Geochemistry articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • All Minerals Considered |

    Hydrous minerals within the Earth affect volatile cycling and mantle geodynamics. Jun Tsuchiya explains how stable phases of these minerals are being uncovered at increasingly high pressures.

    • Jun Tsuchiya

  • News & Views |

    The trace-element compositions of mantle-derived basalts suggest that the asthenosphere has two distinct melt layers, with unique chemical compositions and physical properties.

    • Emily J. Chin

  • Article |

    The accumulation of partial melt at two distinct depth ranges in the asthenosphere is widespread, including in areas of mantle upflow, according to a study of Y/Yb compositions of oceanic and continental basalts.

    • Jun-Bo Zhang
    • , Yong-Sheng Liu
    •  & Cheng-Yuan Wang

  • Research Briefing |

    In a part of the Apennines, where the Earth’s crust is thin and heat flow is high, production of CO2 from deep below the mountains dominates over near-surface weathering processes that consume this greenhouse gas. Ultimately, the magnitude of deep CO2 release tips the balance towards a landscape that is a net carbon emitter.

  • All Minerals Considered |

    Burbankite is a rare sodium carbonate mineral that is easily dissolved away in its host igneous rocks. Its formation and dissolution can help concentrate rare earth elements that are vital for a low-carbon future, as Sam Broom-Fendley explains.

    • Sam Broom-Fendley

  • Research Briefing |

    There are no good models for the chemical evolution of the Earth’s surface over the planet’s lifetime, because models typically overlook the progressive build-up of carbonate rocks in the crust. A new model that includes this accumulation enables the reconstruction of major oxygen and temperature trends throughout Earth’s history.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    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

  • All Minerals Considered |

    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

  • Research Briefing |

    H2, which is formed by the oxidation of iron in rocks, was likely a critical source of energy for early life. Analysis of natural rock samples from 3.5–2.7 billion-year-old komatiites, combined with geochemical data from a global database, quantifies the amount of H2 likely to have been produced in Earth’s ancient oceans.

  • Research Briefing |

    There are two competing hypotheses for the origin of oceanic plateaus: plume versus plate. Thermodynamic modelling of magmatism at Shatsky Rise, in the Pacific Ocean, now suggests that neither mechanism is adequate on its own and in fact plume–ridge interaction is required to explain the formation of this ocean plateau.

  • All Minerals Considered |

    From pressure indicator to paint brightener, Alicia Cruz-Uribe examines the many uses of rutile.

    • Alicia M. Cruz-Uribe

  • News & Views |

    The chemical signatures of granitic continental crust from the earliest Archean are consistent with formation during subduction, indicating some form of plate tectonics was active at the time.

    • Allen P. Nutman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    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

  • All Minerals Considered |

    More than just a gemstone, Jon Pownall and Kathryn Cutts explore the history and future directions of garnet as a recorder of pressure, temperature, and time.

    • Jonathan M. Pownall
    •  & Kathryn A. Cutts

  • Article |

    The formation of continental crust may have trapped —and thus not degassed—substantial amounts of magmatic nitrogen over Earth’s history, according to geochemical analyses of igneous rocks from the Hekla volcanic system in Iceland.

    • Toby J. Boocock
    • , Sami Mikhail
    •  & Eva E. Stüeken

  • Research Briefing |

    Lightning can produce bioavailable nitrogen oxides, but it is unknown whether this was a substantial nutrient source for Earth’s earliest biosphere. Comparison of nitrogen isotope measurements from spark discharge experiments to those from the rock record suggests that lightning was likely not the main source of bioavailable nitrogen for the biosphere throughout most of Earth’s history.

  • News & Views |

    High pressures may have enabled ferric iron-rich silicate melts to coexist with iron metal near the base of magma oceans early in the history of large rocky planets like Earth. This suggests a relatively oxygen-rich atmosphere during the late stages of core formation on these planets.

    • Fabrice Gaillard

  • Review Article |

    A review of aqueous phosphorus availability on the Earth’s early surface suggests a range of phosphorus sources supplied the prebiotic Earth, but that phosphorus availability declined as life evolved and altered geochemical cycling.

    • Craig R. Walton
    • , Sophia Ewens
    •  & Matthew A. Pasek

  • News & Views |

    Long-lasting eruptions of some subduction zone volcanoes may be regulated by their magma sources in the mantle. This suggests that direct connections between the mantle and surface are possible through a relatively thick crust.

    • Jorge E. Romero

  • Article |

    Small-scale compositional alteration of the mantle wedge by fluids may regulate eruptive activity of individual arc volcanoes, according to an analysis of the isotopic composition of ashes erupted by Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador from 1999 to 2016.

    • I. Vlastélic
    • , N. Sainlot
    •  & A. Gannoun

  • Article |

    The source of highly oxidized arc magmas may rely on the infiltration of sediment-derived fluids that contain oxidized aqueous species—notably sulfate—into deserpentinization fluids, according to thermodynamic modelling.

    • José Alberto Padrón-Navarta
    • , Vicente López Sánchez-Vizcaíno
    •  & Carlos J. Garrido

Browse broader subjects

Browse Geochemistry across other nature.com journals