Solid Earth sciences articles within Nature Geoscience

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  • Letter |

    Shifts in the position and intensity of the southern westerly winds recorded at single sites have been suggested to reflect uniform variation throughout the wind belt. Sedimentological analyses from the Andes suggest that changes in the intensity of the winds in the core and northern margin of the westerlies were antiphased during the Holocene epoch.

    • Frank Lamy
    • , Rolf Kilian
    •  & Tatjana Steinke

  • Letter |

    The geographic extent of cooling associated with the Antarctic Cold Reversal is unclear. Dating of glacial moraines in New Zealand suggests that the cooling extended into the southern mid-latitudes, possibly as a result of the northward migration of the southern subtropical front.

    • Aaron E. Putnam
    • , George H. Denton
    •  & Christian Schlüchter

  • News & Views |

    How groundwater flow varies when long-term external conditions change is little documented. Geochemical evidence shows that sea-level rise at the end of the last glacial period led to a shift in the flow patterns of coastal groundwater beneath Florida.

    • Ward E. Sanford

  • Letter |

    Instrumental records, proxy data and climate modelling show that multidecadal variability is a dominant feature of North Atlantic sea-surface temperature variations. Simulations with a coupled climate model suggest that the timing of this variability is determined mainly by external forcing, for example from volcanic eruption or solar forcing.

    • Odd Helge Otterå
    • , Mats Bentsen
    •  & Lingling Suo

  • Letter |

    Sea-level fluctuations can have a profound impact on coastal groundwater circulation. The geochemistry of groundwater in the Floridan aquifer system suggests that the fresh water in the upper aquifer was emplaced primarily during the last glacial period, when sea level was more than 100 m lower than at present.

    • Sheila K. Morrissey
    • , Jordan F. Clark
    •  & Martin Stute

  • News & Views |

    Andesite magmas were once thought to be simple melts derived from a subducting oceanic slab or the mantle. Analysis of lavas at Mount Hood shows that instead andesites are a complex mixture of magmas formed in the continental crust just before eruption.

    • John Eichelberger

  • News & Views |

    The question of how soil moisture deficits affect runoff efficiency has flummoxed river forecasters for decades. Simulations with four land surface models reveal that soil moisture can have an influence that is on a par with early season snowpack.

    • Thomas C. Pagano

  • Article |

    The photosynthetic production of oxygen in the ocean is thought to have begun at least 2.7 billion years ago. The geochemistry of marine sediments deposited 2.6 billion years ago suggests that ocean margins were oxygenated at least 100 million years before the first significant increase in atmospheric oxygen concentrations.

    • Brian Kendall
    • , Christopher T. Reinhard
    •  & Ariel D. Anbar

  • News & Views |

    Evidence from biomarkers and molecular clocks points to the existence of sponges tens of millions of years before their earliest fossil remains. Fossils from South Australia may narrow that gap.

    • Marc Laflamme

  • Article |

    The Trezona Formation of South Australia pre-dates the 635-million-year-old Marinoan glaciation. Fossils found at this location are up to several millimetres in size, and share morphological characteristics with sponge-grade animals.

    • Adam C. Maloof
    • , Catherine V. Rose
    •  & Frederik J. Simons

  • Article |

    Present-day changes in the thickness of ice sheets and glacial isostatic adjustment both affect space geodetic measurements. A combination of gravity measurements and geodetic data of surface movement with a data-assimilating model of ocean bottom pressure allows the simultaneous estimation of present-day water transport and glacial isostatic adjustment.

    • Xiaoping Wu
    • , Michael B. Heflin
    •  & Susan E. Owen

  • Letter |

    Reconstructions of land and ocean temperatures over the past 18,000 years in the high southern latitudes have shown conflicting trends. Analyses of temperatures on Campbell Island, south of New Zealand, confirm this behaviour, and lead to the suggestion that it reflects changes in the position and intensity of the westerly winds.

    • Matt S. McGlone
    • , Chris S. M. Turney
    •  & Katharina Pahnke

  • News & Views |

    Eastern Indonesia hosts one of the most complex and fascinating tectonic systems on the planet. Palaeogeographical reconstructions indicate that subduction and deformation of a single slab of oceanic crust created the complicated configuration.

    • Mike Sandiford

  • News & Views |

    Reconstructions of atmospheric chemistry and microbial life early in the Earth's history have been contentious. Observations increasingly point to the evolution of complex and variable environments earlier in time.

    • Andrew D. Czaja

  • Letter |

    At subduction zones, andesite lavas erupt in greater abundance than the individual magmas that mix to produce them. Textural and geochemical analyses of andesites from Mount Hood, Oregon, reveal that injection and mixing of iron- and magnesium-rich magma in the magma chamber can initiate the volcanic eruption.

    • Adam J. R. Kent
    • , Cristina Darr
    •  & Kari M. Cooper

  • Letter |

    The reason for the spectacular curvature of the Banda subduction zone is debated. Tomographic images and plate reconstructions reveal subduction of a single slab. The ancient geometry of the Australian plate, as well as the interaction between the slab and the mantle, caused the deformation of the slab.

    • Wim Spakman
    •  & Robert Hall

  • Article |

    Ice ages during the Palaeozoic era are marked by glacial–interglacial cycles thought to be driven by variations in the Earth’s orbit. Numerical simulations suggest that the response of vegetation to the varying insolation may be an important factor in the associated climate response.

    • Daniel E. Horton
    • , Christopher J. Poulsen
    •  & David Pollard

  • News & Views |

    The mechanics of slip on faults in the Earth's crust are still unclear. Field observations from New Zealand show that movement can occur where — according to conventional assumptions of fault strength — it should not be possible.

    • D. R. Faulkner

  • News & Views |

    Most of the oceanic crust has a simple layered structure. The discovery that slow-spreading ridges exhibit a comparatively complex crustal structure and some of the largest extensional faults on Earth is leading to the recognition of a new mode of seafloor spreading.

    • Michael Cheadle
    •  & Craig Grimes

  • News & Views |

    The timing and nature of changes in the chemistry of the early oceans are intensely debated. Geochemical analyses show that a prominent transition to sulphidic marine conditions 1.8 billion years ago may have been restricted to near-shore environments.

    • David Fike

  • News & Views |

    Direct evidence for the role of volatiles in magmatic ore formation has been elusive. Magma degassing at Merapi volcano in Indonesia is found to be directly linked to the selective leaching of metals from sulphide melts that ultimately form ore deposits.

    • Bruno Scaillet

  • Letter |

    Some faults slip at high angles to the greatest principal compressive stress. The discovery of shear veins formed at angles of about 80 degrees relative to the greatest principal compressive stress in the Chrystalls Beach complex, New Zealand, suggests that slip can be facilitated by a pre-existing rock fabric under high fluid pressure.

    • Åke Fagereng
    • , Francesca Remitti
    •  & Richard H. Sibson

  • Article |

    The metal content of ore deposits formed during subduction-zone volcanism was thought to be established when the ore fluid separates from the parent magma. Analyses of metal concentrations in erupted melts and the volcanic gases emitted after an eruption in Indonesia reveal that metals can be added to the ore fluid later, during mixing with separated melts.

    • Olivier Nadeau
    • , Anthony E. Williams-Jones
    •  & John Stix

  • Letter |

    River canyons are thought to be cut slowly over millions of years. However, at Lake Canyon Gorge, Texas, a seven-metre-deep canyon was cut in just three days in 2002, providing insight into the erosion processes operating during megaflood events.

    • Michael P. Lamb
    •  & Mark A. Fonstad

  • Letter |

    The deposition of iron formations ceased about 1.84 billion years ago. Reconstructions of ocean chemistry suggest that the advent of euxinic conditions along ocean margins preferentially removed dissolved iron from the water column in the form of the mineral pyrite, inhibiting widespread iron-oxide mineral deposition.

    • Simon W. Poulton
    • , Philip W. Fralick
    •  & Donald E. Canfield

  • News & Views |

    The Triassic/Jurassic boundary was marked by widespread environmental changes, including greenhouse warming. Palaeoecological reconstructions from East Greenland reveal a dramatic rise in fire activity, driven by vegetation shifts and climate change.

    • Bas van de Schootbrugge

  • Commentary |

    Aquifers are the primary source of drinking water for up to two billion people. To avoid overexploitation, lengthy renewal periods of some aquifers must be taken into account.

    • Tom Gleeson
    • , Jonathan VanderSteen
    •  & Yangxiao Zhou

  • News & Views |

    The duration of Earth's creation remains unknown. Elegant modelling of the Earth's core formation reaffirms that the bulk of accretion occurred within a few tens of millions of years, but another 100 million years or so were needed to finish the job.

    • Tim Elliott

  • Letter |

    The Earth formed through accretion of many planetary embryos that were probably differentiated into a metallic core and a silicate mantle. The metals and silicates were assumed to fully mix during accretion, but models of Earth’s formation that assume only partial mixing are found to be equally compatible with geochemical observations.

    • John F. Rudge
    • , Thorsten Kleine
    •  & Bernard Bourdon

  • Backstory |

    In their pursuit of palaeoclimatic reconstruction, Andrew Cohen and colleagues experienced the 'Eureka!' highs and dangerous lows of sediment coring in Lake Tanganyika, East Africa.

  • Letter |

    The global geoid is characterized by a semi-continuous belt of minima that surround the Pacific Ocean. Simulations with mantle flow models suggest that these geoid lows are correlated with high-velocity anomalies near the base of the mantle and low-velocity anomalies in the mid-to-upper mantle.

    • Sonja Spasojevic
    • , Michael Gurnis
    •  & Rupert Sutherland

  • News & Views |

    The amount of pore space in most unweathered granite is too small to support a plant-based ecosystem. But porosity grows as intact rock interacts with surface waters beneath the soil.

    • Susan L. Brantley

  • Article |

    Seismotectonic studies seek to provide ways of assessing the timing, magnitude and spatial extent of future earthquakes. Numerical simulations of seismic and aseismic fault slip in a fully dynamical numerical model open the possibility of predicting a fault system’s seismic rupture patterns from observations of its slip properties.

    • Yoshihiro Kaneko
    • , Jean-Philippe Avouac
    •  & Nadia Lapusta

  • Letter |

    Natural petroleum seepage emits large volumes of oil and methane to the oceans every year, accompanied by the formation of asphalt volcanoes on the sea floor. The discovery of seven asphalt volcanoes off the coast of southern California may help to explain high methane emissions recorded during the late Pleistocene.

    • David L. Valentine
    • , Christopher M. Reddy
    •  & Morgan Soloway

  • Letter |

    The sedimentary deposits at Meridiani Planum on Mars were formed in acidic surface waters. Geochemical calculations show that the oxidation of dissolved iron and the precipitation of oxidized iron minerals in the surface waters could be sufficient to generate the inferred acidity.

    • Joel A. Hurowitz
    • , Woodward W. Fischer
    •  & Ralph E. Milliken

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