Petrology articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • 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

  • 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

  • All Minerals Considered |

    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

  • 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.

  • All Minerals Considered |

    Recording 4.3 billion years of Earth’s history, Jesse Reimink explores the many ways that zircon allows geologists to keep track of the past.

    • Jesse Reimink

  • All Minerals Considered |

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

    • Alicia M. Cruz-Uribe

  • 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

  • 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 lunar basalts sampled by the Chang’e-5 mission originated from melting of a clinopyroxene-rich mantle source enhanced in radioactive elements, potentially explaining this late lunar volcanism, according to sample analysis and crystallization modelling.

    • Biji Luo
    • , Zaicong Wang
    •  & Hongfei Zhang

  • 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

  • All Minerals Considered |

    Earth’s most abundant mineral — bridgmanite — lies hidden in the lower mantle, but Li Zhang is hopeful that advances in analytical techniques may reveal the inner workings of our world.

    • Li Zhang

  • All Minerals Considered |

    Delving into recent and historical discoveries, Ananya Mallik explains how diamonds track the workings of the deep Earth that are hidden from view.

    • Ananya Mallik

  • Editorial |

    Permeating every aspect of life – and each with a multitude of stories to tell – we celebrate the utility, beauty and wonder of minerals in a new column: all minerals considered.

  • Article |

    Geochemical analyses of an andesitic meteorite suggest the continental-crust-like composition is due to partial melting after core formation on a differentiated parent body.

    • Robert W. Nicklas
    • , James M. D. Day
    •  & Arya Udry

  • News & Views |

    Flood basalts are connected to Earth’s most extreme environmental crises, yet warming is sometimes observed before surface eruptions. Modelling reveals that a complex buildup of basalt intrusions into the crust releases enough CO2 to cause this pre-eruptive warming.

    • Jennifer Kasbohm

  • News & Views |

    Low viscosities may not preclude brittle magma fragmentation under certain conditions, according to field observations and experimental evidence that suggest the conditions for brittle fragmentation may be met in many explosive mafic eruptions.

    • Emma J. Liu

  • Article |

    In explosive basaltic eruptions, brittle fragmentation and subsequent healing by viscous melt are documented by textural analysis of products from ten disparate eruptions, suggesting that grain size may not reflect the initial fracture density of magma.

    • J. Taddeucci
    • , C. Cimarelli
    •  & F. Di Stefano

  • Article |

    A link between post-thickening lithospheric extension and the differentiation of continental crust is implied by granulite conditions beneath the Rio Grande Rift, inferred from analysis of lower-crustal xenoliths and thermobarometric modelling.

    • Jacob H. Cipar
    • , Joshua M. Garber
    •  & Andrew J. Smye

  • News & Views |

    Time capsules of fluid, trapped within the oxide minerals from two iron ore deposits reveal an important role for sediment-derived carbonate–sulfate-rich melts in the concentration of iron, a crucial element for humanity’s development.

    • James M. Brenan

  • News & Views |

    Tectonic tremor may ultimately be caused by in situ fluid overpressure generated by chemical reactions between a subducting slab and the mantle, according to field and microstructural observations of a shear zone.

    • Kohtaro Ujiie

  • News & Views |

    Subduction processes may have operated very early in Earth’s history according to the heavy silicon isotope compositions of Archaean igneous rocks. The silicon that precipitated out of the Archaean oceans as chert was subducted and melted to yield seawater-like heavy isotope signatures in early granitic rocks.

    • Franck Poitrasson

  • Article |

    Magma ascent from the near-Moho depth of 24 km to surface eruption took 10 days with melt transport rates of 0.02 to 0.1 m s−1, according to geothermobarometry and diffusion chronometry on primitive olivine crystals from Borgarhraun, Iceland.

    • Euan J. F. Mutch
    • , John Maclennan
    •  & John F. Rudge

  • Article |

    Melts from diverse mantle components are delivered to the lower oceanic crust and preserved at centimetre scale, according to the wide range in the Nd and Sr isotope composition of gabbroic minerals from a segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

    • Sarah Lambart
    • , Janne M. Koornneef
    •  & C. Johan Lissenberg

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