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| Open AccessHazardous explosive eruptions of a recharging multi-cyclic island arc caldera
Evidence for a past large explosive eruption within the Santorini caldera suggests that early stages of silicic caldera cycles can be more hazardous than previously assumed, according to analyses of intra-caldera deposits from the Kameni Volcano.
- Jonas Preine
- , Jens Karstens
- & Dimitrios Papanikolaou
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Editorial |
Connecting geology to ecology
Understanding the ecosystem response to global environmental change requires consideration of geological processes, highlighting the interconnected nature of our Earth system.
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All Minerals Considered |
Phosphorus’s cosmic courier
Schreibersite is found in meteorites and thought to dwell in planetary cores. Tingting Gu explains how it may also have supported life on the early Earth.
- Tingting Gu
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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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Article
| Open AccessRemnants of shifting early Cenozoic Pacific lower mantle flow imaged beneath the Philippine Sea Plate
A record of lower mantle flow from 50 million years ago is preserved in the Pacific region and provides evidence for past lower mantle deformation, according to seismic anisotropy tomography.
- Jianke Fan
- , Dapeng Zhao
- & Dongdong Dong
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Article
| Open AccessLate Pleistocene emergence of an anthropogenic fire regime in Australia’s tropical savannahs
A shift towards more-frequent, less-intense fires in Australia began about 11,000 years ago due to management by Indigenous societies, according to charcoal and stable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon records extending back 150,000 years.
- Michael I. Bird
- , Michael Brand
- & Corey J. A. Bradshaw
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Article |
Wind-steered Eastern Pathway of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
About half of the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation flows east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a pathway steered by wind and not bottom topography, according to hydrographic data, reanalysis and model simulations.
- Zhengyu Liu
- , Sifan Gu
- & Chengfei He
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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 |
Cenozoic eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau controlled by tearing of the Indian slab
The Cenozoic eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau can be explained by slab tear and the resulting mantle flow beneath the eastern region, according to analysis of seismic tomography, tectonic and magmatic records of the Indian mantle lithosphere.
- Zengqian Hou
- , Lijun Liu
- & Qingtian Lü
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Observational evidence for Criegee intermediate oligomerization reactions relevant to aerosol formation in the troposphere
Measurements of Criegee intermediate oligomerization signatures in the Amazon rainforest indicate that the role of Criegee intermediate chemistry in the composition of Earth’s troposphere has been underestimated.
- R. L. Caravan
- , T. J. Bannan
- & C. J. Percival
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Article |
Detections of ultralow velocity zones in high-velocity lowermost mantle linked to subducted slabs
Global detections of ultralow velocity zones in high-velocity lowermost mantle regions are associated with thermochemical anomalies linked to subducted slabs, according to analysis of SKKKP B-caustic diffractions with anomalous seismic structures in the mantle and outer core.
- Yulong Su
- , Sidao Ni
- & Daoyuan Sun
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal 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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Research Briefing |
Ultralow velocity zone and deep mantle flow beneath the Himalayas are linked to a subducted slab
Through the detection of postcursors of shear waves diffracted at the core–mantle boundary, a zone of ultralow seismic velocities has been identified at the base of the mantle beneath the Himalayas. The presence of this zone is probably linked to a subducted slab remnant that is driving mantle flow in the region.
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Research Briefing |
Linking biosphere with lithosphere by assessing how earthquakes affect forest growth
Earthquakes not only affect tree growth directly by causing physical injury to individual trees but also indirectly by inducing changes in forest habitats. We established linkage between tree-ring series and seismic disturbances and found that prominent and lasting seismic legacies in drier areas may be due to an increased infiltration of precipitation through earthquake-induced soil cracks.
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Ultralow velocity zone and deep mantle flow beneath the Himalayas linked to subducted slab
The presence of an ultralow velocity zone and seismic anisotropy in the lowermost mantle beneath the Himalayas is linked to subducted slab remnants and southwest mantle flow, according to analyses of seismic waves and mantle anisotropy measurements.
- Jonathan Wolf
- , Maureen D. Long
- & Daniel A. Frost
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Article
| Open AccessEarly 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 AccessRockfall from an increasingly unstable mountain slope driven by climate warming
Climate warming has driven increased rockfall from an unstable mountain slope in the Swiss Alps, according to a record of rockfall activity spanning the past century based on tree damage.
- Markus Stoffel
- , Daniel G. Trappmann
- & Christophe Corona
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Article
| Open AccessEmergent 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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Shifts of forest resilience after seismic disturbances in tectonically active regions
Earthquakes can cause decadal-scale shifts in forest growth resilience by increasing the infiltration of precipitation through earthquake-induced soil cracks, according to global analyses of tree-ring width and historic earthquake data.
- Shan Gao
- , Eryuan Liang
- & J. Julio Camarero
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Recent pronounced warming on the Mongolian Plateau boosted by internal climate variability
Relatively strong warming over the Mongolian Plateau in recent decades can be explained, in part, by synchronous internal climate oscillations, according to climate model experiments.
- Qingyu Cai
- , Wen Chen
- & Xiaoqing Lan
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Article
| Open AccessDrought 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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Editorial |
Melting ice core archives
Urgent efforts are needed to collect and preserve ice cores from mountain glaciers before these archives are lost.
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All Minerals Considered |
Amphibole interlocking into jade
Nephrite jade is a semi-precious gemstone composed of tiny crystals and needles of amphibole. Here, Matthew Tarling and Steven Smith describe how its origins lead to inner toughness and beauty.
- Matthew S. Tarling
- & Steven A. F. Smith
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Article
| Open AccessRegional variations in relative sea-level changes influenced by nonlinear vertical land motion
A probabilistic reconstruction of vertical land motion reveals regional variations in relative sea-level changes and large uncertainties in sea-level projections due to nonlinear effects.
- Julius Oelsmann
- , Marta Marcos
- & Florian Seitz
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Article
| Open AccessSubstantial 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
| Open AccessAbrupt Holocene ice loss due to thinning and ungrounding in the Weddell Sea Embayment
The Ronne Ice Shelf of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated rapidly in the early Holocene due to ice sheet dynamic thinning and subsequent ungrounding, according to an ice core record from Skytrain Ice Rise.
- Mackenzie M. Grieman
- , Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles
- & Eric W. Wolff
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Stress-driven recurrence and precursory moment-rate surge in caldera collapse earthquakes
The initiation and rupture extent of earthquakes are controlled by stress heterogeneity, according to analysis of seismicity and deformation during caldera collapse of Kilauea Volcano.
- Paul Segall
- , Mark V. Matthews
- & Kyle R. Anderson
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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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Proto-monsoon rainfall and greening in Central Asia due to extreme early Eocene warmth
Proto-monsoon expansion doubled rainfall in Central Asia during an early Eocene hyperthermal, leading to a rapid if transient expansion of forests replacing the steppe-desert.
- Niels Meijer
- , Alexis Licht
- & Guillaume Dupont-Nivet
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Brief Communication
| Open AccessHigh-altitude glacier archives lost due to climate change-related melting
Information on past environmental conditions stored within high-altitude glaciers is being lost due to accelerated melting associated with climate change, according to ice core analysis from a Swiss glacier.
- C. J. Huber
- , A. Eichler
- & M. Schwikowski
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Brief Communication
| Open AccessNoble gas evidence of a millennial-scale deep North Pacific palaeo-barometric anomaly
Noble gas concentrations in the deep North Pacific indicate that sea-level pressure in Antarctic Bottom Water formation regions has changed over the past 2,000 years.
- W. J. Jenkins
- , A. M. Seltzer
- & C. R. German
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Article
| Open AccessLate Miocene onset of the modern Antarctic Circumpolar Current
Ocean sediment records suggest that the modern Antarctic Circumpolar Current did not exist before the late Miocene cooling, indicating its origin is linked to the expansion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
- Dimitris Evangelinos
- , Johan Etourneau
- & Carlota Escutia
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Article
| Open AccessTitanium-rich basaltic melts on the Moon modulated by reactive flow processes
Petrological reaction experiments and magnesium isotope data suggest that reactive flow with mantle cumulates can explain the composition of Ti-rich basaltic magmas.
- Martijn Klaver
- , Stephan Klemme
- & Tim Elliott
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Editorial |
On the cover
A picture is worth a thousand words, as is a Nature Geoscience cover image.
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All Minerals Considered |
Ubiquitous magnetite
Magnetite is found throughout the Earth system and has many uses, explains Barbara Maher. It is a tracer of plate tectonic movements, a sub-cellular navigation aid and an economic resource, but also a pollutant.
- Barbara Maher
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Perspective |
Geological evidence for multiple climate transitions on Early Mars
Early Mars did not experience a single wet-to-dry transition, but seven such shifts in its palaeoclimatic history, as argued based on the planet’s stratigraphy, mineralogy and geomorphology.
- Edwin S. Kite
- & Susan Conway
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Article |
Formation of secondary organic aerosol from wildfire emissions enhanced by long-time ageing
The amount of secondary organic aerosol produced from wildfire emissions is much higher than previously thought, according to model simulations of evolution of individual species of organic aerosol over time.
- Yicong He
- , Bin Zhao
- & Neil M. Donahue
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Coevolving aerodynamic and impact ripples on Earth
Wind tunnel experiments and numerical modelling reveal the existence of two distinct ripples on Earth: centimetre-scale impact ripples and decimetre-scale hydrodynamic ripples, akin to those in water and on Mars.
- Hezi Yizhaq
- , Katharina Tholen
- & Itzhak Katra
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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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Regional rare-earth element supply and demand balanced with circular economy strategies
Mobilization of in-use rare-earth element stocks in regions of high consumption can ease dependence on regions of rare-earth extraction, according to dynamic integrated modelling combining material flow and scenario analysis.
- Peng Wang
- , Yu-Yao Yang
- & Wei-Qiang Chen
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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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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 |
Recent human-induced atmospheric drying across Europe unprecedented in the last 400 years
The atmosphere has dried across most regions of Europe in recent decades, a trend that can be attributed primarily to human impacts, according to tree ring records spanning 400 years and Earth system model simulations.
- Kerstin Treydte
- , Laibao Liu
- & Neil J. Loader
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News & Views |
Triggers of Chile’s mega-earthquakes
Megathrust earthquakes along subduction zones present significant hazards. Evidence from the South Chile subduction zone suggests that the structure and fluid distribution of the megathrust interface governs the size and timing of large earthquakes.
- Mohamed Chlieh
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Recurrence time and size of Chilean earthquakes influenced by geological structure
Geological structure and pore fluid pressure in the subduction zone forearc govern the size and recurrence of megathrust earthquakes in Chile, according to quasi-dynamic simulations of the seismic cycle.
- Joaquín Julve
- , Sylvain Barbot
- & Valeria Becerra-Carreño
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Article
| Open AccessMercury fluxes from hydrothermal venting at mid-ocean ridges constrained by measurements
Hydrothermal venting makes limited contribution to the inventory of oceanic mercury compared with anthropogenic inputs, according to measurements at mid-ocean ridges.
- Natalia Torres-Rodriguez
- , Jingjing Yuan
- & Lars-Eric Heimbürger-Boavida
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Comment |
The case for a lunar anthropocene
Human exploration of the Solar System began on the Moon during the space race of the mid-twentieth century. To facilitate documentation and study of the human influence on the Moon, we argue it is time to designate a ‘Lunar Anthropocene’.
- Justin Allen Holcomb
- , Rolfe David Mandel
- & Karl William Wegmann