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Retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the late Oligocene was caused primarily by a tectonically driven marine transgression, according to a compilation of Ross Sea surface temperature estimates throughout the Cenozoic.
Modern decadal scale sea surface temperature variability in the eastern Mediterranean is within the range reported from a Last Interglacial alkenone proxy temperature record. However, future warming could outpace Last Interglacial variability.
Spatial variability in forest dieback during the severe drought in California between 2011 and 2017 can be explained by variations in bedrock composition and thus weatherability, according to analyses of the drought responses a series of geologically distinct sites.
The Thwaites Glacier grounding zone has experienced sustained pulses of rapid retreat over the past two centuries, according to sea floor observations obtained by an autonomous underwater vehicle.
Highly calcifying, larger coccolithophores emerged as CO2 generally declined through the Eocene, despite cooling leading to lower organic-matter fixation rates, according to size-dependent coccolith carbon isotope analyses and cell-scale modelling
Reservoir-induced radiative forcing is increasing globally due to rising methane emissions outweighing declining carbon dioxide emissions, according to modelling based on reservoir surface area observations.
Colonization of continents by plants some 430 Myr ago enhanced the complexity of weathering and sedimentary systems, and altered the composition of continental crust, according to statistical assessment of zircon compositions.
Deep hydration of the upper mantle at transform plate boundaries due to seawater infiltration leads to hydrous melting and lithospheric thinning, according to seismic surveys and thermal modelling of the Romanche transform fault.
Flooding of the desiccated Mediterranean ~5 Myr ago resulted in east–west differences in salinity stratification, which delayed the return of normal marine conditions throughout the basin, according to proxy records and model simulations.
Suppressed El Niño/Southern Oscillation variability during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period was caused mainly by a northward displacement of the intertropical convergence zone, according to an analysis of a large ensemble of climate model simulations.
Decoupled fault slip and opening, leading to rapid fluid pressurization after initial failure, drives high-pressure fluid migration in low-permeability faults, according to modelling and in situ observations from a borehole fluid-injection experiment.
Geochemical analyses of an andesitic meteorite suggest the continental-crust-like composition is due to partial melting after core formation on a differentiated parent body.
Satellite-based machine-learning analysis of a diffusive volcanic eruption suggests that aerosol climate forcing is dominated by changes in cloud cover, rather than changes in cloud brightness.
Global in situ observations show greenhouse gas emissions from wetlands are lowest when the water table is near the surface, and therefore rewetting wetlands could substantially reduce future emissions.
A machine-learning-based mapping of Antarctic subglacial geology suggests sedimentary basins lie beneath some of the most dynamic ice streams, increasing their vulnerability to rapid ice retreat.
Climate sensitivity in the late Miocene was comparable to the late Pleistocene and twenty-first century, with cooling at the time coupled to declining carbon dioxide, according to a CO2 record determined from boron isotopes in planktic foraminifera
Pulses of Saharan dust have been entering the North Atlantic since at least 11 Ma, a result of astronomically paced cycles between arid and humid conditions in northern Africa, according to a terrigenous input record from an ocean core off west Africa.
Field surveys suggest peatlands in the central Congo Basin are globally significant carbon stocks, storing approximately 28% of the world’s tropical peat carbon.
Production and consumption of dissolved organic phosphorus in the surface ocean is controlled by the interplay between phosphate and iron stress, according to global analyses of the distribution of marine nutrients.
The mercury concentration in the Arctic Ocean is lower and less variable in winter than in summer due to seasonal loss of inorganic mercury on the shelf, according to mercury measurements along a gradient in the northern Barents Sea.