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News & Views
Earthquake hazards: Rivers, rifts and ruptures -
John A. Hole
doi:10.1038/ngeo1198
The southern San Andreas fault is due for a large earthquake. Seismic images of sediments deposited in an ancient lake overlying the southern end of the fault indicate that episodic flooding may have triggered earthquakes in the past.
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Geomorphology: Co-evolution of rivers and plants -
Chris Paola
doi:10.1038/ngeo1247
River systems have changed through time; the sinuous, stable channels common today developed relatively late in Earth's history. The rock record suggests that a specific type of fixed-channel river system arose after the expansion of arborescence.
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Progress Article
Sinking deltas due to human activities -
James P. M. Syvitski, Albert J. Kettner, Irina Overeem, Eric W. H. Hutton, Mark T. Hannon, G. Robert Brakenridge, John Day, Charles Vörösmarty, Yoshiki Saito, Liviu Giosan & Robert J. Nicholls
doi:10.1038/ngeo629
Many of the world's deltas are densely populated and intensively farmed. An assessment of recent publications indicates that the majority of these deltas have been subject to intense flooding over the past decade, and that this threat will grow as global sea-level rises and as the deltas subside.
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Letters
Riverine organic matter and nutrients in southeast Alaska affected by glacial coverage -
Eran Hood & Durelle Scott
doi:10.1038/ngeo280
Dissolved organic matter and nutrients from high-latitude coastal watersheds stimulate microbial activity and primary productivity in near-shore ecosystems. A survey of southeast Alaskan watersheds suggests that the extent of glacial coverage may control the release of these nutrients to rivers and ultimately the oceans.
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Impact of transient groundwater storage on the discharge of Himalayan rivers -
Christoff Andermann, Laurent Longuevergne, Stéphane Bonnet, Alain Crave, Philippe Davy & Richard Gloaguen
doi:10.1038/ngeo1356
In the course of the transfer of precipitation into rivers, water is temporarily stored in reservoirs with different residence times. Analyses of precipitation and discharge records from Nepal suggest that in addition to snow and glacier melt and evapotranspiration, groundwater storage in a fractured basement aquifer also affects the annual discharge cycle of Himalayan rivers.
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Landslide erosion coupled to tectonics and river incision -
Isaac J. Larsen & David R. Montgomery
doi:10.1038/ngeo1479
The steep topography of mountain landscapes arises from interactions between tectonic rock uplift, valley incision and landslide erosion on hillslopes. An analysis of more than 15,000 landslides in the eastern Himalaya, mapped from satellite images, shows that steep uplands primarily respond to uplift and river incision by increases in landslide erosion rates rather than by steepened hillslope angles.
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Mitigating land loss in coastal Louisiana by controlled diversion of Mississippi River sand -
Jeffrey A. Nittrouer, James L. Best, Christopher Brantley, Ronald W. Cash, Matthew Czapiga, Praveen Kumar & Gary Parker
doi:10.1038/ngeo1525
The Bonnet Carré Spillway diverts floodwaters from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain, and was opened for 42 days during the 2011 flood. According to measurements of the newly deposited sediments, at least 31–46% of the river's sand load was diverted into the spillway at this time, suggesting that such diversions can help mitigate coastal wetland loss.
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Continuous flux of dissolved black carbon from a vanished tropical forest biome -
Thorsten Dittmar, Carlos Eduardo de Rezende, Marcus Manecki, Jutta Niggemann, Alvaro Ramon Coelho Ovalle, Aron Stubbins & Marcelo Correa Bernardes
doi:10.1038/ngeo1541
Before it was destroyed by slash and burn practices, Brazil's Atlantic Forest was one of the largest tropical forest biomes on Earth. Measurements from a river draining the region suggest that significant quantities of black carbon generated by the burning continue to be exported from the former forest.
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Article
Riverine source of Arctic Ocean mercury inferred from atmospheric observations -
Jenny A. Fisher, Daniel J. Jacob, Anne L. Soerensen, Helen M. Amos, Alexandra Steffen & Elsie M. Sunderland
doi:10.1038/ngeo1478
Human activities, including industry and mining, have increased inorganic mercury deposition in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Model simulations indicate that circumpolar rivers deliver large quantities of mercury to the Arctic Ocean during summer.
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