Reviews & Analysis

China has implemented various mitigation strategies to lower their CO₂ emissions. This Perspective outlines the progress in reaching these CO₂ reduction targets, and the pending challenges the nation faces to achieve carbon neutrality.

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.

Since 2000, oceanographic conditions in the Barents Sea and the Eurasian Basin have transitioned from those reflecting the Arctic to a state more closely resembling that of the Atlantic. This Review examines the physical and ecological manifestations, drivers and implications of this so-called Atlantification.

Global drylands are threatened by a combination of anthropogenic climate change and human activities, putting some locations at high risk of desertification. This Review details changes observed in the drylands of China, and the mitigating impact of large-scale restoration and conservation programmes designed to reverse them.

Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows have historically been lost or degraded, threatening their ability to store carbon and provide ecosystem services. This Review details the global potential of blue carbon ecosystem protection and restoration in climate change mitigation, through carbon sequestration and co-benefit production.

Much of the western United States relies on seasonal snowpacks for water supply. This Review examines the projected changes and impacts of a declining western United States snowpack, and discusses the adaptation opportunities available to mitigate against such snow losses.

The links between modern collisional mountain belts and those preserved in the geological record are debated. This Review compares the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen with four ancient mountain belts and uses their similarities and differences to investigate the factors that control mountain building.

Anthropogenic climate change and environmental deterioration are driving global degradation of coral reefs. This Review examines how the natural adaptive capacity of coral holobionts can be harnessed and expanded to counter the ongoing loss of coral reefs.

The Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna delta is home to more than 170 million people, but is vulnerable to sea level rise, subsidence and direct human disturbance. This Review examines geomorphic change in the delta and its broader impacts.

The use of isotopes has provided key insights into the Earth system, but their use can be fraught with experimental and theoretical pitfalls. This Technical Review explains the use of and fractionation factors associated with hydrogen, carbon and oxygen isotopes in water cycle and CO₂–carbonate–water system studies.

The transition to renewable energy will require a notable quantity of technology metals and materials; however, production of technology materials causes substantial environmental damage. This Review discusses the raw material extraction approaches that optimize technical performance and reduce environmental impact.

Grasslands provide key ecosystem services, but their protection is often ignored in sustainable policy. This Perspective describes grassland degradation and sets out the steps needed to protect these systems and promote their restoration.

Tropical teleconnections can influence polar climates through the generation of stationary Rossby waves. This Review outlines the dynamics and impacts of long-term tropical–polar connections on the Antarctic climate, which include warming trends and ice mass loss in West Antarctica.

Although the presence of ‘light’ elements (such as S, Si, O, C and H) can explain the core’s density deficit, the exact composition of the Earth’s core remains unknown. This Review explores the likely range of outer and inner core compositions and their implications.

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has global climatic implications, necessitating understanding of its observed and projected changes. This Review brings together knowledge of ENSO in a warming climate, revealing projected increases in ENSO magnitude, as well as ENSO-related rainfall and sea surface temperature variability.

River floods have direct and indirect consequences for society, and can cause fatalities, displacement and economic loss. This Review examines the physical and socioeconomic causes and impacts of disastrous river flooding, and past and projected trends in their occurrence.

Supereruptions are the endmember of explosive volcanic activity, yet, their magmatic processes and eruption dynamics are debated. This Review synthesizes data from 13 Quaternary supereruptive events with geophysical monitoring of active caldera volcanoes to highlight the diversity in large, modern, silicic magmatic systems.

The Indian Ocean has undergone substantial heat and freshwater changes. This Review uses various data sources to examine the causes of contemporary and longer-term hydrological changes, revealing that trends over the twentieth century are linked to anthropogenic forcing, but that those since 1980 are related to the Interdecadal Pacific oscillation.

The residence time of atmospheric water vapour has important implications for understanding hydrological processes. This Review discusses the general characteristics and changes in water vapour residence time, indicating 3–6% K⁻¹ projected increases with warming.

The magmatic processes required to form economic-grade porphyry Cu deposits are still poorly understood. This Review discusses the magmatic, redox and hydrothermal processes required for porphyry ore formation, revealing that both crustal thickness and depth of ore body emplacement can influence metal endowment.