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A review of observation-based evidence suggests that four interconnected Earth system tipping elements have moved towards their critical thresholds, highlighting the need for better monitoring and increased mitigation efforts.
Basalt clasts returned by Chang’e-6 suggest a lunar farside mantle potential temperature that is approximately 100 °C cooler than the nearside mantle, according to a petrologic study combined with thermobarometric modelling and remote sensing data.
Nutrient-induced soil carbon gains in grasslands can persist for decades after fertilization stops as long as the soil remains untilled, according to a multidecadal field experiment on retired agricultural fields with sandy soils.
The major ion chemistry of a North American river shows decreased lateral carbon transport due to exacerbated secondary carbonate formation and CO2 evasion, according to analyses conducted during a 195-day drought.
Slivers of continental crust within oceanic transform faults far from continents result from their entrapment within shear zones during the early stages of continental rifting, according to three-dimensional magmatic-thermomechanical numerical simulations.
Enhanced aerobic oxidation of methane in the Arctic Ocean intensified carbon dioxide emissions during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, potentially extending the event, according to biomarker records from an Arctic sediment core.
A dataset of cosmogenic beryllium-7 measurements is compiled and used to quantify aerosol deposition rates over the global ocean. The findings suggest that aerosol deposition onto oceans has been underestimated in a widely used atmospheric composition model, GEOS-Chem, resulting in an overestimation of aerosol lifetime over oceans.
The accrual of soil carbon from absorptive fine roots exceeds that of leaf litter in forests despite lower productivity, according to an analysis of field observations from Northern Hemisphere forest sites.
Ammonia oxidizers contribute minimally to carbon fixation in the dark ocean despite their abundance at depth, according to enzyme inhibition experiments on water samples from two cruises.
Inclusions preserving a snapshot of the chemical reactions that produced the host diamond may provide insight into diamond formation in the deep mantle from carbon-bearing fluids.
Reduced nickel-rich metal and oxidized nickel carbonate inclusions within diamonds provide evidence of metasomatic redox reactions and support the role of carbonatitic melts in oxidizing small volumes of the deep upper mantle and transition zone.
Direct human impact on land disturbances in the USA is declining, while less controllable, undirected wild disturbances are increasing, according to a long-term record of high-resolution satellite imagery.
Aerosol deposition onto the surface of the ocean has been underestimated, suggesting that aerosol lifetimes over the ocean are longer than previously appreciated, according to a global compilation of cosmogenic beryllium isotope data.
The proposed basal magma ocean within the early Earth may have been contaminated by oxides exsolved from the core that can explain seismic velocity anomalies observed in the lowermost mantle, according to thermodynamic and geodynamic modelling.
Reactive poorly crystalline iron minerals play a critical role in organic carbon accumulation. Insights from a coastal survey show they are abundant in coastal wetlands and may boost the ‘rusty carbon sink’ in these key carbon-storing environments.
Barite is a relatively heavy mineral that is used in both the medical field and the oil and gas industry. Formed in marine environments, it also provides a valuable record of deep geological time.
The mineralogy of samples returned from asteroid Bennu yield valuable insights into the physical and chemical processes — on both small and large scales — that shape small bodies in the Solar System.
Ocean simulations and proxy-constrained climate reconstructions suggest that the rapid retreat of West Antarctic outlet glaciers was initiated by local northerly wind trends over the twentieth century.