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Evidence of ghost plagioclase signature induced by kinetic fractionation of europium in the Earth’s mantle
Researchers found natural evidence of kinetic Eu anomalies caused by melt-induced diffusion in mantle peridotite clinopyroxene, providing an alternative to crustal recycling for the enigmatic ghost plagioclase signatures in oceanic basalts.
- Romain Tilhac
- , Károly Hidas
- & Carlos J. Garrido
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Matters Arising
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Reply to: Silica is unlikely to be soluble in upper crustal carbonatite melts
- Jasper Berndt
- & Stephan Klemme
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Article
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Global ocean redox changes before and during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event
Geochemical modeling shows that just a several percent expansion of O2-free areas with toxic sulfide build-up likely contributed to biodiversity loss or reorganization during the Toarcian mass extinction 183 million years ago.
- Alexandra Kunert
- & Brian Kendall
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Article
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The rocky road to organics needs drying
How complex organics form in a prebiotic world remains a missing key to establish where life emerged. The authors present a road to abiotic organic synthesis and diversification in hydrothermal contexts involving magmatism and rock hydration.
- Muriel Andreani
- , Gilles Montagnac
- & Bénédicte Ménez
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Article
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Reconciling discrepant minor sulfur isotope records of the Great Oxidation Event
Emerging sulfur isotope data divides opinion surrounding the Great Oxidation Event. Utilising computational approaches and additional data, Uveges et al. reconcile these disparities, offering a more refined framework of atmospheric oxygenation.
- Benjamin T. Uveges
- , Gareth Izon
- & Roger E. Summons
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Article
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Mercury evidence from southern Pangea terrestrial sections for end-Permian global volcanic effects
Mercury (Hg) concentrations and isotopes from terrestrial sections of southern Pangea provide evidence of the global volcanic effects of the Siberian Traps during the Permian-Triassic transition
- Jun Shen
- , Jiubin Chen
- & Tamsin A. Mather
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Article
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Greenstone burial–exhumation cycles at the late Archean transition to plate tectonics
Supracrustal rocks of the Yilgarn orogen underwent deep burial, and later syn-shortening exhumation. Archean exhumation processes were likely less efficient that today, so that complete exhumation of high-pressure rocks was rare and accidental.
- Zibra Ivan
- , Kemp Anthony I S
- & Romano Sandra S
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Article
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Quartz-bearing rhyolitic melts in the Earth’s mantle
The paper reports the occurrence of quartz-bearing rhyolitic melt inclusions and interstitial glasses within peridotite xenoliths. Their O-isotope composition proves crustal derivation and cycling into the mantle at convergent plate margins.
- Luigi Dallai
- , Gianluca Bianchini
- & Sandro Conticelli
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Article
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Significant contributions of combustion-related sources to ammonia emissions
By integrating nitrogen isotope systematics of ammonia emissions and transformations in the atmosphere, this study quantified the combustion-related ammonia emission and uncovered its importance for mitigating strategies of ammonia pollution.
- Zhi-Li Chen
- , Wei Song
- & Xue-Yan Liu
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Article
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Potassium isotope heterogeneity in the early Solar System controlled by extensive evaporation and partial recondensation
This study reports strikingly light K isotopic compositions for the extremely K-depleted angrite meteorites, thereby providing the first observation of isotope fractionation likely controlled by partial recondensation at a planetary scale.
- Yan Hu
- , Frédéric Moynier
- & Martin Bizzarro
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Article
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A changing thermal regime revealed from shallow to deep basalt source melting in the Moon
Ancient (~3.9 Ga) KREEP-free basalts were sourced from a relatively cool and shallow pyroxene-rich mantle distinct from later-erupted (<3.8 Ga) KREEP-bearing basalts, indicating a fundamental change in melting regimes in the Moon.
- Yash Srivastava
- , Amit Basu Sarbadhikari
- & Atsushi Takenouchi
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Article
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Subduction-related oxidation of the sublithospheric mantle evidenced by ferropericlase and magnesiowüstite diamond inclusions
This article reports finding of a highly oxidised mineral in diamond inclusion derived from mantle transition zone or lower mantle, very reduced areas on our planet. Such oxidised material is likely linked to subduction of carbonates into this region.
- Ekaterina S. Kiseeva
- , Nester Korolev
- & Leonid Dubrovinsky
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Article
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Sub-microscopic magnetite and metallic iron particles formed by eutectic reaction in Chang’E-5 lunar soil
Magnetite is rarely present on the Moon. Here the authors report the magnetite formed by eutectic reaction during the impact process in Chang’E-5 lunar soil, and the potential contribution of this magnetite formation to magnetic anomalies on the Moon.
- Zhuang Guo
- , Chen Li
- & Ziyuan Ouyang
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Article
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Interplay between oceanic subduction and continental collision in building continental crust
Gangdese arc magmatism, Tibet, was initially dominated by fractional crystallization of mantle derived magmas, followed by the remelting of these rocks during collision. These two stages lead to the stratification of the juvenile continental crust
- Di-Cheng Zhu
- , Qing Wang
- & Xuan-Xue Mo
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Article
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Crystal growth in confinement
How confinement affects the growth of crystals is poorly understood. Experiments in which NaClO3 and CaCO3 crystals are grown close to a glass substrate now show that new molecular layers can form via the transport of mass through the liquid film at the crystal-substrate interface.
- Felix Kohler
- , Olivier Pierre-Louis
- & Dag Kristian Dysthe
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Article
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Vertical depletion of ophiolitic mantle reflects melt focusing and interaction in sub-spreading-center asthenosphere
Upward depletion of ophiolitic mantle is produced by melt-peridotite reaction with lateral melt/rock ratio variations in an asthenospheric upwelling column, which flows to become the horizontal oceanic lithospheric mantle under spreading centers.
- Qing Xiong
- , Hong-Kun Dai
- & Suzanne Y. O’ Reilly
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Article
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High temperature methane emissions from Large Igneous Provinces as contributors to late Permian mass extinctions
Isotope signatures preserved within a natural gas reservoir reveal large quantities of methane were generated and released from oil by a Large Igneous Province, resulting in the initiation of global warming, which led to the End-Permian Extinction.
- Chengsheng Chen
- , Shengfei Qin
- & Zheng Zhou
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Article
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Dust emission reduction enhanced gas-to-particle conversion of ammonia in the North China Plain
Liu et al. found that the formation rate of particulate ammonium is slower in the atmosphere than that observed in the laboratory, while it is sped up due to an increase in aerosol acidity driven by an emission reduction of dust in North China Plain.
- Yongchun Liu
- , Junlei Zhan
- & Markku Kulmala
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Article
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Barium content of Archaean continental crust reveals the onset of subduction was not global
Only subduction zone can produce Ba-rich TTG, representing a proxy for the onset of subduction. Statistical increases in Ba contents of Archaean TTGs reveal the diachronous onset of subduction from regional at 4 Ga to globally complete after 2.7 Ga
- Guangyu Huang
- , Ross N. Mitchell
- & Jinghui Guo
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Article
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Global thermal spring distribution and relationship to endogenous and exogenous factors
Data from 6000 geothermal areas worldwide are analyzed with a machine learning approach. The analysis suggests and confirms a dominant role of the terrestrial heat flow, topography, volcanism and extensional tectonics.
- G. Tamburello
- , G. Chiodini
- & C. Masciantonio
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Article
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Genetic model of the El Laco magnetite-apatite deposits by extrusion of iron-rich melt
Can volcanoes erupt ore deposits? This study combines observations, experiments, and simulations to show that iron ore deposits on El Laco volcano formed by eruption of melt sourced from separation of Fe-rich melt from a silicate magma body beneath.
- Tobias Keller
- , Fernando Tornos
- & Jenny Suckale
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Article
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Zinc isotopic evidence for recycled carbonate in the deep mantle
Zhang et al. perform high-precision zinc (Zn) isotopic analysis on lavas from St. Helena Island in the Atlantic, and Cook-Austral Islands in the Pacific, and confirm that ancient superficial carbonates were transported into the deep mantle billions of years ago.
- Xiao-Yu Zhang
- , Li-Hui Chen
- & Wei-Qiang Li
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Article
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Reconstructing Earth’s atmospheric oxygenation history using machine learning
Earth’s oxygenation history can be reconstructed using machine learning and mafic igneous geochemical data. Agreement with independent proxy predictions for surface conditions implies that interior processes are critical in atmospheric oxygenation.
- Guoxiong Chen
- , Qiuming Cheng
- & Molei Zhao
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Article
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Low 13C-13C abundances in abiotic ethane
Distinguishing biotic compounds from abiotic ones is critical to the search for life in the universe. Here, the authors demonstrate that the abiotic ethane has distinctively low 13C-13C abundances compared to biotic ethane.
- Koudai Taguchi
- , Alexis Gilbert
- & Yuichiro Ueno
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Article
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Chang’E-5 samples reveal high water content in lunar minerals
Lunar soils returned by China’s Chang’E−5 (CE5) mission record the unique information of solar wind essential to understanding the preservation and distribution of lunar surficial water. Here the authors report abundant water formed by solar wind implantation in minerals of CE5 lunar soils; the water content in CE5 lunar soils is estimated to be ~ 170 ppm.
- Chuanjiao Zhou
- , Hong Tang
- & Yuanyun Wen
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Article
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Ultra-depleted hydrogen isotopes in hydrated glass record Late Cretaceous glaciation in Antarctica
Analysis of volcanic glass from the Transantarctic Mountains suggests that 90 Million years ago glaciation was widespread in Antarctica, a period in Earth’s history when the continent was considered to be ice-free and part of a global greenhouse.
- Demian A. Nelson
- , John M. Cottle
- & Alfredo Camacho
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Article
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Marine phosphate availability and the chemical origins of life on Earth
Phosphate is critical for all life on Earth but its origins have remained enigmatic. Experiments indicate that phosphate may have been abundant in ancient Fe-rich seawater, providing a crucial ingredient for the origins of life on Earth.
- Matthew P. Brady
- , Rosalie Tostevin
- & Nicholas J. Tosca
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Article
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Large contribution of fossil-derived components to aqueous secondary organic aerosols in China
Isotope fingerprinting is used to track precursor sources and formation pathways of aqueous SOA, such as oxalic acid, finding that fossil fuel precursors contributions have largely been underestimated.
- Buqing Xu
- , Gan Zhang
- & Guoying Sheng
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Article
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Geoelectrochemistry-driven alteration of amino acids to derivative organics in carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies
Researchers at Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) discovered a chemical process that can explain the very low amino acid abundances in aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrites, deepening our understanding on the Solar System chemical evolution.
- Yamei Li
- , Norio Kitadai
- & Kristin Johnson-Finn
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Article
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Nitrogen isotope evidence for Earth’s heterogeneous accretion of volatiles
How and when Earth acquired its major volatiles N-C-H-S remains unclear. Here the authors show that Earth may have acquired its major volatiles from both reduced and oxidized impactors before and during the Moon-forming giant impact.
- Lanlan Shi
- , Wenhua Lu
- & Yuan Li
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Article
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Tectonically-driven oxidant production in the hot biosphere
Researchers at Newcastle University have discovered a mechanism by which earthquakes create bursts of hydrogen peroxide and oxygen in hot underground fractures. These may have played a vital role in the early evolution and origin of life on Earth.
- Jordan Stone
- , John O. Edgar
- & Jon Telling
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Article
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Sources of dehydration fluids underneath the Kamchatka arc
Fluids released from progressive breakdown of minerals at increasing pressure within a mélange may explain the trace element systematics and stable thallium isotope data of the Kamchatka arc lavas from volcanic front to back arc.
- Yunchao Shu
- , Sune G. Nielsen
- & Maureen Auro
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Article
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Global analysis and prediction of fluoride in groundwater
A global fluoride hazard prediction map was created using machine learning and over 400,000 fluoride measurements, this shows ~180 million people are potentially affected by chronic fluoride exposure worldwide, mostly in Asia and Africa.
- Joel Podgorski
- & Michael Berg
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Article
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Tracing the origin of lithium in Li-ion batteries using lithium isotopes
Rechargeable Li-ion batteries play a key role in the energy transition towards clean energy. It is challenging for end users to ensure that Li comes from environmentally and responsible sources. Here the authors show that Li isotope ‘fingerprints’ are a useful tool for determining the origin of Li in battery.
- Anne-Marie Desaulty
- , Daniel Monfort Climent
- & Catherine Guerrot
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Article
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Sulfur and chlorine budgets control the ore fertility of arc magmas
Earth’s largest copper deposits form in continental arcs, yet it is not well understood what determines whether a magmatic system generates economic mineralization or not. Here the authors show that the abundance of chlorine and sulfur, rather than the abundance of ore metals controls magmatic ore fertility.
- Carter Grondahl
- & Zoltán Zajacz
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Article
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Oxygen isotope (δ18O, Δ′17O) insights into continental mantle evolution since the Archean
The 18 O/16 O ratio of the subcontinental mantle has decreased by 0.2‰, while crustal values increased by 4‰ via fluid transfer since the Archean due to the initiation of plate tectonics and subduction, in line with the crust-upper mantle mass balance
- Ilya N. Bindeman
- , Dmitri A. Ionov
- & Alexander V. Golovin
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Article
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Nanoparticle suspensions from carbon-rich fluid make high-grade gold deposits
The authors present novel observations providing insights into the formation of extraordinary gold-rich veins. We discovered metal nanoparticles associated with amorphous silica and carbon indicating their essential contribution to efficient gold deposition.
- Laura Petrella
- , Nicolas Thébaud
- & Sarah Gain
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Article
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86Kr excess and other noble gases identify a billion-year-old radiogenically-enriched groundwater system
Noble gases confirm billion-year groundwater residence times and external fluxes in deep crustal settings globally with implications for subsurface habitability and economic reservoir formation over planetary timescales both on Earth and beyond
- O. Warr
- , C. J. Ballentine
- & B. Sherwood Lollar
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Article
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Primitive noble gases sampled from ocean island basalts cannot be from the Earth’s core
Li et al. established a liquid-liquid partition model based on ab initio calculations to reveal that He and Ne strongly fractionate during core-mantle separation, which concludes the primitive volatiles seen in hotspots cannot be from the core.
- Yunguo Li
- , Lidunka Vočadlo
- & John P. Brodholt
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Article
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Diverse mantle components with invariant oxygen isotopes in the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption, Iceland
The 2021 eruption in the Reykjanes Peninsula of Iceland was the first in 800 years and was supplied by melts from diverse mantle source domains with near-identical oxygen isotope ratios, providing a unique insight into the Icelandic mantle plume.
- I. N. Bindeman
- , F. M. Deegan
- & T. R. Walter
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Article
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Proposed energy-metabolisms cannot explain the atmospheric chemistry of Venus
The metabolisms proposed for hypothetical life in the clouds of Venus cannot explain the planet’s atmospheric chemistry and thus a limit can be placed on the maximum allowed biomass.
- Sean Jordan
- , Oliver Shorttle
- & Paul B. Rimmer
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Article
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Ion complexation waves emerge at the curved interfaces of layered minerals
The structure of hydrated interfaces is essential for understanding of geochemical processes and behavior of layered minerals. The authors show that waves of hydrated ions emerge at curved aqueous interfaces and couple mineral deformation to the chemistry of the solution.
- Michael L. Whittaker
- , David Ren
- & Jillian F. Banfield
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Article
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Modest volcanic SO2 emissions from the Indonesian archipelago
Indonesia is the country with the most active volcanoes, several of which are renowned for climate-changing eruptions. Here the authors show a rather moderate sulfur emissions budget and reinforce the idea that sulfur-rich eruptions reflect long-term accumulation of volatiles in the reservoirs.
- Philipson Bani
- , Clive Oppenheimer
- & Mita Marlia
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Article
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Hydrological control of river and seawater lithium isotopes
From modern seasonal to the deep time, global data show that continental hydrology has a direct and consistent effect on river and marine Li isotope compositions, highlighting a crucial role of climate on Earth’s weathering and the carbon cycle.
- Fei Zhang
- , Mathieu Dellinger
- & Zhangdong Jin
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Article
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Eruption of ultralow-viscosity basanite magma at Cumbre Vieja, La Palma, Canary Islands
The rheological properties of the 2021 Cumbre Vieja magma on La Palma, Canary Islands is investigated. The study indicates that this eruption was fueled by magma having among the lowest viscosities observed for mafic systems, and consequently produced lavas that were flowing in the supercritical and possibly turbulent regime.
- Jonathan M. Castro
- & Yves Feisel
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Article
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Oxidation of Archean upper mantle caused by crustal recycling
The basalt V-Ti redox proxy indicates that both of the Archean ambient and modified mantle exhibit a ~1.0 log unit increase in their evolution for most cratons, possibly derived by widespread crustal recycling.
- Lei Gao
- , Shuwen Liu
- & Yalu Hu
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Article
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Fractional crystallisation of eclogite during the birth of a Hawaiian Volcano
Rare glasses of earliest melts produced by a Hawaiian volcano can only have formed by the crystallisation of garnet implying a magma chamber near the base of the lithosphere
- Laura A. Miller
- , Hugh St. C. O’Neill
- & Charles Le Losq
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Article
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Subducted organic matter buffered by marine carbonate rules the carbon isotopic signature of arc emissions
The carbon isotopic signature of CO2 released from marine sediments subducted beneath volcanic arcs does not reflect their organic/inorganic fraction, but instead the fluid-rock ratios and the redox conditions in force at the top of the slab.
- S. Tumiati
- , S. Recchia
- & S. Poli
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Article
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Origin of carbonatites—liquid immiscibility caught in the act
Carbonatites are fascinating igneous rocks and their genesis remains enigmatic. Here the authors show that a Ca-rich carbonatite melt formed by liquid immiscibility from a phonolitic magma of the Laacher See volcano in the Eifel, Germany.
- Jasper Berndt
- & Stephan Klemme
Eoarchean and Hadean melts reveal arc-like trace element and isotopic signatures