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The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle focused on carbon and how it is sequestered in and moves between different reservoirs in the Earth system.
There are no good models for the chemical evolution of the Earth’s surface over the planet’s lifetime, because models typically overlook the progressive build-up of carbonate rocks in the crust. A new model that includes this accumulation enables the reconstruction of major oxygen and temperature trends throughout Earth’s history.
When the Marinoan snowball Earth deglaciated, the ocean’s chemistry determined the strength and duration of the ensuing supergreenhouse climate, while the sudden warming and biological activity could have led to a rapid formation of cap dolostones.
The temperature-sensitivity of soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export is widely debated but limited by the duration of observations. New data from environmental archives supports a pronounced sensitivity between soil DOC leaching and warming.
Reductions in groundwater level due to El Niño-induced drought events changed an undrained tropical peat swamp forest from a carbon dioxide sink to a source with cumulative impacts of drainage and smoke haze further enhancing long term emissions, suggest long-term field experiments in Indonesia.
Plasticity and evolutionary changes in phytoplankton phenotypes in the ocean can be better represented by integrating statistical and multi-trait-based numerical models which will help improve predictions of future ecosystem states and ocean carbon cycling.
Using complementary multiplicity-edited 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, oxidative dearomatization is shown to be a key driver for generating structural diversity during processing of dissolved organic matter and the data also suggest high abundance of OCqC3 units.
Methane emissions from agriculture and waste increased between 1990 and 2020 while fossil fuel emissions decreased until 2004 and subsequently stabilised, suggest isotopic observations of methane emissions and atmospheric chemistry modelling.
There are no good models for the chemical evolution of the Earth’s surface over the planet’s lifetime, because models typically overlook the progressive build-up of carbonate rocks in the crust. A new model that includes this accumulation enables the reconstruction of major oxygen and temperature trends throughout Earth’s history.
The carbon emissions of large igneous province magmatism are commonly associated with severe environmental crises. We developed a technique that used sedimentary mercury records to estimate these carbon fluxes through time and found that they are smaller and/or slower than assumed, which suggests that the influence of carbon-cycle feedback processes is underestimated in current models.
Canal networks in Southeast Asian peatlands are zones of rapid, light-driven biogeochemical cycling. The canals increase carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere and decrease organic carbon export to the ocean.
An integrated model of mineral weathering and carbon cycling reveals the substantial influence that clay minerals originating from the weathering of magnesium-rich rocks have on Earth’s climate. This research indicates that this clay-forming process contributed to each Palaeozoic glaciation.
Blue carbon will not solve climate change. The effect is too small; existing sediment carbon stock is a liability; and there is a timescale mismatch between ancient fossil fuel emissions and uptake by vegetation. Clearer communication would support informed decision-making.