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The bulk crustal porosity of the lunar highland may have been generated early in the Moon’s history by basin-forming impacts and then declined exponentially. A new porosity evolution model constrains the timing and sequence of basin formation.
Unrest episodes observed in basaltic systems indicate magma influx rates may be key to generating long-term eruption forecasts. The findings predict that, if a critical flow rate is surpassed, a volcano will erupt within a year.
The surface of the asteroid Bennu is so weakly bonded that rockslide avalanches are easily triggered by small body impacts, and boulders fractured due to diurnal heating and cooling are readily dislodged. The result is a surface under continuous renewal.
Flood basalts are connected to Earth’s most extreme environmental crises, yet warming is sometimes observed before surface eruptions. Modelling reveals that a complex buildup of basalt intrusions into the crust releases enough CO2 to cause this pre-eruptive warming.
Subduction zone formation may be both horizontally and then vertically driven, according to a 4D evolution model of the Puysegur margin, New Zealand. This suggests that the current endmember classification of subduction initiation must be expanded.
The structure of the overriding plate may control bending and water ingress into the subducting plate based on an exceptional 3D velocity model of the Nankai subduction zone.
