Solid Earth sciences articles within Nature Geoscience

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  • Letter |

    Earth’s solid inner core is separated into two distinct hemispheres and is thought to rotate faster than the Earth. An analysis of seismic travel time data allows quantification of the displacement of the hemisphere boundary with time, and results in an estimated super-rotation several orders of magnitude smaller than previously reported.

    • Lauren Waszek
    • , Jessica Irving
    •  & Arwen Deuss

  • Letter |

    Microstructures from the 3.5-billion-year-old Apex Chert have been interpreted as the remains of ancient cyanobacteria. Geochemical analyses suggest similar structures at the same location are instead haematite-filled fractures, although carbonaceous material in the surrounding matrix is consistent with the presence of microbes at this time.

    • Craig P. Marshall
    • , Julienne R. Emry
    •  & Alison Olcott Marshall

  • Letter |

    During supercontinent cycles, deformation of continental lithosphere is observed to be concentrated near the plate boundaries. Global maps indicative of the strength of the lithosphere and its directional dependence show that strain is concentrated at pre-existing zones of weakness.

    • Pascal Audet
    •  & Roland Bürgmann

  • News & Views |

    • Alicia Newton

  • Backstory |

    Richard Iverson and colleagues made enough of a din to scare the bears when sending large amounts of debris down a 95-m-long flume to find out what difference wet sediments make to an avalanche.

  • News & Views |

    The mechanisms that govern the growth of debris flows are largely unclear, hampering efforts to assess natural hazards in landslide-prone areas. Experiments suggest that high bed-water content increases flow velocity and mass entrainment in landslides.

    • Anne Mangeney

  • Article |

    Continental lithosphere can undergo pervasive internal deformation, but patterns of flow within the lithosphere are difficult to observe. Determination of seismic Rayleigh-wave anisotropy in the crust and mantle of the Aegean region reveal matching orientations of regional-scale anisotropic fabric and the directions of extension during the last significant episodes of deformation.

    • Brigitte Endrun
    • , Sergei Lebedev
    •  & Wolfgang Friederich

  • News & Views |

    How the giant sediment-hosted gold deposits of Nevada were formed is disputed. A model linking regional tectonics with magma emplacement and fluid generation at depth suggests that these deposits result from an optimal coincidence of processes.

    • Jeremy P. Richards

  • News & Views |

    Continental crust is less dense than that of the oceans, and less likely to sink into the mantle. Nevertheless, an analysis of a high-pressure rock from the Swiss Alps suggests that more than one cycle of crustal sinking and return is possible.

    • Hannes K. Brueckner

  • Article |

    During the Eocene, profuse magmatism and hydrothermal activity in the Great Basin of western North America produced Earth’s second largest concentration of gold in Nevada. An integration of mineral analyses, experimental data and age and isotope data suggests a magmatic source for these deposits.

    • John L. Muntean
    • , Jean S. Cline
    •  & Anthony A. Longo

  • Letter |

    The Adula nappe, Central Alps, was thought to be a mélange of rock fragments, some of which were subducted and then exhumed from the mantle. Lu–Hf dating of two populations of garnets in one rock sample instead indicates that the nappe twice experienced subduction and exhumation as one coherent unit.

    • Daniel Herwartz
    • , Thorsten J. Nagel
    •  & Nikolaus Froitzheim

  • Letter |

    The eruption of the Siberian Trap flood basalts resulted in the heating and combustion of coals and organic-rich sediments at the time of the Permian mass extinction. The presence of char in distant lake sediments linked to the eruption suggests that fly ash could have been generated by the coal combustion, and then dispersed globally, creating toxic marine conditions.

    • Stephen E. Grasby
    • , Hamed Sanei
    •  & Benoit Beauchamp

  • News & Views |

    The timing and origins of Alpine gorge formation are controversial. A high-resolution analysis of the inner gorges of the Swiss Alps suggests that these landforms were carved over successive interglacial periods, and survived the intervening glaciations.

    • Jean L. Dixon

  • Letter |

    Magma transports metals to the Earth’s surface to form ore deposits, but only sulphide-undersaturated magmas were thought to be capable of generating large amounts of ore. Laboratory experiments indicate that large volumes of gold ore can also be generated by sulphide-saturated magma, if the redox conditions of the magma are suitable.

    • Roman E. Botcharnikov
    • , Robert L. Linnen
    •  & Jasper Berndt

  • Letter |

    The amount of fluid delivered to subduction zones by the oceanic crust and penetrating sea water is not matched by that leaving through volcanic emissions or transfer to the deep mantle. Electromagnetic images of the Costa Rican subduction zone reveal an extra reservoir in the crust that may account for some of the missing fluid.

    • Tamara Worzewski
    • , Marion Jegen
    •  & Waldo Taylor Castillo

  • Article |

    The mechanisms by which debris flows acquire mass and momentum as they entrain material are unclear. Large-scale experiments suggest that the pore pressure of wet bed sediment increases as the flow moves over the bed, leading to reduced friction and progressive scouring of the base.

    • Richard M. Iverson
    • , Mark E. Reid
    •  & Julia P. Griswold

  • News & Views |

    Climate models suggest that deficits in soil moisture can lead to more frequent and severe hot summer temperatures. Observations confirm this effect, but only for relatively dry regions, where evaporation is limited by available moisture.

    • Lisa Alexander

  • Letter |

    Deformation in the crust and mantle — measured using seismic anisotropy — is poorly constrained in the western United States because of inconsistencies in the existing data. A three-dimensional model that reconciles these discrepancies reveals that seismic anisotropy in the crust correlates with different geological provinces, but is unrelated to anisotropy in the underlying mantle.

    • Fan-Chi Lin
    • , Michael H. Ritzwoller
    •  & Matthew J. Fouch

  • Backstory |

    Pieter Vermeesch enjoyed training for a marathon in an empty two-dimensional space, with his eyes closed, in-between sampling aeolian dunes in the Namib Sand Sea.

  • Review Article |

    Earth's topography is attributed to the interactions of the tectonic plates, but flow within the mantle also contributes to surface uplift and subsidence. An overview of recent research indicates that mantle-induced dynamic topography can be reconstructed by integrating the geological record with models of mantle flow.

    • Jean Braun

  • Letter |

    Northern South America experienced significant changes in drainage patterns during the opening of the South Atlantic. Numerical modelling of the influence of mantle processes on the South American continent indicates that mantle convection was partly responsible for the formation of the Amazon River, the largest river on Earth.

    • G. E. Shephard
    • , R. D. Müller
    •  & M. Gurnis

  • News & Views |

    Magma from the mantle meets the ocean at seafloor spreading centres. At young rifts, basalt sills may heat overlying sediments and induce natural carbon release; basalt flows elsewhere may offer secure reservoirs for sequestration of anthropogenic carbon.

    • David Goldberg

  • Letter |

    Continental rifting creates narrow ocean basins, where coastal ocean upwelling and enhanced silicate weathering remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Evidence from seismic data, sonar backscatter and seafloor images, and geochemical water analyses suggest that in young sedimented rifts, active magmatism occurs in a broader region than appreciated and releases carbon from the sediments.

    • Daniel Lizarralde
    • , S. Adam Soule
    •  & Giora Proskurowski

  • News & Views |

    The Haiti earthquake ruptured one or more buried faults, generated tsunamis and caused extensive structural damage in Port-au-Prince. Investigations in the epicentral region quantify seismic hazards but offer no clear views of Haiti's seismic future.

    • Roger Bilham

  • Editorial |

    Geophysical analyses of the 2010 Haiti earthquake suggest that there is still potential for seismic activity in the region. Building a more resilient country is the only option.

  • Commentary |

    Geoscience has played a key role in the recovery of Haiti since the earthquake, but warnings were not heeded in the political sphere. Along with better houses, an adaptive disaster-management infrastructure that incorporates science needs to be built.

    • Arthur Lerner-Lam

  • Backstory |

    Matthew J. Hornbach and colleagues navigated shallow debris-filled waters in an attempt to understand the factors that contributed to tsunami generation during the Haiti earthquake.

  • Letter |

    The Enriquillo–Plantain Garden strike-slip fault accommodates the relative motion between the North American and Caribbean plates and was thought to have ruptured during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Satellite data instead indicate that a blind thrust fault, possibly related to the Haitian fold–thrust belt, was responsible and caused some contractional deformation.

    • Eric Calais
    • , Andrew Freed
    •  & Roberte Momplaisir

  • Letter |

    The Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone is the primary plate-bounding fault system in Haiti and was initially thought to be responsible for the 2010 earthquake. Palaeoseismic analyses of the fault system indicate that it ruptured during a large earthquake in either 1750 or 1770, but did not rupture during the 2010 earthquake.

    • C. S. Prentice
    • , P. Mann
    •  & P. Jean

  • Letter |

    Ocean islands formed over hotspots can uplift and subside as the hotspots evolve. The history of the Cape Verde islands reveals large-scale uplift owing to growth of the hotspot swell, but also variable uplift of individual islands resulting from the local intrusion of magma.

    • R. Ramalho
    • , G. Helffrich
    •  & D. N. Schmidt

  • Backstory |

    Susan E. Hough and colleagues faced logistical challenges when attempting to deploy portable seismometers in post-earthquake Port-au-Prince.

  • Letter |

    Microzonation maps use local geological conditions to characterize seismic hazard, but do not generally consider topography. Ground motions during the Haiti earthquake are found to have been significantly amplified along a high topographic ridge, which caused substantial structural damage, indicating that topography can play an important role in seismic hazard.

    • Susan E. Hough
    • , Jean Robert Altidor
    •  & Alan Yong

  • Letter |

    The 12 January 2010 Mw 7.0 Haiti earthquake exhibited primarily strike-slip motion but unusually generated a tsunami. An extensive field survey reveals that coastal strike-slip fault systems produce relief conducive to rapid sedimentation, erosion and slope failure, so that even modest predominantly strike-slip earthquakes can cause potentially catastrophic slide-generated tsunamis.

    • Matthew J. Hornbach
    • , Nicole Braudy
    •  & John Templeton

  • Article |

    Initially, the devastating 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake seemed to involve straightforward accommodation of the motion between the Caribbean and North American plates. A combination of seismological observations, geologic field data and space geodetic measurements shows that the rupture process may have involved slip on multiple faults, but lacked significant surface deformation.

    • G. P. Hayes
    • , R. W. Briggs
    •  & M. Simons

  • News & Views |

    Passive margins were thought to be tectonically inactive. Documentation of a volcanic dyke intrusion along the eastern flank of the Red Sea rift proves this plate tectonic tenet wrong, however, with implications for hazard assessments in these regions.

    • Cynthia Ebinger
    •  & Manahloh Belachew

  • News & Views |

    The gradual expansion of Northern Hemisphere glaciation about 3.6 million years ago followed a period of prolonged warmth. An analysis of ancient sea surface temperatures fuels the debate surrounding the roles of atmospheric carbon dioxide and global circulation in the cooling.

    • Ana Christina Ravelo

  • News & Views |

    The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds affect the exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean and atmosphere. Climate reconstructions from the southern mid-latitudes may reveal variability in the strength and position of the wind belt since the Last Glacial Maximum.

    • Dominic A. Hodgson
    •  & Louise C. Sime

  • Article |

    Volcanic fields at the eastern margin of the Red Sea rift were regarded as seismically quiet until a swarm of 30,000 earthquakes struck in 2009. Geological analyses reveal the intrusion of a volcanic dyke and indicate that rift-related extension is spread over a broad region far from the rift axis.

    • John S. Pallister
    • , Wendy A. McCausland
    •  & Mohammed R. H. Moufti

  • Letter |

    Large earthquakes are known to trigger subsequent earthquakes in nearby regions, but similar triggering has not been confirmed for volcanic hazards. Analysis of the progressive deformation associated with 13 volcanic dykes intruded in Ethiopia between 2005 and 2009 indicates that magmatic intrusions can help to trigger subsequent intrusions.

    • Ian J. Hamling
    • , Tim J. Wright
    •  & Elias Lewi

  • Letter |

    Above the 410-km discontinuity in the upper mantle, an intermittent layer characterized by low seismic-wave velocities is thought to represent partial melting in areas of subduction or mantle-plume activity. Seismic data now show that the low-velocity layer extends globally with no affinity to a particular tectonic environment.

    • Benoît Tauzin
    • , Eric Debayle
    •  & Gérard Wittlinger

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