Articles

Sediment lenses trailing subducting seamounts could maintain long-lasting fluid pressures and support slow-slip behaviour at sediment-rich subduction zones, according to three-dimensional seismic surveys of the Hikurangi margin.

High-resolution satellite observations reveal that large lakes on the Tibetan Plateau have total nitric oxide emissions comparable to anthropogenic emissions from individual megacities worldwide.

Ancient, rock-derived organic matter is consumed by micro-organisms in Arctic fjord sediments despite its presumed limited bioavailability, representing a potential source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to compound-specific radiocarbon analyses of lipids from living bacteria.

The formation of continental crust may have trapped —and thus not degassed—substantial amounts of magmatic nitrogen over Earth’s history, according to geochemical analyses of igneous rocks from the Hekla volcanic system in Iceland.

Interactions between subducting slabs and the 660-km mantle transition zone can influence mantle convection and forearc uplift, according to rock uplift histories of the Calabrian forearc spanning the past 30 million years.

The hyper-arid climate of modern East Antarctica only arose in the late Miocene, millions of years after the interval of rapid ice-sheet expansion, according to meteoric beryllium-10 concentrations within the permafrost.

Correlation between large igneous province activity and iron formation ages suggests that subducted iron formations may have facilitated mantle plume upwelling in the Archaean and Proterozoic Earth.

Fine-grained pyroclastic deposits can be fluidized by decompression following the passage of dilute pyroclastic density currents, generating hazardous, highly mobile flows, according to analogue experiments and numerical simulations.

Spark discharge experiments suggest lightning was not the main source of bioavailable nitrogen for the established Archaean biosphere, but could have been significant for Earth’s earliest ecosystems.

Volatile-rich kimberlite magmas may be transported to the surface by broad mantle upwellings located above mobile basal mantle structures, according to global models of mantle convection over the past 200 million years.

The Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre has transitioned to a state where the freshwater content has plateaued and the cold halocline layer has thinned, as a result of variation in the regional wind forcing.

The early Earth’s mantle rapidly oxidized during the Hadean because of iron disproportionation and core segregation, according to experiments melting peridotite under deep-mantle conditions.

Mercury deposition onto the Greenland Ice Sheet increased from the Last Glacial Termination to early Holocene as the North Atlantic warmed and sea ice retreated, according to an ice-core mercury record and atmospheric chemistry modelling.

Primordial helium in the deep mantle may be supplied continuously from Earth’s core, according to first-principles calculations and modelling of helium partitioning into exsolved magnesium oxide at core–mantle boundary conditions

Differences in shallow- and deep-earthquake characteristics can be explained by Earth’s depth-dependent rigidity instead of different rupture processes, according to machine learning classification of moderate to large earthquakes.

Precipitation frequency and intensity across different geographic regions are positively correlated in reanalysis data and observations, suggesting universal precipitation-generating processes.

Mosses support carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition and plant pathogen control in soils across the globe, according to a global survey of soil attributes in ecosystems with and without mosses.

Earth’s spectral long-wave feedback parameter can be directly observed using satellite measurements, revealing the influence of relative humidity on climate feedbacks.

Submarine terraced deposits of some caldera-forming explosive eruptions result from periodic collapses of the eruption column and can be used to estimate their source eruption rate, according to an analysis of such terraces and analogue experiments.

Projections of forest aboveground carbon storage potential in the United States show divergent results across different modelling approaches due to uncertainties in the estimated impact of climate risks, according to a comparison of modelling results.