Solid Earth sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Ocean island basalts contain primordial and recycled crustal components, sourced from the deep mantle by plumes. Here, the authors examine Hf-Nd-He isotopes in ocean floor basalts south of Samoa and suggest that selective ingress of only the primordial component from the Samoan plume can occur.

    • Oliver Nebel
    •  & Richard J. Arculus

  • Article |

    The behaviour of subducted carbonates at high pressures within the Earth is still poorly understood. Here, the authors present experimental and theoretical evidence of a new carbon–oxygen bond in a high-pressure mineral phase, which has implications for the viscosity and mobility of carbonate melts.

    • Eglantine Boulard
    • , Ding Pan
    •  & Wendy L. Mao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of cohesion is vital to our understanding of how sedimentary bedforms evolve. Here, the authors show that microorganisms within the sediment affect cohesion and demonstrate that ripples can take up to one hundred times as long to develop when extracellular polymeric substances are present.

    • Jonathan Malarkey
    • , Jaco H. Baas
    •  & Peter D. Thorne

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Excitations of seismic background noise are mostly related to fluid disturbances, and earthquakes have not been considered as a source due to their intermittent nature. Here, the authors use a seabed hydrophone array and show that background noise offshore Japan is mainly due to small earthquakes.

    • Takashi Tonegawa
    • , Yoshio Fukao
    •  & Yoshiyuki Kaneda

  • Article |

    Using tidal correlations as a predictive tool for earthquakes is controversial because of the size of the data set. This study examines correlations between small earthquakes and periodic fault stresses to build a simple predictive model for larger quakes that shows good agreement with observed trends.

    • Braden A.W. Brinkman
    • , Michael LeBlanc
    •  & Karin A. Dahmen

  • Article |

    Suspended dust and sea salt are currently considered to be two major sources of environmental aerosol particles. Here, Joung and Buie report another mechanism of aerosol generation from rainfall impact on porous soil surfaces, whereby elements can be delivered to the air.

    • Young Soo Joung
    •  & Cullen R. Buie

  • Article |

    Slow slip events have been observed in different subduction zones, but their relationship to megathrust earthquakes remains elusive. Here, the authors postulate that a transient event may have led to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake as the hypocentre falls within a zone of positive Coloumb stress change.

    • Yusuke Yokota
    •  & Kazuki Koketsu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Natural examples of eclogite-derived migmatite were previously unknown. Here, the authors show evidence of high-pressure melting of eclogite in the Sulu orogen of China, and suggest the melts represent an exhumed example of flow channels in the lower crust, possibly a source of syn-exhumation magmas.

    • Lu Wang
    • , Timothy M. Kusky
    •  & Jianmin Fu

  • Article |

    How volcanoes and the cryosphere interact is of interest for understanding hazard mitigation at ice-clad volcanoes and for paleoclimate studies. Here, the authors provide quantitative details from an eruption in Kamchatka, demonstrating that two kinds of lava, ′a′a and pahoehoe, produced different snowpack responses.

    • B. R. Edwards
    • , A. Belousov
    •  & M. Belousova

  • Article |

    Andesites are a large part of the continental crust, but their origins remain enigmatic. Here, the authors update older mixing models via high-temperature experiments and thermal calculations, showing that homogeneous mixtures are only possible with high mafic fractions and during high magma flux.

    • Mickael Laumonier
    • , Bruno Scaillet
    •  & Laurent Arbaret

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reporting earthquakes, including location and focal mechanism, in real time is a challenge. Here, the authors present an approach similar to a web search engine, estimating earthquake parameters by searching a large database within a second, which will potentially enable early warning systems.

    • Jie Zhang
    • , Haijiang Zhang
    •  & Xiong Zhang

  • Article |

    Deep tectonic processes are considered to be responsible for stress loading of faults over a seismic cycle. Here, the authors use a mechanical model to demonstrate that erosion also significantly influences the stress loading of faults on this short time scale, potentially leading to fault failure and earthquakes.

    • Philippe Steer
    • , Martine Simoes
    •  & J. Bruce H. Shyu

  • Article |

    Understanding of the Earth’s interior requires insight into the thermal properties of silicate melts under high pressure. Here, the authors present high-pressure spectroscopic measurements of iron-enriched dense silicate glasses and infer the radiative conductivity of dense melts at the core–mantle boundary.

    • Motohiko Murakami
    • , Alexander F. Goncharov
    •  & Craig R. Bina

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Submarine mud volcanoes are difficult to observe from the sea surface and previous recordings at depth have been short term. Here, the authors provide the first long-term monitoring from Håkon Mosby and suggest that mud volcanoes may be more important to the global methane budget than previously thought.

    • Tomas Feseker
    • , Antje Boetius
    •  & Dirk de Beer

  • Article |

    The West Gondwana Orogen is a major continental collision zone exposing numerous eclogites along its strike. Here, the authors present zircon data from eclogites in Mali, Togo and NE Brazil, which indicate that continental subduction occurred simultaneously over at least 2,500 km during the Ediacaran.

    • Carlos E. Ganade de Araujo
    • , Daniela Rubatto
    •  & Miguel A. S. Basei

  • Article |

    Carbonate melt is one of the most important materials involved in the carbon cycle of the Earth’s interior; however, its mobility is poorly understood. Here, the authors suggest that carbonate melts possess much lower viscosities than previously thought, which in turn suggest very high mobility.

    • Yoshio Kono
    • , Curtis Kenney-Benson
    •  & Craig E. Manning

  • Article |

    Large igneous province subduction is a rare process with many unknowns. Timm et al.present geochemical and geophysical data providing insights into the Hikurangi Plateau subduction and its impact on arc volcanism, identifying a missing piece of the Ontong Java–Manihiki–Hikurangi super plateau.

    • Christian Timm
    • , Bryan Davy
    •  & John A. Gamble

  • Article |

    Growth of salt crystals in pores is one of the most damaging weathering mechanisms for stone in ornamental structures and historical buildings. Here, the authors present a simple yet powerful treatment for predicting when salt damage will occur, quantifying this susceptibility to salt crystallization.

    • Robert J. Flatt
    • , Francesco Caruso
    •  & George W. Scherer

  • Article |

    Obtaining reliable estimates of the absolute palaeointensity of the Earth’s magnetic field is difficult and many methods induce alteration. de Groot et al.present a means to see and explain changes in magnetization in unreliable samples, explaining why some samples systematically fail paleointensity experiments.

    • Lennart V. de Groot
    • , Karl Fabian
    •  & Mark J. Dekkers

  • Article |

    To date, covariance of carbonate and organic carbon isotope records has been assumed to denote fidelity of the original signal. This study shows that post-depositional alteration can create strong correlations, raising doubts about the use of correlated records to imply important changes in past global carbon cycling.

    • Amanda M. Oehlert
    •  & Peter K. Swart

  • Article |

    Studies suggest almost the same amount of biomass is present in subterranean settings as on Earth’s surface. Here, the authors propose that a large intraterrestrial microbial system was responsible for mineralization in southern Spain, and that microbes may play a major role in sub-surface ore-forming processes.

    • Fernando Tornos
    • , Francisco Velasco
    •  & Juan Manuel Escobar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The earth’s electromagnetic field has a modest effect on the behaviour of Drosophila melanogaster. Here, Fedele et al. use an assessment of climbing behaviour to describe how the blue-light circadian photoreceptor cryptochrome mediates a negative movement response to gravity in flies.

    • Giorgio Fedele
    • , Edward W. Green
    •  & Charalambos P. Kyriacou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Studies have suggested amphibole to be a major phase in the lower crust based on trace element geochemistry of volcanic suites, although the formation of these lithologies remains cryptic. Here, the author suggests a reaction-replacement mechanism to explain how this cryptic fractionation may occur.

    • Daniel J. Smith

  • Article |

    The origin of bimodal (mafic–felsic) rock suites is a fundamental question in volcanology. Here, the authors present a new model for magmatic differentiation in continental igneous provinces and explain how large volumes of granitic magma can be produced in otherwise basaltic systems.

    • F. C. Meade
    • , V. R. Troll
    •  & I. Klonowska

  • Article |

    The first-reported natural quasicrystal, found in the meteorite Khatyrka, has posed many questions regarding the extraterrestrial processes that led to its formation. Here, the authors suggest how the metallic Al- and Cu-bearing phases formed and report the discovery of other new minerals.

    • Lincoln S. Hollister
    • , Luca Bindi
    •  & Paul J. Steinhardt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During continental rifting, various stages and structures are observed, the least understood being hyper-extended continental crust at magma-poor margins. Here, the authors use finite-element thermomechanical models to investigate the mechanism causing observed margin asymmetry and crustal hyper-extension.

    • Sascha Brune
    • , Christian Heine
    •  & Stephan V. Sobolev

  • Article |

    Being able to predict the final size of an earthquake while rupture is ongoing is a largely debated scientific problem. Here, the authors suggest that the evolution of P-wave peak displacement holds information regarding the early stage of the rupture process and may be a proxy for the final size of the event.

    • S. Colombelli
    • , A. Zollo
    •  & M. Picozzi

  • Article |

    Whether the origins of inner gorges were fluvial or subglacial has been debated for decades. Here, Jansen et al. present new evidence, in the form of a suite of cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages and a deglaciation map, which suggests a subglacial meltwater origin for inner gorges in northern Sweden.

    • J.D. Jansen
    • , A.T. Codilean
    •  & S. Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pumice rafts result from volcanic eruptions into and onto water, and can be extensive and potentially hazardous, but tracking their dispersal is difficult. Jutzeler et al.combine satellite imagery and an ocean model to accurately forecast pumice raft dispersal routes.

    • Martin Jutzeler
    • , Robert Marsh
    •  & Leif Karlstrom

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Signs of instability in the Antarctic Larsen C ice shelf have raised concerns that it might soon collapse like its northern neighbour Larsen B. Kulessa et al.combine an ice-shelf model with satellite and geophysical data to show that despite dynamic similarities, Larsen C is presently stabilized by marine ice.

    • Bernd Kulessa
    • , Daniela Jansen
    •  & Peter R. Sammonds

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deformation is often used in volcano monitoring, but the associated hazard is hard to interpret. Biggs et al.analyse 20 years of global satellite data and show a strong statistical link between deformation and eruption, although deformation alone is not necessarily a precursor of imminent eruption.

    • J. Biggs
    • , S. K. Ebmeier
    •  & T. A. Mather

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Visualization of magma in a conduit with classical probes remains challenging due to geological heterogeneity and the geometrical structure of the conduit involved. Tanaka et al.use cosmic ray muons and report the first radiographic observation of the ascent and descent of magma along a conduit.

    • Hiroyuki K. M. Tanaka
    • , Taro Kusagaya
    •  & Hiroshi Shinohara

  • Article |

    Sedimentary rocks record planetary environmental history convolved with the internal dynamics of depositional landscapes. Ganti et al.show that the advection length of settling sediment sets bounds on internal landscape dynamics, providing a new tool to unravel sedimentary archives.

    • Vamsi Ganti
    • , Michael P. Lamb
    •  & Brandon McElroy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ocean acidification is affecting the stability of coral reefs, but the exact mineralogical response is poorly understood. Diaz-Pulido et al.show that, under warming conditions, the relative abundance of dolomite increases by as much as 200% and could therefore slow the climate-induced break-up of coral reefs.

    • Guillermo Diaz-Pulido
    • , Merinda C. Nash
    •  & Ulrike Troitzsch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding dyke thickness distributions is essential to quantify magma transport rates and improve eruption forecasting. Krumbholz et al.show that dyke thicknesses are Weibull-distributed and identify host-rock strength as the primary parameter that controls dyke emplacement.

    • Michael Krumbholz
    • , Christoph F. Hieronymus
    •  & Nadine Friese

  • Article |

    Humans have influenced the shaping of the landscape for generations, yet disentangling these influences from those of climate is a challenge. Giguet-Covex et al.take the novel approach of using lake sediment DNA to reconstruct a detailed picture of human land use since the Neolithic Period.

    • Charline Giguet-Covex
    • , Johan Pansu
    •  & Pierre Taberlet

  • Article |

    Kimberlite, an igneous rock in which the majority of the world’s diamonds are found, has been reported on all major continents barring Antarctica. Yaxley et al. present mineralogical and chemical data that confirms the first bona fidediscovery of kimberlite in the Antarctic.

    • Gregory M. Yaxley
    • , Vadim S. Kamenetsky
    •  & Marc Norman

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