Featured
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Article
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Crustal carbonate build-up as a driver for Earth’s oxygenation
The accumulation and subsequent recycling of carbonate in the crust may have helped to drive the oxygenation of the early Earth, according to an ocean and atmosphere box model incorporating the inorganic carbon cycle.
- Lewis J. Alcott
- , Craig Walton
- & Benjamin J. W. Mills
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Review Article |
Anthropogenic impacts on mud and organic carbon cycling
Human activities have altered the production, transport and fate of mud and associated organic carbon, with important implications for global carbon cycling.
- Thomas S. Bianchi
- , Lawrence M. Mayer
- & Pierre Regnier
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Brief Communication |
Production of Neoproterozoic banded iron formations in a partially ice-covered ocean
Neoproterozoic banded iron formations formed in partially glaciated oceans where iron-rich and oxygenated water masses met, according to ocean modelling.
- Kaushal Gianchandani
- , Itay Halevy
- & Eli Tziperman
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Article
| Open Access
Underestimated burden of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in global surface waters and groundwaters
A global data analysis suggests that a large fraction of surface waters and groundwaters globally have concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that exceed international advisories or national regulations.
- Diana Ackerman Grunfeld
- , Daniel Gilbert
- & Denis M. O’Carroll
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Research Briefing |
Early Jurassic large igneous province carbon emissions are constrained by sedimentary mercury
The carbon emissions of large igneous province magmatism are commonly associated with severe environmental crises. We developed a technique that used sedimentary mercury records to estimate these carbon fluxes through time and found that they are smaller and/or slower than assumed, which suggests that the influence of carbon-cycle feedback processes is underestimated in current models.
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News & Views |
Light on dark waters
Canal networks in Southeast Asian peatlands are zones of rapid, light-driven biogeochemical cycling. The canals increase carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere and decrease organic carbon export to the ocean.
- Christopher Evans
- & Pierre Taillardat
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Article |
Canal networks regulate aquatic losses of carbon from degraded tropical peatlands
Canal networks are a hotspot for the loss of carbon from tropical peatlands following disturbance, according to measurements of oxidation rates for dissolved organic carbon to carbon dioxide in drainage canals in Southeast Asia.
- Jennifer C. Bowen
- , Putri J. Wahyudio
- & Alison M. Hoyt
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Article
| Open Access
Global emergent responses of stream microbial metabolism to glacier shrinkage
Glacier shrinkage intensifies phosphorus limitation but alleviates carbon limitation in glacier-fed streams, according to analyses of resource stoichiometry and microbial metabolism in glacier-fed streams from mountain regions.
- Tyler J. Kohler
- , Massimo Bourquin
- & Tom J. Battin
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Article
| Open Access
Early Jurassic large igneous province carbon emissions constrained by sedimentary mercury
Sedimentary mercury measurements suggest carbon emissions from Early Jurassic large igneous province activity were lower than estimates from carbon-cycle models, implying feedbacks that are unaccounted for.
- Isabel M. Fendley
- , Joost Frieling
- & Hugh C. Jenkyns
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Article
| Open Access
Emergent temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon driven by mineral associations
Temperature sensitivity of bulk soil carbon stocks is controlled by the compositional distribution between mineral-associated and particulate carbon, according to analyses of global soil carbon pools.
- Katerina Georgiou
- , Charles D. Koven
- & Robert B. Jackson
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Article
| Open Access
Drought response of the boreal forest carbon sink is driven by understorey–tree composition
Carbon sink in young boreal forests is more vulnerable to drought than in mature forests due to the greater contribution and drought sensitivity of understorey relative to trees, according to carbon flux assessments of managed boreal forests in northern Sweden during the 2018 European summer drought.
- Eduardo Martínez-García
- , Mats B. Nilsson
- & Matthias Peichl
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Article
| Open Access
Substantial contribution of tree canopy nitrifiers to nitrogen fluxes in European forests
Canopy nitrification contributes up to 80% of the nitrate reaching the soils via throughfall in European forests, according to analyses of nitrogen deposition and oxygen isotopes in nitrate at ten forested sites.
- Rossella Guerrieri
- , Joan Cáliz
- & Maurizio Mencuccini
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Article |
Geomorphic controls on the abundance and persistence of soil organic carbon pools in erosional landscapes
Erosion rate is a first-order control of abundance and persistence of soil organic carbon in hilly and mountainous regions, according to analyses of the physiochemical properties of soils from field sites in Oregon, USA.
- Brooke D. Hunter
- , Joshua J. Roering
- & Kimber C. Moreland
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Article |
Dominance of particulate organic carbon in top mineral soils in cold regions
Organic carbon in the top layer of mineral soils in cold regions is dominated by the particulate fraction, according to analyses in Arctic and alpine ecosystems.
- Pablo García-Palacios
- , Mark A. Bradford
- & César Plaza
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Article |
Dominant role of soil moisture in mediating carbon and water fluxes in dryland ecosystems
Soil moisture is the primary driver of variability in dryland carbon and water cycling, according to a synthesis of eddy covariance, remote sensing and land surface model data from the western United States.
- Steven A. Kannenberg
- , William R. L. Anderegg
- & Alan K. Knapp
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Article |
Relative increases in CH4 and CO2 emissions from wetlands under global warming dependent on soil carbon substrates
Soil carbon substrates affect how methane and CO2 emissions from global wetlands change in response to climate warming, according to global analyses of temperature sensitivity of wetland carbon emissions.
- Han Hu
- , Ji Chen
- & Yuting Liang
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Research Briefing |
Clay minerals store organic carbon and cool Earth’s climate over millions of years
An integrated model of mineral weathering and carbon cycling reveals the substantial influence that clay minerals originating from the weathering of magnesium-rich rocks have on Earth’s climate. This research indicates that this clay-forming process contributed to each Palaeozoic glaciation.
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Article |
Palaeozoic cooling modulated by ophiolite weathering through organic carbon preservation
Weathering of mafic and ultramafic lithologies in ophiolites can enhance the preservation of organic carbon through the formation of smectite clays and modulate Earth’s climate, according to a coupled mineral weathering and carbon box model.
- Joshua Murray
- & Oliver Jagoutz
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Article |
Atmospheric methane variability through the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation mainly controlled by tropical sources
Abrupt changes in atmospheric methane through the last deglaciation were largely the result of tropical sources responding to shifting rainfall patterns, according to a comparison of precisely dated ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica.
- Ben Riddell-Young
- , Julia Rosen
- & Thomas Blunier
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Article |
Century-scale carbon sequestration flux throughout the ocean by the biological pump
The century-scale marine sequestration flux of biogenic inorganic carbon driven by the biological pump over the whole water column may be several times higher than previous estimates.
- Florian Ricour
- , Lionel Guidi
- & Louis Legendre
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News & Views |
Metals for microbes in the ancient sea
Identifying the metal micronutrients required by early life could help to illuminate how primitive organisms arose, but which metals were biologically available in ancient seawater has not been determined. A new experimental framework suggests how the precipitation of iron minerals from seawater reduced the availability of key metals, particularly zinc, copper and vanadium.
- Jena E. Johnson
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Article |
Micronutrient availability in Precambrian oceans controlled by greenalite formation
Mineral precipitation experiments suggest the formation of greenalite, an iron silicate mineral, limited zinc, copper and vanadium levels in the Archaean ocean, making them unavailable to early microbial life.
- Rosalie Tostevin
- & Imad A. M. Ahmed
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Article
| Open Access
Extratropical forests increasingly at risk due to lightning fires
Lightning-induced fires account for 77% of the burned area in extratropical intact forests, and lightning ignitions will probably become more frequent as the global climate warms, according to a global attribution of lightning and anthropogenic fires from 2001 to 2020.
- Thomas A. J. Janssen
- , Matthew W. Jones
- & Sander Veraverbeke
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Article |
Globally coherent water cycle response to temperature change during the past two millennia
Global temperature fluctuations during the last 2,000 years caused consistent changes in ocean evaporation and atmospheric moisture condensation processes, reflected in coherent water isotope signals in a large compilation of proxy records.
- Bronwen L. Konecky
- , Nicholas P. McKay
- & Kei Yoshimura
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Article |
Global crop production increase by soil organic carbon
Increasing soil organic carbon can, under optimum management only, enhance global production of maize, wheat and rice by up to 0.7% with important regional differences, according to 13,662 field trials across a broad range of soils, climates and management practices.
- Yuqing Ma
- , Dominic Woolf
- & Johannes Lehmann
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Article |
Spatial pattern of marine oxygenation set by tectonic and ecological drivers over the Phanerozoic
Tectonic and ecological factors controlled spatially contrasting marine redox changes through the Phanerozoic, a pattern that was in turn linked to background extinction rates, according to a machine learning-based analysis of shale geochemical data.
- Xiangli Wang
- , Thomas J. Algeo
- & Maoyan Zhu
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Research Briefing |
Satellite data show increased biomass carbon stocks in northern young forests
Accurate estimates of the land carbon sink are vital for informing climate projections and net-zero policies. Application of a strict filtering method to microwave satellite data enabled the evaluation of global vegetation biomass carbon dynamics for 2010–2019. The results highlight the role of demography in driving forest carbon gains and losses.
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Perspective |
Biogeochemistry of Earth before exoenzymes
Exoenzymes produced by heterotrophic microorganisms early in Earth history helped unlock previously unavailable organic matter and transformed ocean geochemistry.
- Nagissa Mahmoudi
- , Andrew D. Steen
- & Kurt O. Konhauser
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Article |
Soil carbon losses due to priming moderated by adaptation and legacy effects
Enhanced soil carbon mineralization due to additional organic matter inputs, a phenomenon called priming, diminishes within a few years as soils adapt to the higher carbon inputs.
- Marcus Schiedung
- , Axel Don
- & Samuel Abiven
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Article |
Global increase in biomass carbon stock dominated by growth of northern young forests over past decade
A decade of satellite observations suggests that old, degraded and deforested tropical forests are almost carbon neutral whereas northern young forests are the biggest contributor to the rising amount of carbon stored globally in vegetation.
- Hui Yang
- , Philippe Ciais
- & Jean-Pierre Wigneron
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Article |
Long-distance atmospheric transport of microplastic fibres influenced by their shapes
Flat microplastic fibres have much longer residence times and travel further in the atmosphere than previously appreciated, according to simulations of the settling of microplastics with different shapes.
- Shuolin Xiao
- , Yuanfeng Cui
- & Qi Li
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Research Briefing |
Dissolved phosphorus concentrations are increasing in streams across the Great Lakes Basin
Phosphorus from intensive agriculture contributes to increased algal blooms, threatening ecosystems and drinking water sources. We found increasing dissolved phosphorus concentrations in more than 170 Great Lakes Basin streams, despite stable or decreasing total phosphorus levels. Higher latitudes experienced greater relative increases, potentially due to warmer winters and altered flow pathways.
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Article |
Widespread increases in soluble phosphorus concentrations in streams across the transboundary Great Lakes Basin
Analyses of phosphorus concentrations in more than 370 watersheds of the Great Lakes Basin from 2003 to 2019 suggest widespread increases in soluble reactive phosphorus concentrations, despite often decreasing or non-significant trends in total phosphorus.
- Nitin K. Singh
- , Kimberly J. Van Meter
- & Nandita B. Basu
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Article |
Recent trends in the chemistry of major northern rivers signal widespread Arctic change
Divergent trends in biogeochemical constituents of the six largest rivers in the Arctic from 2003 to 2019 support multi-faceted changes on the Arctic landscape under global environmental change.
- Suzanne E. Tank
- , James W. McClelland
- & Robert M. Holmes
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News & Views |
Competing for phosphorus
A 3-year field experiment suggests plant responses to elevated CO2 in phosphorus-limited grasslands depends on the biogeochemical interplay between soil microbes and plants.
- Benjamin L. Turner
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News & Views |
Silicate weathering feedback hindered by clay formation
The chemical weathering of silicate rocks plays a central role in stabilizing our climate through CO2 drawdown. Li isotopic evidence from a prolonged Eocene warming event suggests clay formation may disrupt this feedback on intermediate timescales.
- Michael J. Henehan
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Article
| Open Access
Enhanced clay formation key in sustaining the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum
The long duration of the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum, compared with other transient Eocene warming events, can be explained by an increase in clays forming from the weathering of silicate minerals, according to lithium isotope records of marine carbonates.
- Alexander J. Krause
- , Appy Sluijs
- & Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann
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Article |
Soil carbon in tropical savannas mostly derived from grasses
Grasses contribute more than half of the soil organic carbon across tropical savannas, according to a case study in South Africa combined with a synthesis of data from tropical savannas globally.
- Yong Zhou
- , Barbara Bomfim
- & A. Carla Staver
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Article |
Grassland responses to elevated CO2 determined by plant–microbe competition for phosphorus
The competition between grassland vegetation and microbes for phosphorus controls how plant productivity responds to elevated CO2, according to free-air CO2 enrichment experiments on phosphorus-limited grasslands.
- J. Ben Keane
- , Iain P. Hartley
- & Gareth K. Phoenix
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Article
| Open Access
Groundwater springs formed during glacial retreat are a large source of methane in the high Arctic
Groundwater springs formed during the retreat of a melting glacier are likely hotspots of methane emissions in the high Arctic according to measurements of methane concentrations in springs recently formed in central Svalbard.
- Gabrielle E. Kleber
- , Andrew J. Hodson
- & Alexandra V. Turchyn
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Perspective |
Oxygen dynamics in marine productive ecosystems at ecologically relevant scales
The impact of dissolved oxygen fluctuations on marine ecosystems requires consideration of appropriate temporal and spatial scales.
- Folco Giomi
- , Alberto Barausse
- & Marco Fusi
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Brief Communication
| Open Access
Glacier retreat alters downstream fjord ecosystem structure and function in Greenland
Glacier retreat in Greenland not only changes the primary productivity of downstream fjord ecosystems but also the ecosystem structure and functioning, according to seasonal sampling of two downstream fjords.
- Lorenz Meire
- , Maria Lund Paulsen
- & John Mortensen
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Article
| Open Access
Radiocarbon evidence for the stability of polar ocean overturning during the Holocene
Overturning circulation that mixes surface and deep water was invariant over the Holocene, suggesting a limited role in rising CO2 during this time, according to deep-sea coral radiocarbon records.
- Tianyu Chen
- , Laura F. Robinson
- & Timothy D. J. Knowles
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Research Briefing |
Fossil greenhouse-gas emission from microbial use of rock-derived organic carbon
Rock organic carbon from glacial runoff, once assumed to be non-bioavailable, is identified as a substrate used by marine sedimentary microbes. This challenges the traditional view that rock organic carbon bypasses the active carbon cycle and indicates an additional source of fossil greenhouse-gas emissions on geological, or possibly even shorter, timescales.
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Article
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Fossil organic carbon utilization in marine Arctic fjord sediments by subsurface micro-organisms
Ancient, rock-derived organic matter is consumed by micro-organisms in Arctic fjord sediments despite its presumed limited bioavailability, representing a potential source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to compound-specific radiocarbon analyses of lipids from living bacteria.
- Manuel Ruben
- , Jens Hefter
- & Gesine Mollenhauer
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Editorial |
Phosphorus cycle in focus
Ecosystems have long been shaped by phosphorus limitation. We need to better understand how natural and human-caused shifts in the phosphorus cycle disrupt the Earth system.
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Q&A |
Phosphorus from land to sea
Nature Geoscience spoke with Dr Shlomit Sharoni, an ocean biogeochemist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dr Kelly Andersen, a tropical ecologist at Nanyang Technological University about the interplay between phosphorous cycling and the ecosystems they study.
- James Super
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All Minerals Considered |
Vivianite blues
From Dutch painters to ocean sediments, Caroline Slomp discusses the role vivianite plays in the distribution of phosphorus, an essential nutrient for life.
- Caroline P. Slomp
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Article |
Arctic mercury flux increased through the Last Glacial Termination with a warming climate
Mercury deposition onto the Greenland Ice Sheet increased from the Last Glacial Termination to early Holocene as the North Atlantic warmed and sea ice retreated, according to an ice-core mercury record and atmospheric chemistry modelling.
- Delia Segato
- , Alfonso Saiz-Lopez
- & Andrea Spolaor
Evolution of Earth’s oxygenation and temperature depends on surface carbonate accumulation