Earth and environmental sciences articles within Nature Geoscience

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  • Letter |

    There is evidence for the existence of differentiated crust early in Earth’s history, but little is known about the timing and nature of the crust and its formation. New samarium–neodymium data from the Dresser Formation in Western Australia point to differentiation of the early crust from the mantle more than 4.3 billion years ago.

    • Svetlana G. Tessalina
    • , Bernard Bourdon
    •  & Pascal Philippot

  • Letter |

    The onset of fluvial erosion in an area of tectonic uplift is thought to reflect the timing of the uplift. Geomorphological data from the Yellow River in Tibet, indicate that the rapid incision of this river channel occurred as a result of climate change, at least six million years after the onset of plateau uplift.

    • William H. Craddock
    • , Eric Kirby
    •  & Jianhui Liu

  • Letter |

    Anomalies of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean Dipole often occur simultaneously. An analysis of observations and models suggests that, in addition, the negative phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole tends to occur 14 months before an El Niño event, with implications for El Niño predictability.

    • Takeshi Izumo
    • , Jérôme Vialard
    •  & Toshio Yamagata

  • Review Article |

    Whether the characteristics of tropical cyclones have altered, or will alter, in a changing climate has been subject of considerable debate. An overview of recent research indicates that greenhouse warming will cause stronger storms, on average, but a decrease in the frequency of tropical cyclones.

    • Thomas R. Knutson
    • , John L. McBride
    •  & Masato Sugi

  • News & Views |

    Greenland is losing ice through glaciers that flow into deep fjords. New observations highlight the important fjord processes that supply warm ocean waters to the melting glaciers, and thereby affect Greenland's contribution to sea-level rise.

    • Paul Holland

  • Letter |

    Increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in sea water are driving a progressive acidification of the ocean, with as yet unclear impacts on marine calcifying organisms. Simulations with an Earth system model suggest that future changes in the marine environment could be more severe than those experienced during the Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum, both in the deep ocean and near the surface.

    • Andy Ridgwell
    •  & Daniela N. Schmidt

  • Letter |

    Widespread glacier acceleration has been observed in Greenland in the past few years. Oceanographic observations taken in summer 2008 show that ocean waters melted a substantial fraction of ice along the calving fronts of three West Greenland glaciers, indicating that submarine melting has a profound influence on grounding-line stability.

    • Eric Rignot
    • , Michele Koppes
    •  & Isabella Velicogna

  • Letter |

    The recent rapid increase in mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet is primarily attributed to an acceleration of outlet glaciers. Oceanographic data obtained in summer 2008 show that subtropical waters that reside year-round in the shelf ocean off Greenland continuously enter a large glacial fjord in East Greenland and contribute to melting at the glacier terminus.

    • Fiammetta Straneo
    • , Gordon S. Hamilton
    •  & Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid

  • Letter |

    Ninety-four million years ago, during Ocean Anoxic Event 2, there was a marked increase in the burial of organic carbon in marine sediments. Measurements of stomata in fossil leaves show that the two main pulses of carbon burial were associated with a decline in atmospheric CO2 levels of up to 26%.

    • Richard S. Barclay
    • , Jennifer C. McElwain
    •  & Bradley B. Sageman

  • Article |

    The southwest corner of Western Australia has been subject to a serious drought in recent decades, whose ultimate cause remains unclear. A comparison of precipitation records in the area of drought and an ice core from East Antarctica reveal a significant inverse correlation between precipitation in the two locations, and suggest that the current drought may be highly unusual compared with the past 750 years of variability.

    • Tas D. van Ommen
    •  & Vin Morgan

  • Letter |

    In the Arctic spring, sunlight-induced reactions convert gaseous elemental mercury into compounds that are rapidly deposited on the snowpack. Analysis of the isotopic composition of mercury in snow samples collected during an atmospheric mercury depletion event suggests that sunlight triggers the re-emission of mercury from the snowpack.

    • Laura S. Sherman
    • , Joel D. Blum
    •  & Thomas A. Douglas

  • News & Views |

    The south pole of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus is anomalously warm, geologically youthful and cryovolcanically active. Episodic convective overturn explains how the moon's modest sources of internal heat can be channelled into intense geological activity.

    • Paul Helfenstein

  • News & Views |

    In the North Atlantic region, six massive iceberg discharge events marked the last glacial period. A numerical model now links these events to ocean temperatures and ice-shelf conditions.

    • Christina Hulbe

  • News & Views |

    Hydrologists have thought of soil as a kind of giant sponge that soaks up precipitation and slowly releases it to streams. But according to new evidence the soil water used by vegetation may be largely decoupled from the water that flows through soils to streams.

    • Fred M. Phillips

  • Editorial |

    Indonesia's tsunami-warning system is scheduled to enter full operational mode by March 2010. The sooner it runs, the better: the threat of a tsunamigenic earthquake in the region is still imminent.

  • Letter |

    Several periods of global ocean anoxia punctuated the Cretaceous period. Marine-sediment chemistry indicates that extensive volcanism at the beginning of Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 released sulphur to the oceans, triggering a biogeochemical cascade that led to enhanced surface productivity and depletion of oxygen in the underlying waters.

    • Derek D. Adams
    • , Matthew T. Hurtgen
    •  & Bradley B. Sageman

  • Letter |

    The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum has been attributed to the release of carbon dioxide from the deep Southern Ocean. However, reconstructions of the radiocarbon signature of Chilean margin intermediate waters during the glacial termination do not reflect the influence of such a release.

    • Ricardo De Pol-Holz
    • , Lloyd Keigwin
    •  & Mahyar Mohtadi

  • Letter |

    Jupiter’s large moons Ganymede and Callisto are similar in size and composition, but different in surface and interior characteristics. Simulations with geophysical models of core formation indicate that the difference in impact energy received by the two satellites during the period of late heavy bombardment can explain the dichotomy.

    • Amy C. Barr
    •  & Robin M. Canup

  • Letter |

    The last glacial period was punctuated by several periods of massive iceberg discharge from the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. Numerical simulations indicate that these discharge events are linked to an interplay between ice-sheet accumulation, marine ice-shelf stability and periodically oscillating surface ocean temperature.

    • Jorge Alvarez-Solas
    • , Sylvie Charbit
    •  & Christophe Dumas

  • Letter |

    The last glacial period was characterized by large, rapid climate fluctuations. An analysis of a speleothem from New Mexico shows that the coldest conditions over Greenland coincide with increased winter precipitation in the southwestern United States, which can be attributed to a southward displacement of the polar jet stream and the North American storm track.

    • Yemane Asmerom
    • , Victor J. Polyak
    •  & Stephen J. Burns

  • Progress Article |

    Arsenic levels in shallow groundwater in the Bengal Basin exceed thresholds for safe drinking water. Groundwater modelling indicates that deep wells that reach safe water below 150 m could remain safe for centuries if used for domestic water only, whereas the intensive use of deep groundwater for irrigation could contaminate this resource within decades.

    • W. G. Burgess
    • , M. A. Hoque
    •  & K. M. Ahmed

  • Letter |

    The slip rate along a fault controls the accumulation of strain that is eventually released during an earthquake. Estimates from a three-dimensional geomechanical model of the slip rate on the main Marmara fault near Istanbul, Turkey reconcile geodetic and geological observations and indicate smaller values and higher variability than previously thought.

    • Tobias Hergert
    •  & Oliver Heidbach

  • Letter |

    Oil spilt from the tanker Exxon Valdez more than 20 years ago still persists in the gravel beaches of Prince William Sound, Alaska. Field data and numerical modelling indicate that some of the oil was trapped in the anoxic environment of the lower layers of the beaches when the water table was low.

    • Hailong Li
    •  & Michel C. Boufadel

  • Letter |

    Periodic iceberg discharges during the last glacial period led to a slowdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Sediment records from the Portuguese margin show that similar events punctuated the penultimate glacial period as well, although their duration and broader climatic impacts were modified by different background climate conditions.

    • V. Margari
    • , L. C. Skinner
    •  & N. J. Shackleton

  • Letter |

    Over the past 50 years, retreating glaciers and ice caps have contributed 0.5 mm yr−1 to sea-level rise, and one third of this contribution is believed to come from ice masses bordering the Gulf of Alaska. A combination of a comprehensive glacier inventory with high-resolution elevation data indicates that the ice loss from Alaskan glaciers is 34% less than previously thought.

    • E. Berthier
    • , E. Schiefer
    •  & F. Rémy

  • News & Views |

    The sequence of events during the collision between India and Eurasia has long been contested. Numerical simulations imply that the key to the puzzle could lie in the subduction of continental lithosphere.

    • R. Dietmar Müller

  • Letter |

    The atmospheric response to millennial-scale circulation changes in the North Atlantic Ocean during the last glacial period has been difficult to constrain. Cave deposits from southwestern North America reveal that atmospheric moisture in this region increased in response to slowdowns of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.

    • J. D. M. Wagner
    • , J. E. Cole
    •  & H. R. Barnett

  • Letter |

    The most spectacular example of plate convergence on Earth was the motion of the Indian plate towards Eurasia, and the subsequent collision. Density estimates of the Greater Indian continent, after its upper crust is scraped off at the Himalayan front, suggest that this continental plate is readily subductable, potentially explaining why the convergence did not halt on collision.

    • F. A. Capitanio
    • , G. Morra
    •  & L. Moresi

  • Letter |

    Throughout the most recent glacial period sea level fluctuated by 20–30 m. Climate model simulations indicate that the barrier to water exchange between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans posed by the Bering Strait during low sea levels could have been instrumental in generating these fluctuations.

    • Aixue Hu
    • , Gerald A. Meehl
    •  & Nan Rosenbloom

  • Letter |

    Saturn’s satellite Enceladus shows higher heat loss than expected and a wide range of surface ages. Numerical simulations indicate that occasional catastrophic overturn events could be responsible for both observations by recycling portions of the icy lid to the interior, which would cause transiently enhanced heat loss.

    • Craig O’Neill
    •  & Francis Nimmo

  • Editorial |

    Arsenic contamination of groundwater affects millions of people in southern Asia. Water from deep wells could help, but only if used in moderation.

  • Editorial |

    Self-censorship of private scientific e-mail-exchanges cannot be the solution to the threat from hackers.

  • News & Views |

    Arsenic occurs naturally in the groundwater of southern Asia. Analyses of an agricultural site in Bangladesh suggest that human activities, including widespread farming practices, can dictate where elevated arsenic is found.

    • Shawn Benner

  • News & Views |

    The effect of rising greenhouse-gas emissions on climate is not uniform across the globe. An analysis of the mechanisms behind model-projected changes in ocean temperature gives greater confidence in the pattern of tropical warming and its potential impacts.

    • Amy C. Clement
    • , Andrew C. Baker
    •  & Julie Leloup

  • News & Views |

    Where the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates collide under the South Island of New Zealand large quantities of aqueous fluid are produced. But how does this happen? Geophysical and petrological data indicate that it may not be as we thought.

    • Philip E. Wannamaker

  • Commentary |

    Nearly an eighth of the population in Bangladesh relies on arsenic-contaminated drinking water. Arsenic-removal filters could help to reduce exposure, but their price is high for the poor and their maintenance is cumbersome.

    • Richard Bart Johnston
    • , Suzanne Hanchett
    •  & Mohidul Hoque Khan

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