Research articles

A form of mobile lithosphere with mantle recycling was already operating on the Early Earth around 4.4 to 3.3 billion years ago, according to the application of machine learning to differentiate the source lithologies of zircons from Jack Hills Australia

The formation of the Chinese Loess Plateau resulted from a combination of surface processes rather than from aridification of the Asian interior alone, according to zircon U-Pb geochronological analysis

Several organic geochemical proxies within a sediment core from Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala, suggest intense human-induced degradation of the aquatic environment during the Maya Preclassic period from around 700 BCE to 200 CE

Installing heat pumps instead of traditional gas boilers for heating purposes could lead to a drastic reduction in the consumption of natural gas in Germany, according to numerical simulations that combine gas and electricity markets

Fabric-retentive dolostones preserve the lithium isotope composition of the seawater in which they formed and could provide a high-resolution record to complement or extend foraminiferal proxy records, as indicated by isotopic analyses of Neogene dolostones from the South China Sea.

The tsunami from the Storegga slide 8,150 years ago was caused by a smaller submarine landslide than previously thought, which implies higher hazard in the region, according to analyses of geophysical data and sediment cores that suggest an older origin of part of the scar.

Thick transiting ice blocked newly formed sea ice from exiting the Terra Nova Bay polynya during a shrinking event in 2013 and had a stronger influence on polynya area than katabatic winds or air temperature changes, according to an analysis of sea ice and meteorological data.

Sprouting and early growth of plants in wetlands can be inhibited by freeze-thaw cycles via denitrification and reduction of soil nitrogen, according to a temperature-controlled experiment in the Momoge wetland in China.

Trench-parallel ridges on the Rivera plate subducting beneath W Mexico, control upper-plate tectonics and elastic structure, and act as unstable asperities, enabling shallow megathrust seismogenesis, according to seismic imaging and tomographic modeling.

Over much of Africa, the potential for groundwater pumping with the help of photovoltaic energy is constrained by aquifer conditions, and not irradiance, according to continent-wide simulations to map the performance of photovoltaic water pumping systems.

Ice nucleation experiments suggest that the abundant plant protein RuBisCO is an efficient ice nucleating particle in the atmosphere, with analyses of ambient aerosols sampled in Texas confirming its presence and ice nucleating potential in the atmosphere.

The majority of radar measurements of wind speed in tornadoes underestimate the actual wind intensity by measuring regions relatively high above the ground; very low-level radar observations find the strongest winds very close to the ground

At depths of over 500 m, deep groundwater has long residence times and likely contributes less than 0.1% to global streamflow and only sporadically connects with the surface terrestrial water cycle on geological timescales, according to estimates derived from the chloride mass balance approach.

The timing of deformation in ancient shear zones of the Akia Terrane, Greenland, is recorded by the Proterozoic Rb-Sr age of mylonitic biotite which is determined through collision cell laser ablation and inverse thermal history modelling.

Changes in the processes that can generate floods, such as rain falling on wet rather than dry soil, affect the occurrence of regional floods more than changes in extreme rainfall, according to an analysis of flood anomalies observed in Europe combined with a flood process typology.

Stakeholders can use an exploratory and interactive model to investigate relationships, synergies, trade-offs, and sensitivities between key variables in the UK food and agriculture system, which can help them design pathways to reach sustainability objectives.

Freshening and oxygen depletion of the polar deep waters of the Amerasian Basin during the last glacial periods probably resulted in significant carbon burial, according to geochemical analyses of inorganic authigenic carbonates in Arctic Ocean sediments.

In most developed economies where decarbonisation processes are already in place, economic crises have coincided with a peak and subsequently declining emissions as a result of lower carbon and energy intensities, according to a statistical analysis of 45 countries between 1965 and 2019.

Application of biosolids derived from municipal wastewater treatment sludge to agricultural croplands in Nebraska, US elevated microplastic concentrations in runoff water, and could contribute to microplastic contamination of surface waters, suggests a field study in summer 2020.

Imposing policy constraints on biomass supply may not avoid initial net carbon emissions from forest bioenergy, but economic factors can drive long-term climate benefits, according to a market-based economic model that explores 51 pathways of forest bioenergy demand