Volume 15 Issue 3, March 2022

Continuous and discoverable observations of water potential could vastly improve understanding of biophysical processes throughout the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum and are achievable thanks to recent technological advances.

Analysis of interactions between the wheels of the Zhurong rover and the terrain along the rover’s traverse reveals soils with high bearing strength and cohesion.

Cirrus cloud formation in the Northern Hemisphere is primarily triggered by mineral dust, according to global-scale dust observations and a cirrus-formation model.

Sulfur dioxide emissions due to consumption by developed and developing countries differ in magnitude but produce comparable climate impacts due to the regional distribution of emissions, according to simulations using an Earth system model.

Deposition of sulfate and nitrate in China has declined more slowly than emissions of their precursors, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, according to a combination of emissions inventory and air quality and statistical modelling.

Organic aerosols in the Arctic are predominantly fuelled by anthropogenic sources in winter and natural sources in summer, according to observations from eight sites across the Arctic

Methane hydrate dissociation occurred across the Oligocene–Miocene boundary, which may have contributed to the termination of glaciation, according to analysis of lipid biomarkers from the Southern Ocean.

Recycling of sedimentary phosphorus driven by increasing oceanic sulfide availability contributed to the persistent oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere, according to analysis of Archean drill-core samples and biogeochemical modelling

Drainage divides between coastal plain channel networks can be constructed through depositional, rather than erosional, processes according to a lidar-based topographic analysis of the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain.

Fracture density decays continuously with distance from the fault resulting in regionally widespread damage over multiple earthquake cycles, according to combined maps of fracture, strain and aftershocks from the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes.

Chemical weathering of subaerial felsic crust modified the composition of Palaeoarchaean seawater, suggesting possible Eoarchaean crustal emergence, according to the radiogenic strontium isotope composition of 3.5–3.2 Ga barite deposits.

Formation of a subduction zone in the Neotethys Ocean triggered a cascade of plate tectonic events, according to a plate kinematic model constrained by geomagnetic intensity variations.

Two regions of fine-scale heterogeneity in Earth’s inner core may be due to the random alignment of fast-freezing crystals associated with downwelling in the mantle and outer core, according to a 3D map of inner-core seismic data.