Volume 8 Issue 11, November 2015

The restrictions and protocols surrounding the collection and storage of field samples in the Earth sciences are not always complied with. Offences must not be taken lightly.

Despite legislation to protect natural sites, rock outcrops are being damaged in the name of science. Scientists, funders and publishers must push forward a stronger code of ethics.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Transient streaks that appear seasonally on Martian slopes are consistent with brine flows, but evidence of water or salts has been lacking. Analysis of spectral data reveals hydrated salts associated with the streaks, confirming a briny origin.

Progress in seasonal weather prediction outside the tropics has been slow. An analysis of observation-based meteorological data for winter 2013/2014 suggests that the upper-tropospheric components of weather systems could be useful for prediction.

Following large explosive volcanic eruptions, precipitation decreases over much of the globe. An analysis of streamflow records from fifty large rivers reveals statistically significant flow reductions in some regions, but increases in others.

Some of the energy from photosynthesis is used in production of biomass. An analysis of plant productivity measurements reveals that site management is the main factor controlling how efficiently plants produce biomass, not fertility.

Ice streams control the discharge of ice from the interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the coast. A map of flow convergence suggests that ice-stream flow is subject to a mechanical regulation that limits flow-orthonormal strain rates.

Microbes live under glaciers that have persisted for millions of years, without a clear energy supply. Analyses of crushed rocks suggest that interactions of glaciers with the rocks beneath can produce enough H₂ to support methanogenic bacteria.

The fate of old, recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon in oceans is unclear. Field samples show that loss during circulation in hydrothermal vents can account for the 40-million-year lifetime of recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon in oceans.

Ocean circulation and dynamics can alter atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Numerical modelling suggests that shifts in surface buoyancy loss and the location of upwelling can sequester CO₂ in the Southern Ocean during glacial periods.

Mobile organisms first appeared in the fossil record prior to the Precambrian–Cambrian transition. Sediment textures indicate that the degree of sediment mixing by animal activity remained low for 120 million years following the transition.

The Tohoku earthquake ruptured a fault that also generates slow slip events. Laboratory experiments on rock samples from the fault show that this spectrum of slip behaviours is a natural consequence of shearing at slow plate-convergence rates.

Faults weaken during earthquakes. Analysis of the amount of energy released during earthquakes globally suggests that heat-induced pressurization of pore fluids can weaken faults during earthquakes of all sizes.

The observed increases in hurricane losses are often thought to result solely from societal change. A regression-based analysis of US economic losses reveals an upward trend between 1900 and 2005 that is not explained by increasing vulnerability.

Pyrite formation has been considered a key iron sink in organic-rich marine sediments. Analyses of sediments from the Ivory Coast–Ghana Marginal Ridge demonstrate that iron can be buried at greater rates during green-clay formation.