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Martian gullies have been seen as evidence for past surface water runoff. However, numerical modelling now suggests that accumulation and sublimation of carbon dioxide ice, rather than overland flow of liquid water, may be driving modern gully formation.
Clear evidence for subduction-induced metamorphism, and thus the operation of plate tectonics on the ancient Earth has been lacking. Theoretical calculations indicate that we may have been looking for something that cannot exist.
The structure of atmospheric aerosol particles affects their reactivity and growth rates. Measurements of aerosol properties over the Amazon rainforest indicate that organic particles above tropical rainforests are simple liquid drops.
A global picture of the age structure and flow path of groundwater is lacking. Tritium concentrations and numerical modelling shed light on both the most recently replenished and the longest stored groundwater within Earth's continents.
Compared to Earth, the Moon is depleted in volatile species like water, sodium and potassium. Simulations suggest that much of the Moon formed from hot, volatile-poor melt in a disk of debris after initially amassing cooler, volatile-rich melt.
Plate tectonics is the surface expression of mantle convection. Seismic observations at the Cascadia subduction zone show that coupling between tectonic plate motion and mantle flow may depend on the size of the plate.
In the United States, hurricanes have been causing more and more economic damage. A reanalysis of the disaster database using a statistical method that accounts for improvements in resilience opens the possibility that climate change has played a role.
The last glacial period and deglaciation were marked by abrupt, millennial-scale climate changes. Changes in the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation were important contributors to rapid climate variability, but did not act alone.
The 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake ruptured part of a fault that typically slips in slow, transient events. Laboratory experiments show that when fault rocks are sheared at slow, plate tectonic speeds, the fault can slip either quickly or slowly.
The Cambrian evolution of burrowing species is thought to have facilitated sediment mixing. However, sediment fabrics suggest that bioturbation remained insignificant until the appearance of more efficient sediment mixers in the Silurian.
Little is known about the mechanisms that destroy the oldest organic molecules found in seawater. Field and laboratory observations suggest that these molecules are destroyed by the heat and pressure of deep-sea hydrothermal systems.
Leases of land concessions in Cambodia have accelerated in the last ten years. An analysis using high-resolution maps and official documents shows that deforestation rates in the land concessions are higher than in other areas.
Ice streams transport ice rapidly from the interior of the Antarctic ice sheet to the coast. An analysis of surface flow convergence suggests that ice flow and geometry are intricately linked within these ice streams.
Fires related to Amazonian deforestation are a large source of particulate matter emissions. Satellite measurements and models reveal that reductions in deforestation and fire emissions since 2001 have prevented hundreds of premature deaths each year.
Decomposition of soil organic matter could be an important positive feedback to climate change. Geochemical properties of soils can help determine what fraction of soil carbon may be protected from climate-induced decomposition.
