Correspondence |
Featured
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News |
China's Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made
The Geologic Atlas of the Lunar Globe doubles the resolution of Apollo-era maps and will support the space ambitions of China and other countries.
- Ling Xin
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Book Review |
How volcanoes shaped our planet — and why we need to be ready for the next big eruption
The world should learn from past disasters and prepare for the effects of future, inevitable volcanic catastrophes, a wide-reaching book teaches us.
- Heather Handley
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News |
Taiwan hit by biggest earthquake in 25 years: why scientists weren’t surprised
A complex network of faults lies in the area that experienced the earthquake, and more shocks are expected.
- Gemma Conroy
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Correspondence |
The ‘Anthropocene’ is here to stay — and it’s better not as a geological epoch
- Thomas P. Roland
- , Graeme T. Swindles
- & Alastair Ruffell
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Where I Work |
I peer into volcanoes to see when they’ll blow
Mariton Antonia Bornas runs a Filipino volcano research and response organization.
- Margaret Simons
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Editorial |
Are we in the Anthropocene yet?
Measurement matters, but should not detract from the reality that humans are altering Earth systems.
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News |
It’s final: the Anthropocene is not an epoch, despite protest over vote
Governing body upholds earlier decision by geoscientists amid drama.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Ditching ‘Anthropocene’: why ecologists say the term still matters
Beyond stratigraphic definitions, the name has broader significance for understanding humans’ place on Earth.
- David Adam
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News |
Geologists reject the Anthropocene as Earth’s new epoch — after 15 years of debate
But some are now challenging the vote, saying there were ‘procedural irregularities’.
- Alexandra Witze
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News & Views |
From the archive: New Mexico’s prehistoric pottery, and traces of the Ice Age
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Where I Work |
I look for the mineral equivalent of tree rings
Yang Li’s research has developed a high-precision chronology of rocks.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Buried microplastics complicate efforts to define the Anthropocene
Plastic particles in sediments could help to pin down the start of a new geological epoch. But their ability to migrate to older layers is muddying the waters.
- Katharine Sanderson
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News Feature |
Santorini’s volcanic past: underwater clues reveal giant prehistoric eruption
An expedition that drilled into the sea floor near the famous Greek island found signs of a gargantuan blast 520,000 years ago and more recent eruptions.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Explainer |
Japan earthquakes: the science behind the deadly tremors
A massive quake that triggered tsunamis, fires and multiple aftershocks was the largest on the country’s west coast in more than a century.
- Gemma Conroy
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News |
Scientists drilled through 500 metres of Greenland’s ice — here’s what they found at the bottom
Bedrock extracted from beneath the island’s frozen covering offers hints of the ice sheet’s past and future.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Strange blobs in Earth’s mantle are relics of a massive collision
Impact with a body called Theia 4.5 billion years ago left remnants deep inside Earth — and also created the Moon.
- Anil Oza
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News |
Did dust from the Chicxulub asteroid impact kill the dinosaurs?
Fine particles kicked up by the collision could have blocked out the Sun for years, resulting in global cooling and disastrous consequences for ecosystems.
- Katharine Sanderson
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News |
Mars has a surprise layer of molten rock inside
Fresh investigations find that the red planet’s liquid-metal core is smaller than scientists thought.
- Alexandra Witze
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Obituary |
W. Jason Morgan, discoverer of plate tectonics (1935–2023)
Geophysicist who showed how segments of Earth’s crust move.
- Lawrence M. Cathles
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Article |
Earth’s early continental crust formed from wet and oxidizing arc magmas
The use of two zircon oxybarometers to simultaneously determine fO2 and H2O contents shows that Archaean granitoids were mostly formed from relatively oxidizing and H2O-rich magmas, probably at ancient subduction zones.
- Rong-Feng Ge
- , Simon A. Wilde
- & Xiao-Lei Wang
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News |
This is what Earth’s continents will look like in 250 million years
Only a fraction of the planet’s surface will be habitable to mammals when the next supercontinent, Pangaea Ultima, forms.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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World View |
Bringing space rocks back to Earth could answer some of life’s biggest questions
Safe delivery of samples from an asteroid on 24 September will be the start of a global scientific journey — but similar missions need support.
- Meenakshi Wadhwa
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News Explainer |
Why was the Morocco earthquake so deadly?
The quake, which has killed thousands, was unusually large for Morocco and struck a region where most buildings are not earthquake-resilient.
- Michael Marshall
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Where I Work |
Diving deep into hot springs to find Earth’s subsurface microbes
Geomicrobiologist Karen Lloyd explores the roles of microorganisms that dwell in the planet’s most remote regions.
- Virginia Gewin
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Where I Work |
Plastic rocks are threatening wildlife on Brazil’s easternmost island — I’m studying how
Geologist Fernanda Avelar Santos finds that fishing gear and packaging are creating a new type of pollution.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
India’s Moon lander successfully launches — but biggest challenge lies ahead
With Chandrayaan-3, India will attempt to join the exclusive club of countries that have explored the lunar surface.
- T. V. Padma
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News |
This quiet lake could mark the start of a new Anthropocene epoch
The dawn of a new geological epoch is recorded in the contaminated sediment at the bottom of Crawford Lake in Canada.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Mars mission snaps striking ultraviolet view — image of the week
The spacecraft is boosting understanding of the Martian surface and atmosphere.
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News |
Hawaii volcano Kīlauea creates fiery landscape of lava
One of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the world has burst into life again.
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Article |
Major southern San Andreas earthquakes modulated by lake-filling events
Analysis of new geologic and palaeoseismic data using a 3D finite-element model suggests that the past six major earthquakes on the southern San Andreas Fault were probably triggered by highstands of ancient Lake Cahuilla.
- Ryley G. Hill
- , Matthew Weingarten
- & Yuri Fialko
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Career Feature |
How geoscientists are making their field more welcoming
Grassroots initiatives aim to make the discipline more inclusive of researchers from under-represented communities.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Plastic waste found chemically bonded to rocks in China
Researchers discover ‘plastic rocks’, probably formed from bags and other litter, in a freshwater creek.
- Katherine Bourzac
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News |
Mars rocks await a ride to Earth — can NASA deliver?
The stakes are high as the agency contemplates the technological and financial hurdles ahead for its sample-return mission.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: What Turkey’s earthquake tells us about the science of seismic forecasting
Despite decades of research, predicting exactly where an earthquake will strike remains practically impossible.
- Shannon Hall
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Editorial |
Asteroid collision shows how much amateur astronomers have to offer
Astronomy, like other scientific fields, continues to benefit from working scientists collaborating with amateur colleagues.
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News |
Ocean-drilling ship that revolutionized Earth science due to retire
Researchers will not be able to work aboard the JOIDES Resolution after next year.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Feature |
What Turkey’s earthquake tells us about the science of seismic forecasting
Geologists knew decades ago that a quake would strike southeastern Turkey, but precise prediction is still the stuff of science fiction.
- Shannon Hall
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News |
Asteroid lost 1 million kilograms after collision with DART spacecraft
Studies reveal final moments before NASA probe crashed into an asteroid.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
How an increased heart rate could induce anxiety in mice
A method to directly stimulate a rodent’s heart shows how bodily states can affect emotions, and assessing the impact of NASA’s mission to move an asteroid.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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Where I Work |
Searching the ocean for secrets to help fight climate change
By sampling prehistoric sediments in the ocean floor, geologist Hartmut Schulz hopes to identify ancient analogues of today’s warming world.
- James Mitchell Crow
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News Explainer |
Turkey–Syria earthquake: what scientists know
Turkey and Syria’s buildings have always been vulnerable to earthquakes, but war has made things worse.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News |
NASA Mars rover to cache first rock samples for delivery to Earth
Perseverance will leave ten tubes of Martian rock and other materials at a safe drop spot for possible trip off the red planet.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Blue diamonds from the deep Earth are all wet
Chemical analysis of rare gems suggests that seawater played a part in their creation.
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News Explainer |
Are we in the Anthropocene? Geologists could define new epoch for Earth
Researchers have zeroed in on nine sites that could describe a new geological time, marked by pollution and other signs of human activity.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Research Highlight |
A city’s sprawl triggers ominous changes underground
Rapid growth in a city in Central Africa is causing a landslide to speed up.
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News |
COVID derailed polar research projects. Here’s how students have coped
Disruption from the pandemic forced graduate students to find innovative workarounds — and some changes might stick.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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News & Views |
From the archive: detecting counterfeit whisky, and the legends behind Scottish boulders
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News |
China’s Mars rover finds hints of catastrophic floods
Radar images reveal clues to the history of a largely unexplored region.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
NASA’s Mars rover makes ‘fantastic’ find in search for past life
Perseverance has collected four rock samples from an ancient river delta where organisms might have thrived.
- Alexandra Witze
