Looking polewards - p141

doi:10.1038/ngeo150

Full Text - Looking polewards | PDF (156 KB) - Looking polewards

Effect of the Sumatran mega-earthquake on the global magnitude cut-off and event rate - p142

Ian G. Main, Lun Li, John McCloskey & Mark Naylor

doi:10.1038/ngeo141

Full Text - Effect of the Sumatran mega-earthquake on the global magnitude cut-off and event rate | PDF (126 KB) - Effect of the Sumatran mega-earthquake on the global magnitude cut-off and event rate

Science, geopolitics and the governance of Antarctica - pp143 - 145

Simon Naylor, Martin Siegert, Katrina Dean & Simone Turchetti

doi:10.1038/ngeo138

Full Text - Science, geopolitics and the governance of Antarctica | PDF (249 KB) - Science, geopolitics and the governance of Antarctica

Maps don't lie - p147

Ninad Bondre reviews Cartographia by Vincent Virga & The Library of Congress

doi:10.1038/ngeo144

Full Text - Maps don't lie | PDF (132 KB) - Maps don't lie

Students, seals and science - pp147 - 148

Amy Leventer reviews The Lost Seal by Diane McKnight

doi:10.1038/ngeo145

Full Text - Students, seals and science | PDF (139 KB) - Students, seals and science

Gender imbalance in US geoscience academia - p148

Mary Anne Holmes, Suzanne O'Connell, Connie Frey & Lois Ongley

doi:10.1038/ngeo148

Full Text - Gender imbalance in US geoscience academia | PDF (85 KB) - Gender imbalance in US geoscience academia

Fluoridic groundwaters, caldera compression and more - p149

doi:10.1038/ngeo149

Full Text - Fluoridic groundwaters, caldera compression and more | PDF (152 KB) - Fluoridic groundwaters, caldera compression and more

Planetary science: A glimpse of martian plumbing - pp151 - 152

Jonathan D. A. Clarke

doi:10.1038/ngeo146

Full Text - Planetary scienceA glimpse of martian plumbing | PDF (251 KB) - Planetary scienceA glimpse of martian plumbing

Subject Category: Planetary science

Glaciology: The last stampede of a glacial lake - pp152 - 153

Martin Jakobsson

doi:10.1038/ngeo147

Full Text - GlaciologyThe last stampede of a glacial lake | PDF (282 KB) - GlaciologyThe last stampede of a glacial lake

Subject Category: Cryospheric science

Climate science: Predicting dry lands - p153

Alicia Newton

doi:10.1038/ngeo143

Full Text - Climate sciencePredicting dry lands | PDF (151 KB) - Climate sciencePredicting dry lands

Subject Category: Climate science

Seismology: A giant subducting sausage - pp154 - 155

Linda M. Warren

doi:10.1038/ngeo142

Full Text - SeismologyA giant subducting sausage | PDF (183 KB) - SeismologyA giant subducting sausage

Subject Category: Seismology

Planetary science: Message from Mercury - p155

Alicia Newton

doi:10.1038/ngeo139

Full Text - Planetary scienceMessage from Mercury | PDF (117 KB) - Planetary scienceMessage from Mercury

Subject Category: Planetary science

Geomorphology: Survive or subside? - pp156 - 157

John W. Day & Liviu Giosan

doi:10.1038/ngeo137

Full Text - GeomorphologySurvive or subside? | PDF (162 KB) - GeomorphologySurvive or subside?

Subject Category: Geomorphology

Geodynamics: Layer cake or plum pudding? - pp157 - 158

Paul J. Tackley

doi:10.1038/ngeo134

Full Text - GeodynamicsLayer cake or plum pudding? | PDF (169 KB) - GeodynamicsLayer cake or plum pudding?

Subject Category: Structural geology, tectonics and geodynamics

The methane cycle on Titan - pp159 - 164

Jonathan I. Lunine & Sushil K. Atreya

doi:10.1038/ngeo125

Despite Titan's cold temperatures (about 93.7 K at the equator), fluvial and atmospheric processes are active on this moon of Saturn, with methane playing a similar role to water on Earth. However, Titan lacks a global methane ocean, and rainfall appears to be episodic.

Abstract - | Full Text - The methane cycle on Titan | PDF (242 KB) - The methane cycle on Titan

Subject Category: Planetary science

Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean - pp165 - 168

Carl Wunsch

doi:10.1038/ngeo126

Eddy activity in the North Atlantic ocean produces fluctuations in ocean-wide volume transport on the order of 2010⁶ cubic metres per second, on multi-year timescales. Such background noise makes it impossible to detect possible trends in the ocean circulation due to a changing climate without multi-decadal observations in three spatial dimensions.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean | PDF (252 KB) - Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Climate science | Oceanography

Significant contribution of the 18.6 year tidal cycle to regional coastal changes - pp169 - 172

N. Gratiot, E. J. Anthony, A. Gardel, C. Gaucherel, C. Proisy & J. T. Wells

doi:10.1038/ngeo127

Over the last twenty years, changes in the shoreline between the Amazon and Orinoco rivers have largely been controlled by the 18.6 year tidal cycle. By 2015 AD, the tidal cycle will account for 90 metres of shoreline retreat in French Guiana and 6 centimetres of sea level rise.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - Significant contribution of the 18.6 year tidal cycle to regional coastal changes | PDF (497 KB) - Significant contribution of the 18.6 year tidal cycle to regional coastal changes | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Geomorphology | Oceanography

Mississippi Delta subsidence primarily caused by compaction of Holocene strata - pp173 - 176

Torbjörn E. Törnqvist, Davin J. Wallace, Joep E. A. Storms, Jakob Wallinga, Remke L. van Dam, Martijn Blaauw, Mayke S. Derksen, Cornelis J. W. Klerks, Camiel Meijneken & Els M. A. Snijders

doi:10.1038/ngeo129

Extensive damage to coastal Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was largely attributed to high rates of relative sea-level rise caused by coastal subsidence. An examination of the underlying Holocene sediments shows that the compaction of peat-rich deposits contributes significantly to Mississippi Delta subsidence rates of up to 5 mm per year.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - Mississippi Delta subsidence primarily caused by compaction of Holocene strata | PDF (281 KB) - Mississippi Delta subsidence primarily caused by compaction of Holocene strata

Subject Category: Geomorphology

See also: News and Views by Day & Giosan | related Backstory

Columbia River flood basalts from a centralized crustal magmatic system - pp177 - 180

J. A. Wolff, F. C. Ramos, G. L. Hart, J. D. Patterson & A. D. Brandon

doi:10.1038/ngeo124

The Columbia River Basalt Group in the northwestern United States, derived from flood basalt eruptions that occurred 16 million years ago, exhibits variability in geography and trace element geochemistry that has led to a number of proposed magma origins. However, the geochemical variability can be explained by a relatively simple model in which magma is derived from a mantle plume that assimilated continental crust in a centralized magma system.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - Columbia River flood basalts from a centralized crustal magmatic system | PDF (354 KB) - Columbia River flood basalts from a centralized crustal magmatic system | Supplementary information

Subject Category: Volcanology, mineralogy and petrology

Ancient groundwater flow in the Valles Marineris on Mars inferred from fault trace ridges - pp181 - 183

Allan H. Treiman

doi:10.1038/ngeo131

Long linear ridges in the Valles Marineris region of Mars most likely represent fault zones that have been cemented by water-deposited minerals. This implies that water in the Martian crust could have traversed long distances via faults and fractures.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - Ancient groundwater flow in the Valles Marineris on Mars inferred from fault trace ridges | PDF (576 KB) - Ancient groundwater flow in the Valles Marineris on Mars inferred from fault trace ridges | Supplementary information

Subject Category: Planetary science

See also: News and Views by Clarke

The subglacial origin of the Lake Agassiz–Ojibway final outburst flood - pp184 - 188

Patrick Lajeunesse & Guillaume St-Onge

doi:10.1038/ngeo130

Arc-shaped scours, sandwaves and channels on the Hudson Bay seafloor suggest that the catastrophic drainage of lake Agassiz–Ojibway occurred as a subglacial flood beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered northern North America.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - The subglacial origin of the Lake Agassiz–Ojibway final outburst flood | PDF (1,039 KB) - The subglacial origin of the Lake Agassiz–Ojibway final outburst flood | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Hydrology, hydrogeology and limnology | Cryospheric science | Palaeoclimate and palaeoceanography

See also: News and Views by Jakobsson | related Backstory

Increasing eolian dust deposition in the western United States linked to human activity - pp189 - 195

J. C. Neff, A. P. Ballantyne, G. L. Farmer, N. M. Mahowald, J. L. Conroy, C. C. Landry, J. T. Overpeck, T. H. Painter, C. R. Lawrence & R. L. Reynolds

doi:10.1038/ngeo133

Dust input to alpine lakes in the western United States has risen dramatically following westward expansion of human settlements and increased livestock grazing over the past two centuries. The increased dust flux deposits additional nutrients and minerals to the lakes, with important implications for water chemistry, productivity and nutrient cycling.

Abstract - | Full Text - Increasing eolian dust deposition in the western United States linked to human activity | PDF (403 KB) - Increasing eolian dust deposition in the western United States linked to human activity | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Biogeochemistry | Geomorphology

See also: related Backstory

Boudinage of a stretching slablet implicated in earthquakes beneath the Hindu Kush - pp196 - 201

Gordon Lister, Brian Kennett, Simon Richards & Marnie Forster

doi:10.1038/ngeo132

A large lens-shaped feature bounded by shear zones characterizes the remnant slab beneath the Hindu Kush region. Rather than dripping by viscous flow, the slab is actively stretching and might eventually break off before descending further into the underlying mantle.

Abstract - | Full Text - Boudinage of a stretching slablet implicated in earthquakes beneath the Hindu Kush | PDF (3,075 KB) - Boudinage of a stretching slablet implicated in earthquakes beneath the Hindu Kush

Subject Categories: Seismology | Structural geology, tectonics and geodynamics

See also: News and Views by Warren

Clues on the seafloor - p204

doi:10.1038/ngeo140

Full Text - Clues on the seafloor | PDF (229 KB) - Clues on the seafloor

Searching for dust - pE5

doi:10.1038/ngeo136

Full Text - Searching for dust | PDF (180 KB) - Searching for dust

Mississippi mud bath - pE6

doi:10.1038/ngeo135

Full Text - Mississippi mud bath | PDF (171 KB) - Mississippi mud bath