Geomagnetism articles from across Nature Portfolio

Magnetic and electron microscopy analyses of sediments from offshore southeast India identify the youngest examples of giant magnetofossils yet found, which may represent a modern analogue for ancient giant magnetofossils from past hyperthermal events.

An 80 thousand-year-long period of extreme non-geocentric dipole magnetic fields is recorded in Late Cambrian carbonate rocks of South China, suggesting that 495 million years ago Earth’s inner core had not grown large enough to stabilize the dynamo.

Numerical simulations show that convection in the mantle shapes the long-term structure of Earth’s magnetic field. The mantle influences the magnetic field by imposing a pattern of cooling that controls the dynamics of fluid flow at the top of the outer core.

Water that has been carried deep into the Earth by oceanic plates in subduction zones, can influence earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Three-dimensional images of electrical resistivity derived from electromagnetic geophysical data provide new constraints on the distribution, transport, and storage of water in the Cascadia subduction zone.

Processes within the Earth shape and influence the surface environment and the emergence and evolution of life. Our Editorial board members outline recent advances and future directions in our attempt to understand the history of our planet and its environment.

The first marsquakes detected by NASA’s InSight mission mark just the start of seismology on Mars. Both Earth and planetary scientists alike should embrace this new frontier of geophysics.

Explorer-naturalist Alexander von Humboldt’s contributions to the fields of ecology, global change and geoscience fundamentally altered the way we view the natural world and our place in it. On the 250th anniversary of his birth, we look back over his life and compile a collection of articles inspired by his legacy.