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Analysis of the microfossil content of sediment cores from areas where thick Arctic sea ice persists today reveals that a subpolar species associated with Atlantic water expanded deep into the Arctic Ocean during the Last Interglacial. This finding implies that summers in the Arctic were likely sea-ice-free during this period.
Two contrasting sinuosity patterns were identified in lowland rivers on Earth and Mars. The channel sinuosity either substantially increases or remains constant towards the coast. These bimodal patterns reflect the age of the channels and their lateral migration rates, which are associated with sediment supply and discharge variability.
The post-garnet transition has been found to have a curved phase boundary, with negative slopes in cold regions and positive slopes in hot regions of the Earth’s mantle. This varying slope could be a reason for the puzzling dynamics of subducting slabs and upwelling plumes observed seismically in the upper part of the lower mantle.
Admission to doctoral study is a crucial step in the academic pipeline, but discriminatory procedures can disproportionately impact students from ethnic minority backgrounds. We show how these policies contribute to inequity in the geosciences and propose strategies for change.
Spatial patterns of channel sinuosity near river outlets reflect the interplay between the channel migration rate and the avulsion timescale, according to sinuosity measurements of lowland rivers on Earth and Mars and channel evolution simulations.
The warm Last Interglacial led to a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean and a transformation to Atlantic conditions, according to planktic foraminifera records from central Arctic Ocean sediment cores.
Widespread shallow-water hydrothermal venting in the North Atlantic, probably a source of methane, coincided with the onset of the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, according to borehole proxy records and seismic imaging.
The chemical weathering of silicate rocks plays a central role in stabilizing our climate through CO2 drawdown. Li isotopic evidence from a prolonged Eocene warming event suggests clay formation may disrupt this feedback on intermediate timescales.
Himalayan valley-floor widths are controlled by long-term tectonically driven exhumation, rather than by water discharge, according to an analysis of valley-floor width and exhumation rate observations.
The long duration of the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum, compared with other transient Eocene warming events, can be explained by an increase in clays forming from the weathering of silicate minerals, according to lithium isotope records of marine carbonates.
Experimental determination of how the post-garnet phase transition pressure varies with temperature suggests a downward-convex phase boundary with potential implications for mantle dynamics.
Orbital precession played a more important role than obliquity during Late Pleistocene swings in ice-sheet extent, according to an analysis of benthic oxygen isotope records with precise age constraints.
Grasses contribute more than half of the soil organic carbon across tropical savannas, according to a case study in South Africa combined with a synthesis of data from tropical savannas globally.
One journal’s reject may be another journal’s gem. Our editors aim to direct rejected manuscripts towards a more suitable destination journal in our transfer network.
More than just a gemstone, Jon Pownall and Kathryn Cutts explore the history and future directions of garnet as a recorder of pressure, temperature, and time.
The asteroid Ryugu experienced aqueous alteration under changing temperature and redox conditions, according to an isotopic analysis of secondary calcite and dolomite grains in samples from Ryugu obtained by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft.
The competition between grassland vegetation and microbes for phosphorus controls how plant productivity responds to elevated CO2, according to free-air CO2 enrichment experiments on phosphorus-limited grasslands.
Extreme rainfall events are often linked to climate change based on simple thermodynamic arguments, but complex dynamic processes also play a role. Scientists have a responsibility to ensure they provide accurate information to the media and public.
