Earth and environmental sciences articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • Article |

    The western Pacific warm pool and the Indonesian throughflow affect tropical climate and atmospheric convection. Marine sediment records reveal uniformly elevated temperatures from 10,000 to 7,000 years ago, despite the initiation of modern Indonesian throughflow circulation about 9,500 years ago.

    • Braddock K. Linsley
    • , Yair Rosenthal
    •  & Delia W. Oppo

  • Article |

    Ice ages during the Palaeozoic era are marked by glacial–interglacial cycles thought to be driven by variations in the Earth’s orbit. Numerical simulations suggest that the response of vegetation to the varying insolation may be an important factor in the associated climate response.

    • Daniel E. Horton
    • , Christopher J. Poulsen
    •  & David Pollard

  • Letter |

    The reason for the spectacular curvature of the Banda subduction zone is debated. Tomographic images and plate reconstructions reveal subduction of a single slab. The ancient geometry of the Australian plate, as well as the interaction between the slab and the mantle, caused the deformation of the slab.

    • Wim Spakman
    •  & Robert Hall

  • Review Article |

    The terrestrial biosphere is a key regulator of atmospheric chemistry and climate. Total positive radiative forcing resulting from biogeochemical feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere could be equally as important as that resulting from physical feedbacks.

    • A. Arneth
    • , S. P. Harrison
    •  & T. Vesala

  • News & Views |

    The formation and burial of calcium phosphate minerals removes large quantities of phosphorus from the ocean. Radiotracer experiments reveal that bacteria in marine sediments mediate the production of these mineral phases at remarkably fast rates.

    • Ellery D. Ingall

  • Letter |

    Dense water that formed over the Antarctic continental shelf spreads throughout the global ocean as Antarctic Bottom Water. Observations over eight years reveal a strong seasonal cycle in the flow of Weddell Sea bottom water northwards that is linked to winds over the western margin of the Weddell Sea.

    • Arnold L. Gordon
    • , Bruce Huber
    •  & Martin Visbeck

  • Letter |

    Organic phosphorus is removed from the ocean by its conversion to phosphorite. Laboratory incubations suggest that bacteria catalyse phosphorite formation, and that the rate of conversion is greatest under anoxic conditions.

    • Tobias Goldhammer
    • , Volker Brüchert
    •  & Matthias Zabel

  • Letter |

    Modelling studies suggest that management of solar radiation could produce stabilized global temperatures and reduced global precipitation. An analysis of a large-ensemble simulation of 54 temperature-stabilization scenarios suggests that it may not be possible to achieve climate stabilization through management of solar radiation simultaneously in all regions.

    • Katharine L. Ricke
    • , M. Granger Morgan
    •  & Myles R. Allen

  • Letter |

    Sea-level rise is not globally uniform. A combination of observations and climate-model simulations reveals a pattern of sea-level changes in the Indian Ocean, with a decrease in the southern tropical Indian Ocean and a rise elsewhere, that can be attributed to changes in the atmospheric overturning circulation.

    • Weiqing Han
    • , Gerald A. Meehl
    •  & Stephen Yeager

  • News & Views |

    The composition of the rocks brought back from the Moon by the Apollo astronauts still poses a conundrum. Spectroscopic measurements of the lunar surface may offer a resolution while providing a glimpse at the evolution of the lunar mantle.

    • Paul Lucey

  • Letter |

    The composition, structure and evolution of the Moon’s mantle is poorly constrained. A global survey of the Moon’s surface, using the spectral profiler onboard the lunar explorer SELENE/Kaguya, identifies a number of exposures of olivine in concentric regions around lunar craters, with a possible mantle origin.

    • Satoru Yamamoto
    • , Ryosuke Nakamura
    •  & Junichi Haruyama

  • News & Views |

    The timing and nature of changes in the chemistry of the early oceans are intensely debated. Geochemical analyses show that a prominent transition to sulphidic marine conditions 1.8 billion years ago may have been restricted to near-shore environments.

    • David Fike

  • News & Views |

    The mechanics of slip on faults in the Earth's crust are still unclear. Field observations from New Zealand show that movement can occur where — according to conventional assumptions of fault strength — it should not be possible.

    • D. R. Faulkner

  • News & Views |

    Most of the oceanic crust has a simple layered structure. The discovery that slow-spreading ridges exhibit a comparatively complex crustal structure and some of the largest extensional faults on Earth is leading to the recognition of a new mode of seafloor spreading.

    • Michael Cheadle
    •  & Craig Grimes

  • News & Views |

    The northern plains of Mars are thought to have harboured an ocean more than 3.6 billion years ago. Delta deposits and river-valley termini ring the proposed seabed and define an equipotential palaeoshoreline.

    • Alberto G. Fairén

  • Backstory |

    In an attempt to assess the factors controlling the rates of glacial melt in West Antarctica, Adrian Jenkins and colleagues found themselves waiting anxiously for their submersible, Autosub3, to return from under an ice shelf.

  • News & Views |

    Direct evidence for the role of volatiles in magmatic ore formation has been elusive. Magma degassing at Merapi volcano in Indonesia is found to be directly linked to the selective leaching of metals from sulphide melts that ultimately form ore deposits.

    • Bruno Scaillet

  • Letter |

    Some faults slip at high angles to the greatest principal compressive stress. The discovery of shear veins formed at angles of about 80 degrees relative to the greatest principal compressive stress in the Chrystalls Beach complex, New Zealand, suggests that slip can be facilitated by a pre-existing rock fabric under high fluid pressure.

    • Åke Fagereng
    • , Francesca Remitti
    •  & Richard H. Sibson

  • Article |

    The metal content of ore deposits formed during subduction-zone volcanism was thought to be established when the ore fluid separates from the parent magma. Analyses of metal concentrations in erupted melts and the volcanic gases emitted after an eruption in Indonesia reveal that metals can be added to the ore fluid later, during mixing with separated melts.

    • Olivier Nadeau
    • , Anthony E. Williams-Jones
    •  & John Stix

  • Letter |

    Sequestration of carbon dioxide has been proposed for the mitigation of ongoing global warming. Projections with an Earth system model over 100,000 years suggest that leakage from carbon-storage reservoirs of no more than 1% per thousand years, or continuous resequestration, would be required to maintain conditions similar to a low-emissions scenario.

    • Gary Shaffer

  • Letter |

    Thinning ice in West Antarctica is currently contributing about 10% of the observed rise in global sea level. Observations obtained from an autonomous underwater vehicle operating beneath Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, reveal that the glacier was recently grounded on a transverse ridge in the sea floor, but now warm sea water flows through the widening gap above the ridge.

    • Adrian Jenkins
    • , Pierre Dutrieux
    •  & David White

  • Letter |

    The deposition of iron formations ceased about 1.84 billion years ago. Reconstructions of ocean chemistry suggest that the advent of euxinic conditions along ocean margins preferentially removed dissolved iron from the water column in the form of the mineral pyrite, inhibiting widespread iron-oxide mineral deposition.

    • Simon W. Poulton
    • , Philip W. Fralick
    •  & Donald E. Canfield

  • News & Views |

    Pine Island Glacier on West Antarctica's Amundsen Sea coast has experienced accelerating retreat over the past few decades. Oceanographic observations under the associated ice shelf show how changes in water flow and ice-cavity geometry have contributed to ice melting.

    • Christian Schoof

  • Letter |

    River canyons are thought to be cut slowly over millions of years. However, at Lake Canyon Gorge, Texas, a seven-metre-deep canyon was cut in just three days in 2002, providing insight into the erosion processes operating during megaflood events.

    • Michael P. Lamb
    •  & Mark A. Fonstad

  • Letter |

    The climate of early Mars could have supported a complex hydrological system. Analysis of ancient deltaic deposits and valley networks reveals the presence of a planet-wide equipotential surface in the northern lowlands, indicative of the existence of a vast ocean on Mars 3.5 billion years ago.

    • Gaetano Di Achille
    •  & Brian M. Hynek

  • News & Views |

    Low atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations during glacial periods must have been accompanied by changes in surface-ocean carbonate chemistry. But it is unclear whether concurrent changes in the deep sea contributed to the glacial carbon dioxide decline.

    • Richard E. Zeebe
    •  & Thomas M. Marchitto Jr

  • News & Views |

    The Triassic/Jurassic boundary was marked by widespread environmental changes, including greenhouse warming. Palaeoecological reconstructions from East Greenland reveal a dramatic rise in fire activity, driven by vegetation shifts and climate change.

    • Bas van de Schootbrugge

  • Commentary |

    Aquifers are the primary source of drinking water for up to two billion people. To avoid overexploitation, lengthy renewal periods of some aquifers must be taken into account.

    • Tom Gleeson
    • , Jonathan VanderSteen
    •  & Yangxiao Zhou

  • News & Views |

    The ocean's nitrogen budget has escaped quantification. A modelling study shows how a small shift in the nitrate-to-phosphate uptake ratio of phytoplankton has a large effect on calculated nitrogen fixation rates.

    • Wolfgang Koeve
    •  & Paul Kähler

  • News & Views |

    Greenland's ice sheet does not look like an alpine glacier. However, it behaves like one in the way its meltwater lubricates basal motion, suggesting that projections of sea-level change will require unified knowledge of basal processes in glaciers and ice sheets.

    • Byron R. Parizek

  • Editorial |

    Two environmental disasters in April 2010 have ranked high on the public agenda. The coming months will clarify the extent of the damage, and demand Earth scientists' expertise.

  • News & Views |

    The duration of Earth's creation remains unknown. Elegant modelling of the Earth's core formation reaffirms that the bulk of accretion occurred within a few tens of millions of years, but another 100 million years or so were needed to finish the job.

    • Tim Elliott

  • News & Views |

    The rate at which new marine animals evolve has varied through time, but the factors that ultimately drive these fluctuations are unclear. A statistical analysis shows that global changes in abiotic factors play an important role.

    • Wolfgang Kiessling

  • Letter |

    The Earth formed through accretion of many planetary embryos that were probably differentiated into a metallic core and a silicate mantle. The metals and silicates were assumed to fully mix during accretion, but models of Earth’s formation that assume only partial mixing are found to be equally compatible with geochemical observations.

    • John F. Rudge
    • , Thorsten Kleine
    •  & Bernard Bourdon

  • Review Article |

    The El Niño–Southern Oscillation is a naturally occurring fluctuation that originates in the tropical Pacific region and affects the lives of millions of people worldwide. An overview of relevant research suggests that progress in our understanding of the impact of climate change on many of the processes that contribute to El Niño variability is considerable, but projections for the phenomenon itself are not yet possible.

    • Mat Collins
    • , Soon-Il An
    •  & Andrew Wittenberg

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Earth and environmental sciences across other nature.com journals