Article | 10 August 2020

Cryo-hydrologic processes have been active on Ceres

Featured Content

Soil organic carbon

Highlighting how disturbances across environments and ecosystems change whether carbon is stored, mobilized or released in soils.
InSight at Mars

First results from the InSight mission, including data from the lander’s first year on Mars.
Announcement

COVID 19 and impact on peer review

As a result of the significant disruption that is being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic we are very aware that many researchers will have difficulty in meeting the timelines associated with our peer review process during normal times. Please do let us know if you need additional time. Our systems will continue to remind you of the original timelines but we intend to be highly flexible at this time.
Race and racism in the geosciences

Geoscientists in the United States are predominantly White. Progress towards diversification can only come with a concerted shift in mindsets and a deeper understanding of the complexities of race.

Current Issue | August 2020

Latest Research

Article | 17 August 2020

A nutrient control on marine anoxia during the end-Permian mass extinction

Phosphorus remobilized from seafloor sediments due to a reduced influx of iron-oxide from land led to widespread anoxia during the end-Permian mass extinction, according to palaeoredox and phosphorus speciation proxy records from Svalbard.
- Martin Schobben
- , William J. Foster
- , Arve R. N. Sleveland
- , Valentin Zuchuat
- , Henrik H. Svensen
- , Sverre Planke
- , David P. G. Bond
- , Fons Marcelis
- , Robert J. Newton
- , Paul B. Wignall
- & Simon W. Poulton
Article | 10 August 2020

Post-impact cryo-hydrologic formation of small mounds and hills in Ceres’s Occator crater

Mounds within Ceres’s Occator crater may have formed by freezing of water-rich impact-induced melt, by a process analogous to that of pingo formation on Earth, according to an analysis of data from NASA’s Dawn mission.
- B. E. Schmidt
- , H. G. Sizemore
- , K. H. G. Hughson
- , K. D. Duarte
- , V. N. Romero
- , J. E. C. Scully
- , P. M. Schenk
- , D. L. Buczkowski
- , D. A. Williams
- , A. Nathues
- , K. Udell
- , J. C. Castillo-Rogez
- , C. A. Raymond
- & C. T. Russell
Article | 10 August 2020

Back-propagating supershear rupture in the 2016 M_w 7.1 Romanche transform fault earthquake

In one earthquake, an oceanic transform fault ruptured in one direction and then backwards at a speed exceeding that of shear-wave propagation, according to an analysis of data recorded by nearby seafloor and global seismometers.
- Stephen P. Hicks
- , Ryo Okuwaki
- , Andreas Steinberg
- , Catherine A. Rychert
- , Nicholas Harmon
- , Rachel E. Abercrombie
- , Petros Bogiatzis
- , David Schlaphorst
- , Jiri Zahradnik
- , J-Michael Kendall
- , Yuji Yagi
- , Kousuke Shimizu
- & Henriette Sudhaus
Perspective | 10 August 2020

A shift in sulfur-cycle manipulation from atmospheric emissions to agricultural additions

Deliberate application of sulfur onto croplands as fertilizer and pesticide probably causes environmental damage similar to historical acid rain events, according to a literature review and four case studies from the United States.
- Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley
- , John T. Crawford
- , Habibollah Fakhraei
- & Charles T. Driscoll
Article | 10 August 2020

Interannual variations in meltwater input to the Southern Ocean from Antarctic ice shelves

Meltwater entering the Southern Ocean from Antarctic ice shelves varies substantially from year to year, with consequences for Southern Ocean circulation and climate, according to remote sensing estimates of ice-shelf basal melting rates.
- Susheel Adusumilli
- , Helen Amanda Fricker
- , Brooke Medley
- , Laurie Padman
- & Matthew R. Siegfried
Article | 03 August 2020

Heavy iron isotope composition of iron meteorites explained by core crystallization

Experiments show that the iron isotopic composition of iron meteorites can be explained by core crystallization, and suggest the presence of sulfur-rich core material that remains unsampled by meteorite collections.
- Peng Ni
- , Nancy L. Chabot
- , Caillin J. Ryan
- & Anat Shahar

More Latest Research

News & Comment

Editorial | 31 July 2020

Soil carbon unearthed

Soils store vast quantities of carbon and have the potential to help mitigate or exacerbate climate change. We need to better understand the interplay of chemical, physical and biological processes that govern soil carbon cycling and stability.
Correspondence | 31 July 2020

One hundred years of Milanković cycles
- Ivana Cvijanovic
- , Jelena Lukovic
- & James D. Begg
News & Views | 20 July 2020

Redrawing the early sulfur cycle

The Archaean atmosphere may have been well oxygenated, according to a reconsideration of sulfur cycling at that time. This challenges the view that sedimentary sulfur records oxygen-poor conditions during Earth’s first two billion years.
- Desiree Roerdink
News & Views | 13 July 2020

Earth’s soil harbours ancient carbon

Organic carbon in the top metre of Earth’s soils is far older than previously thought, averaging 4,800 years old. These radiocarbon-derived age estimates require us to recalibrate our expectations of ecosystem gains and losses of carbon.
- Sharon A. Billings
- & Lígia F. T. de Souza
Editorial | 02 July 2020

Papers that matter

Nature Geoscience aims to publish important science, but the journal also strives to offer a platform to voices driving change within the geoscience community. We welcome submissions on community issues that encourage reader engagement and inspire action.
News & Views | 29 June 2020

Plate tectonics from crust to core

Compositional signatures of subducted crust in the deep-mantle sources of ocean island volcanoes in the Atlantic Ocean but not the Pacific reveal that plate motions on Earth’s surface influence the characteristics of Earth’s deepest interior.
- Richard W. Carlson