt textures determine volcanic ash surface chemistry

Nanotexture-sensitive fracture focusing during magma fragmentation determines the surface chemistry of volcanic ash particles, thereby modifying the reactive interface and subsequent environmental impacts
- Adrian J. Hornby
- Paul M. Ayris
- Donald B. Dingwell
ArticleOpen Access15 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
Methane-hydrogen-rich fluid migration may trigger seismic failure in subduction zones at forearc depths

This study provides evidence for the migration of deep energy sources along tectonic discontinuities in subduction zones and suggests causal relationships with brittle failure of hard rocks that may trigger seismic activity.
- Francesco Giuntoli
- Luca Menegon
- Alberto Vitale Brovarone
ArticleOpen Access11 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
Diamond preservation in the lithospheric mantle recorded by olivine in kimberlites

Correlation between olivine compositions and diamond grades in kimberlites worldwide indicates better diamond preservation in the mantle minimally affected by carbonate-rich melts and shows that olivine geochemistry is a tool for diamond exploration.
- Andrea Giuliani
- David Phillips
- Zdislav Spetsius
ArticleOpen Access2 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
Near-surface magma flow instability drives cyclic lava fountaining at Fagradalsfjall, Iceland

This study of volcanic gas chemistry during pulsatory lava fountaining at Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland reveals that the intermittency stems from pressure cycles and gas-melt separation within a shallow magma-filled cavity.
- Samuel Scott
- Melissa Pfeffer
- Andri Stefánsson
ArticleOpen Access7 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
An ancient river landscape preserved beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

Using satellite and survey data, an ancient river landscape 300 km wide has been discovered buried and preserved beneath the ice in East Antarctica. It has likely survived largely intact for up to 34 million years since before ice sheet growth.
- Stewart S. R. Jamieson
- Neil Ross
- Martin J. Siegert
ArticleOpen Access24 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
Emplacement of the Argyle diamond deposit into an ancient rift zone triggered by supercontinent breakup

The Argyle deposit erupted 1.3 billion years ago into an ancient rift at the edge of a craton. Argyle coincided with supercontinent breakup, highlighting the link between diamond emplacement, former rifts and continental breakup.
- Hugo K. H. Olierook
- Denis Fougerouse
- Michael T. D. Wingate
ArticleOpen Access19 Sep 2023 Nature Communications
Garnet microstructures suggest ultra-fast decompression of ultrahigh-pressure rocks

Radial cracks observed in minerals formed at ultrahigh pressure and now found at the Earth’s surface are explained by ultrafast decompression, which challenges the idea of fast and significant displacement of rocks during their exhumation.
- Cindy Luisier
- Lucie Tajčmanová
- Thibault Duretz
ArticleOpen Access27 Sep 2023 Nature Communications
Insights into magma ocean dynamics from the transport properties of basaltic melt

The viscosity of magma plays a crucial role in the dynamics of planet Earth. In this study, the authors show how transport properties of basaltic melt can give us insights into magma ocean dynamics.
- Suraj K. Bajgain
- Aaron Wolfgang Ashley
- Bijaya B. Karki
ArticleOpen Access8 Dec 2022 Nature Communications
Magma recharge and mush rejuvenation drive paroxysmal activity at Stromboli volcano

Petrological studies along with volcano monitoring data relate the unusual 2019 explosive activity at Stromboli volcano (Italy) to deep magma recharges up to a few days prior the eruption and a direct link between deep and shallow magma reservoirs.
- Chiara Maria Petrone
- Silvio Mollo
- Mark Reagan
ArticleOpen Access13 Dec 2022 Nature Communications
Milankovitch-paced erosion in the southern Central Andes

Fisher et al. combine sediment geochemistry and climate modelling to reveal long-term synchrony between erosion rates and orbitally-driven climate oscillations in the tectonically-active southern Central Andes.
- G. Burch Fisher
- Lisa V. Luna
- Lucas J. Lourens
ArticleOpen Access26 Jan 2023 Nature Communications
Magmatic plumbing and dynamic evolution of the 2021 La Palma eruption

In a new study, the authors use seismological methods to understand the eruption of La Palma 2021. Results suggest a preparatory phase of de-stabilisation of a mushy reservoir, and a co-eruptive phase with seismicity controlled by the drainage and interplay of two reservoirs.
- Carmen del Fresno
- Simone Cesca
- Carmen López
ArticleOpen Access23 Jan 2023 Nature Communications
Creep fronts and complexity in laboratory earthquake sequences illuminate delayed earthquake triggering

Laboratory earthquake experiments reproduce delayed earthquake triggering, similar to aftershocks, as a result of propagating slow slip fronts. The speed of the fronts can be highly sensitive to fault stress levels left behind by previous earthquakes.
- Sara Beth L. Cebry
- Chun-Yu Ke
- Gregory C. McLaskey
ArticleOpen Access11 Nov 2022 Nature Communications
Interplay between oceanic subduction and continental collision in building continental crust

Gangdese arc magmatism, Tibet, was initially dominated by fractional crystallization of mantle derived magmas, followed by the remelting of these rocks during collision. These two stages lead to the stratification of the juvenile continental crust
- Di-Cheng Zhu
- Qing Wang
- Xuan-Xue Mo
ArticleOpen Access21 Nov 2022 Nature Communications
Hidden pressurized fluids prior to the 2014 phreatic eruption at Mt Ontake

Phreatic volcanic eruptions can be unexpected and devastating. Here the authors, using seismic-based methodologies, find that pressurized fluids accumulated 5 months before the deadly phreatic eruption at Mt Ontake; a period previously considered as completely quiescent.
- Corentin Caudron
- Yosuke Aoki
- Toshiko Terakawa
ArticleOpen Access17 Oct 2022 Nature Communications
Linking the scaling of tremor and slow slip near Parkfield, CA

Huang and Hawthorne present new evidence supporting that tremor and slow slip are linked by the same moment-duration scaling. First-order implications would include that tremor and slow slip are likely generated by the same fault zone process.
- Hui Huang
- Jessica C. Hawthorne
ArticleOpen Access3 Oct 2022 Nature Communications
Reconstructing Earth’s atmospheric oxygenation history using machine learning

Earth’s oxygenation history can be reconstructed using machine learning and mafic igneous geochemical data. Agreement with independent proxy predictions for surface conditions implies that interior processes are critical in atmospheric oxygenation.
- Guoxiong Chen
- Qiuming Cheng
- Molei Zhao
ArticleOpen Access4 Oct 2022 Nature Communications
Rock and fault rheology explain differences between on fault and distributed seismicity

A new study sheds light on earthquake physics, showing that lithological and rheological heterogeneities in the rocks composing the seismogenic layer strongly influence seismicity distributions and earthquake scaling laws.
- C. Collettini
- M. R. Barchi
- E. Tinti
ArticleOpen Access26 Sep 2022 Nature Communications
The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes

A long-standing controversy surrounds low-angle nature of observed detachment faults within metamorphic core complexes. Here, the authors show that post-orogenic collapse of mountain belts can create a low-angle detachment, resolving the controversy.
- Alireza Bahadori
- William E. Holt
- Lucy M. Flesch
ArticleOpen Access26 Sep 2022 Nature Communications
Longest sediment flows yet measured show how major rivers connect efficiently to deep sea

This paper analyses the longest sediment flows measured in action on Earth. These seabed flows were caused by floods and spring tides, and flushed prodigious sediment and carbon volumes into the deep sea, as they accelerated for a thousand kilometres.
- Peter J. Talling
- Megan L. Baker
- Robert J. Hilton
ArticleOpen Access20 Jul 2022 Nature Communications
Diverse mantle components with invariant oxygen isotopes in the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption, Iceland

The 2021 eruption in the Reykjanes Peninsula of Iceland was the first in 800 years and was supplied by melts from diverse mantle source domains with near-identical oxygen isotope ratios, providing a unique insight into the Icelandic mantle plume.
- I. N. Bindeman
- F. M. Deegan
- T. R. Walter
ArticleOpen Access29 Jun 2022 Nature Communications
Responding to eruptive transitions during the 2020–2021 eruption of La Soufrière volcano, St. Vincent

The 2020 – 2021 eruption of La Soufrière volcano transitioned from an effusive to explosive eruption style. Here the authors show that input from multiple monitoring datasets and an evolving conceptual model were key to anticipating and responding to the eruptive transition at the La Soufrière volcano, St. Vincent, in a resource-constrained setting.
- E. P. Joseph
- M. Camejo-Harry
- R. S. J. Sparks
ArticleOpen Access15 Jul 2022 Nature Communications
Revealing the spatiotemporal complexity of the magnitude distribution and b-value during an earthquake sequence

The authors introduce a new perspective to study the spatiotemporal behavior of the magnitude–frequency distribution: spatially isolating seismogenic zones to provide an appropriate scale to resolve the b-value. Among those zones, the b-value behaved remarkably throughout the 2016 central Italy sequence.
- Marcus Herrmann
- Ester Piegari
- Warner Marzocchi
ArticleOpen Access29 Aug 2022 Nature Communications
Mantle exhumation at magma-poor rifted margins controlled by frictional shear zones

The development of offset normal faults in the conjugate Flemish Cap and Galicia magma-poor rifted margins is explored. The authors propose alternating opposite dipping detachments to be the underlying cause.
- Thomas Theunissen
- Ritske S. Huismans
ArticleOpen Access28 Mar 2022 Nature Communications
Extremely wet summer events enhance permafrost thaw for multiple years in Siberian tundra

Thawing permafrost releases carbon that serves as a positive feedback on climate warming. Here the authors experimentally demonstrate that rainfall extremes in the Siberian tundra increase permafrost thaw for multiple years, especially if rainfall coincides with warm periods.
- Rúna Í. Magnússon
- Alexandra Hamm
- Monique M. P. D. Heijmans
ArticleOpen Access23 Mar 2022 Nature Communications
Mucospheres produced by a mixotrophic protist impact ocean carbon cycling

Marine microbes govern ocean productivity and biogeochemistry, regulating global climate. Here the authors describe the sophisticated feeding strategy of a mixotrophic dinoflagellate and show how its behaviour impacts the vertical flux of carbon.
- Michaela E. Larsson
- Anna R. Bramucci
- Martina A. Doblin
ArticleOpen Access14 Mar 2022 Nature Communications
In-phase millennial-scale glacier changes in the tropics and North Atlantic regions during the Holocene

Glaciers showed a similar evolution in Greenland, Europe, the US and the tropical Andes during the Holocene. The authors propose the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Overturning Circulation as a key driver of this trend.
- V. Jomelli
- D. Swingedouw
- K. Keddadouche
ArticleOpen Access17 Mar 2022 Nature Communications
Tropical methane emissions explain large fraction of recent changes in global atmospheric methane growth rate

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with emissions that are challenging to constrain. Here the authors use 10 years of satellite observations and show tropical terrestrial emissions account for 80% of observed global methane increases.
- Liang Feng
- Paul I. Palmer
- Yi Liu
ArticleOpen Access16 Mar 2022 Nature Communications
Earthquake breakdown energy scaling despite constant fracture energy

Earthquake breakdown energy is commonly interpreted as a proxy for fracture energy but is observed to scale with magnitude. Here the authors show that a scale-independent stress overshoot, as seen in the 3D dynamic earthquake rupture simulations, leads to comparable scaling despite constant fault fracture energy.
- Chun-Yu Ke
- Gregory C. McLaskey
- David S. Kammer
ArticleOpen Access22 Feb 2022 Nature Communications
Timing of emergence of modern rates of sea-level rise by 1863

Sea-level rise is a significant indicator of climate changes and it is important to identify the time of emergence of modern rates of sea-level rise. Here the authors estimate that global sea-level rise emerged by 1863 and find spatial variability of emergence at sites within the North Atlantic.
- Jennifer S. Walker
- Robert E. Kopp
- Benjamin P. Horton
ArticleOpen Access18 Feb 2022 Nature Communications
Investigating the potential effectiveness of earthquake early warning across Europe

The viability of earthquake early warning (EEW) in Europe is highly dependent on the magnitude of the ongoing earthquake and the ground-shaking threshold for alert issuance. The potential effectiveness of EEW is highest for Turkey, Italy, and Greece.
- Gemma Cremen
- Carmine Galasso
- Elisa Zuccolo
ArticleOpen Access8 Feb 2022 Nature Communications
Slab control on the mega-sized North Pacific ultra-low velocity zone

Ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs) are localized small-scale patches with extreme physical properties at the core-mantle boundary. Here, the authors discover a mega-sized ULVZ (1,500 × 900 km) at the northern edge of the Pacific Large Low Velocity Province.
- Jiewen Li
- Daoyuan Sun
- Dan J. Bower
ArticleOpen Access24 Feb 2022 Nature Communications
Globally elevated chemical weathering rates beneath glaciers

Global glacial chemical denudation is one of the largest contributors to global elemental cycles and, amplified by climate warming, will significantly impact nutrient loads in downstream ecosystems.
- Xiangying Li
- Ninglian Wang
- Guoyu Li
ArticleOpen Access20 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
Fate of dissolved black carbon in the deep Pacific Ocean

Black carbon is a product of incomplete combustion and is distributed everywhere on the Earth’s surface due to its recalcitrant nature. Here the authors show the removal process and flux of dissolved black carbon in the deep sea, its ultimate repository.
- Youhei Yamashita
- Motohiro Nakane
- Hiroshi Ogawa
ArticleOpen Access13 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
Comparison of potential drinking water source contamination across one hundred U.S. cities

In the U.S. today nearly no surface waters are drinkable without treatment. Here, the authors demonstrate that four-fifths of cities that withdraw surface water are supplying water that includes a portion of treated wastewater, concentrated in the Midwest, the South, and Texas.
- Sean W. D. Turner
- Jennie S. Rice
- Landon Marston
ArticleOpen Access13 Dec 2021 Nature Communications
Rapid increase in dichloromethane emissions from China inferred through atmospheric observations

Dichloromethane (CH₂Cl₂) is an unregulated ozone depleting substance whose emissions have strongly increased in recent years. Here, the authors show that rising emissions of dichloromethane in China between 2011 and 2019 can explain much of this global increase.
- Minde An
- Luke M. Western
- Matthew Rigby
ArticleOpen Access14 Dec 2021 Nature Communications
Volcanic activity and hazard in the East African Rift Zone

New observations of volcanic and magmatic activity in Africa are changing our views of continental rifting and raising awareness of the associated hazards. However, despite a shift from crisis response to reducing disaster risks, limited capacity means mitigating geohazards remains challenging.
- Juliet Biggs
- Atalay Ayele
- Tim J. Wright
Review ArticleOpen Access25 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
Intensified continental chemical weathering and carbon-cycle perturbations linked to volcanism during the Triassic–Jurassic transition

The work shows that volcanic-related elevated continental chemical weathering could have played a significant role in global environmental perturbations during the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction.
- Jun Shen
- Runsheng Yin
- Shucheng Xie
ArticleOpen Access13 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
Low N₂O and variable CH₄ fluxes from tropical forest soils of the Congo Basin

The Congo Basin is home to the second largest stretch of continuous tropical forest, but the magnitude of greenhouse fluxes are poorly understood. Here the authors analyze gas samples and find the region is not actually a hotspot of N2O emissions.
- Matti Barthel
- Marijn Bauters
- Johan Six
ArticleOpen Access17 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
Fault rock heterogeneity can produce fault weakness and reduce fault stability

This paper shows that faults comprised of heterogeneously distributed materials, as is typical for tectonic faults in nature, are weaker and more unstable than equivalent faults where the materials are homogeneously mixed together.
- John D. Bedford
- Daniel R. Faulkner
- Nadia Lapusta
ArticleOpen Access17 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
Climate changes modulated the history of Arctic iodine during the Last Glacial Cycle

Iodine is important for new particle formation in the atmosphere, but how it varies over long time scales is not well known. Here, the authors present ice core data from the last 127,000 years that show that iodine varied between glacials and interglacials, but also showed abrupt changes in pace with sea-ice and temperatures.
- Juan Pablo Corella
- Niccolo Maffezzoli
- Alfonso Saiz-Lopez
ArticleOpen Access10 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
Decreasing extents of Archean serpentinization contributed to the rise of an oxidized atmosphere

Throughout the Archean, H₂ generation via low-temperature ultramafic serpentinization likely helped prevent atmospheric O₂ accumulation and continued until the abundance of ultramafic rocks diminished setting the stage for the Great Oxidation Event.
- James Andrew M. Leong
- Tucker Ely
- Everett L. Shock
ArticleOpen Access20 Dec 2021 Nature Communications

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