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The Chicxulub impact 66 million years ago caused catastrophic environmental changes, leading to the extinction of three-quarters of plant and animal species, including the dinosaurs. This Review explores how the Chicxulub impact structure provides insight into cratering processes and events leading to the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction.
Plastic debris and microplastics are ubiquitous in the Arctic. This Review describes the sources, distribution and consequences of this pollution, and calls for immediate action to mitigate further ecosystem impact.
Enhanced drought frequency and magnitude have impacted tree mortality, leading to multiple examples of regional-scale dieback. This Review outlines the mechanisms leading to mortality, including carbon starvation and hydraulic failure.
The use of organophosphate esters as flame retardants and plasticizers has increased, leading to their environmental pervasiveness. This Review describes the transport and distribution of these organic pollutants in the ocean and highlights the potential impacts on biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem health.
Mercury is emitted by anthropogenic activities and accumulates in the Arctic. This Review presents a mercury budget for the Arctic, describing fluxes and cycling.
Arctic deltas are ice-dominated systems that modulate river fluxes from permafrost terrain to the ocean. This Review provides an overview of the controls, seasonality and processes that give Arctic deltas their unique morphodynamics and the influence of climate change on their future evolution.
The mechanisms that sustain Earth’s long-lived geodynamo remain under scrutiny. This Review assesses the potential candidates—convection, precession and tides—revealing that convection, possibly helped by the exsolution of light elements, is the most likely scenario.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has a key role in the climate system. This Review documents AMOC variability since 1980, revealing periods of decadal-scale weakening and strengthening that differ between the subpolar and subtropical regions.
At the Permian–Triassic boundary (252 million years ago), a series of environmental crises triggered by the Siberian Traps eruptions caused the extinction of 81–94% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate families. This Review discusses the relationships between volcanism, environmental perturbations and ecosystem collapse at the Permian–Triassic boundary.
Sediment budgets have changed substantially in the Anthropocene epoch, the period between 1950 and the present. This Review provides an overview of sediment sources, fluxes and loads, outlines the impacts of human activities, and highlights the predicted effects of climate warming on these factors.
The relationships between the evolution of land plants, meandering-river dynamics and global biogeochemical fluxes remain poorly understood. This Review explores the relationships between vegetation and the stability and dynamics of meandering rivers and will serve anthropogenic stressors on Earth’s rivers.
Some of the most devastating natural hazards on Earth are caused by subduction zone earthquakes. This Review discusses the conditions required to generate M ≥ 8 megathrust earthquakes, in the context of constraining seismic and tsunami hazards.
Large stores of carbon could be released to the atmosphere from Arctic warming, driving permafrost thaw. This Review examines the processes that impact Arctic permafrost carbon emissions, how they might change in the future and ways to monitor and predict these changes.
Greening and vegetation community shifts have been observed across Arctic environments. This Review examines these changes and their impact on underlying permafrost.
Permafrost thaw and degradation threaten circumpolar infrastructure. This Review documents observed and projected infrastructure impacts, as well as the mitigation strategies available to minimize them.
Permafrost thaw is directly governed by the thermal characteristics of the frozen ground. This Review outlines the status of and mechanisms influencing the thermal state of permafrost, revealing widespread increases in permafrost temperatures and active-layer thicknesses.
Lakes and drained lake basins are the most prominent periglacial landforms in northern high-latitude lowland regions, and their dynamics impact permafrost, ecosystem and biogeochemical processes. This Review discusses the influence and consequences of climate change on lake systems.
Arctic coasts are increasingly affected by erosion and flooding, owing to decreasing sea ice, thawing permafrost and rising sea levels. This Review examines the changes in Arctic coastal morphodynamics and discusses the broader impacts on Arctic systems.
Subglacial lakes modify glacial conditions and flow. This Review provides a first global inventory of subglacial lakes, as well as outlining their settings, impacts and potential changes with climate warming.
Major environmental disruptions throughout Earth’s history are often linked to extensive magmatic events, termed large igneous provinces. This Review explores the coupled evolution of mantle melting, magmatism and volatile release over the life cycle of large igneous provinces.
