Geology articles within Nature Geoscience

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  • Article |

    Mature parts of the shallow megathrust beneath Costa Rica are characterized by striking corrugations that may channel fluids, according to seismic images. Nascent sections of the subduction zone plate boundary appear only weakly corrugated.

    • Joel H. Edwards
    • , Jared W. Kluesner
    •  & Kristina Okamoto

  • News & Views |

    Experimental data reveal that Earth’s mantle melts more readily than previously thought, and may have remained mushy until two to three billion years ago.

    • Stephen Parman

  • Article |

    A persistent melt layer may have existed in the Archaean upper mantle, according to experimental analyses. The melt layer could have decoupled the mantle from the overlying lithosphere, hindering plate tectonics.

    • Denis Andrault
    • , Giacomo Pesce
    •  & Louis Hennet

  • Perspective |

    Ancient hydrothermal deposits formed in the Martian subsurface may be the best targets for finding evidence for ancient life on Mars, and clues about the origin of life on Earth.

    • Joseph R. Michalski
    • , Tullis C. Onstott
    •  & Sarah Stewart Johnson

  • News & Views |

    A combination of two anoxygenic pathways of photosynthesis could have helped to warm early Earth, according to geochemical models. These metabolisms, and attendant biogeochemical feedbacks, could have worked to counter the faint young Sun.

    • Thomas A. Laakso

  • Correspondence |

    • Douwe J. J. van Hinsbergen
    • , Peter C. Lippert
    •  & Wentao Huang

  • Article |

    Consolidated sediments in the Cascadia subduction zone may create conditions favourable for megathrust earthquake ruptures over long distances and close to the trench, according to analyses of seismic velocity of sediments from the region. Less-consolidated sediments instead may promote  aseismic slip of the plate boundary.

    • Shuoshuo Han
    • , Nathan L. Bangs
    •  & James C. Gibson

  • News & Views |

    Ancient lavas reveal the presence of deep mantle reservoirs with anomalously light oxygen signatures. These lavas fingerprint heterogeneous mantle domains in early Earth that may have since been mixed away.

    • Marco Fiorentini

  • Article |

    Impacts could have driven transient subduction events on the Hadean Earth, according to numerical simulations. The scenario reconciles evidence for tectonic activity with that for an otherwise tectonically stagnant early Earth.

    • C. O’Neill
    • , S. Marchi
    •  & W. Bottke

  • News & Views |

    Serpentine minerals in Earth's early upper continental crust suppressed atmospheric oxygen levels until the upper crust became granitic.

    • J. Elis Hoffmann

  • Article |

    A decrease in mafic continental crust coincides with the rise of O2 in the Earth’s surface environments about 3 billion years ago, according to an analysis of sediment chemistry. Reduced rates of serpentinization of mafic material, which produces chemicals that react with O2, could explain the link.

    • Matthijs A. Smit
    •  & Klaus Mezger

  • News & Views |

    The processes that form and recycle continental crust have changed through time. Numerical models reveal an evolution from extensive recycling on early Earth as the lower crust peeled away, to limited recycling via slab break-off today.

    • Valentina Magni

  • News & Views |

    Estimates of carbon in the deep mantle vary by more than an order of magnitude. Coupled volcanic CO2 emission data and magma supply rates reveal a carbon-rich mantle plume source region beneath Hawai'i with 40% more carbon than previous estimates.

    • Peter H. Barry

  • Article |

    Estimates of the carbon content of Earth’s mantle and magmas vary. Analysis and modelling of gas emissions at Hawai‘i indicate that the amount of carbon in the Hawaiian mantle plume and CO2 in Hawaiian lavas is 40% greater than previously thought.

    • Kyle R. Anderson
    •  & Michael P. Poland

  • Article |

    Creeping subduction zones are unlikely to generate tsunamigenic earthquakes. Analysis of a creeping part of the Alaskan subduction zone reveals fault structures similar to those in Tohoku, suggesting it may host large earthquakes and tsunamis.

    • Anne Bécel
    • , Donna J. Shillington
    •  & Harold Kuehn

  • Article |

    Whether subducted oceanic crust is recycled via the mantle back into newly forming seafloor at mid-ocean ridges is unclear. Laboratory partitioning experiments now reveal that recycled material is not required to create oceanic lithosphere.

    • Andrew K. Matzen
    • , Bernard J. Wood
    •  & Edward M. Stolper

  • News & Views |

    The composition of Earth's oldest crust is uncertain. Comparison of the most ancient mineral grains with more recent analogues suggests that formation of the earliest crust was heavily influenced by re-melting of igneous basement rocks.

    • Elizabeth Bell

  • Article |

    Rocks are altered by high pressure during subduction. Analysis of exhumed metamorphic rocks suggests that the peak pressures recorded within minerals mark a change in tectonic regime within a subduction zone, rather than burial depth.

    • P. Yamato
    •  & J. P. Brun

  • Editorial |

    Despite much emphasis on diversity in the US, geoscience remains one of the least diverse scientific disciplines. If we want to achieve and maintain diversity, we need to make our work environments welcoming to a broad spectrum of voices.

  • Editorial |

    Economic development in a sustainable fashion is metals-intensive. If we cannot afford to ban mining, regulation must be more effective.

  • News & Views |

    The composition of Earth's crust depends on the style of plate tectonics and of the melting regimes in the mantle. Analyses of the oldest identified rocks suggest that these styles and the resulting crust have changed over Earth's history.

    • Alan Brandon

  • Letter |

    Most oceanic crust is subducted back into Earth’s mantle within 200 million years of formation. Analysis of magnetic data from the eastern Mediterranean reveals oceanic crust formed up to 340 million years ago, as part of an ancient ocean basin.

    • Roi Granot

  • Letter |

    Earth’s crust diverges and extends along mid-ocean ridges. Analyses of gravity and seismic data from the equatorial Atlantic show that propagation of ridge segments can compress the crust and create sufficient uplift to create small islands.

    • Marcia Maia
    • , Susanna Sichel
    •  & Pedro Oliveira

  • Letter |

    Vertical crustal motions during the earthquake cycle are poorly constrained for strike–slip faults. Analysis of GPS data from the San Andreas Fault shows that the crust flexes over hundreds of kilometres due to locking of the fault at depth.

    • Samuel Howell
    • , Bridget Smith-Konter
    •  & David Sandwell

  • Letter |

    Localized subglacial zones of high traction help to regulate ice sheet flow. Geophysical data from a palaeo-ice-stream suggest that methane gas accumulation and hydrate formation beneath ice sheets can produce such high-traction sticky spots.

    • Monica Winsborrow
    • , Karin Andreassen
    •  & Henry Patton

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