Featured
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News |
Two of the biggest US earthquake faults might be linked
Provocative analysis of sea-floor cores suggests that quakes on the Cascadia fault off California can trigger tremors on the San Andreas.
- Alexandra Witze
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Comment |
Women from some under-represented minorities are given too few talks at world’s largest Earth-science conference
Researchers from racial and ethnic groups that are under-represented in US geoscience are the least likely to be offered opportunities to speak at the field’s biggest meeting.
- Heather L. Ford
- , Cameron Brick
- & Petra Dekens
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News Feature |
Did a million years of rain jump-start dinosaur evolution?
An extended bout of warm wet weather 232 million years ago may have profoundly altered life on Earth.
- Michael Marshall
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Article |
Upper-plate rigidity determines depth-varying rupture behaviour of megathrust earthquakes
Models compiled from subduction zones worldwide show that the elastic properties of the rock overlying shallow subduction megathrusts can be used to estimate potential slip, possibly enabling early tsunami warnings.
- Valentí Sallarès
- & César R. Ranero
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Research Highlight |
Tsunami sands reveal massive quakes in Japan’s past
Great earthquakes have roiled a central region of Japan a number of times during the past two millennia.
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Article |
Geochemical evidence for high volatile fluxes from the mantle at the end of the Archaean
Depletion of Archaean atmospheric xenon in 129Xe relative to the modern atmosphere might indicate that a short burst of mantle activity took place around 2.6 to 2.2 billion years ago.
- Bernard Marty
- , David V. Bekaert
- & Claude Jaupart
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Research Highlight |
A lethal avalanche’s fury is captured in unprecedented detail
Waterlogged ground contributed to the gargantuan debris flow in the Swiss Alps.
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Research Highlight |
An epic earthquake’s backstory sends a warning
Scientists evaluate the seismic risk facing a portion of North America by comparing a centuries-old mega-quake with two recent events.
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Article |
Similar scaling laws for earthquakes and Cascadia slow-slip events
A new catalogue of slow-slip events on the Cascadia megathrust shows that a cubic moment–duration scaling law is likely, with scaling properties strikingly similar to regular earthquakes.
- Sylvain Michel
- , Adriano Gualandi
- & Jean-Philippe Avouac
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News & Views |
The discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole
The unexpected discovery of a hole in the atmospheric ozone layer over the Antarctic revolutionized science — and helped to establish one of the most successful global environmental policies of the twentieth century.
- Susan Solomon
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News |
Earth scientists push ambitious project to map Canada’s geology
A fleet of geophysical observatories would probe everything from the inner Earth to the upper atmosphere.
- Alexandra Witze
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Review Article |
Subducting carbon
The processes that control the movement of carbon from microfossils on the seafloor to erupting volcanoes and deep diamonds, in a cycle driven by plate tectonics, are reviewed.
- Terry Plank
- & Craig E. Manning
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News & Views |
Determining whether the worst earthquake has passed
When a big earthquake occurs, it is hard to tell if it will be followed by a larger quake or by only smaller ones. A method has been developed that aims to distinguish between these scenarios while events are still unfolding.
- Emily E. Brodsky
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Article |
Real-time discrimination of earthquake foreshocks and aftershocks
Changes in the average size distribution of earthquakes are used to discriminate between foreshocks and aftershocks, and a traffic light classification is proposed for the real-time assessment of the probability of a subsequent larger event.
- Laura Gulia
- & Stefan Wiemer
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Research Highlight |
Europe’s most active volcano reveals its strength through low rumbles
An analysis of sound waves from Mount Etna showcases a method that could aid volcano monitoring worldwide.
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: One neuron versus deep learning in aftershock prediction
- Brendan J. Meade
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Matters Arising |
One neuron versus deep learning in aftershock prediction
- Arnaud Mignan
- & Marco Broccardo
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Research Highlight |
Catastrophic landslides had a surprising cause: rice farming
Crop irrigation saturated soil, helping to set off Indonesian slides that killed thousands of people.
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Nature Podcast |
PastCast: Plate tectonics – the unifying theory of Earth sciences
In the Nature PastCast series, we delve into the archives to tell the stories behind some of Nature’s biggest papers.
- Kerri Smith
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News & Views |
Enigmatic origin of diamond-bearing rocks revealed
Kimberlites are volcanic rocks that derive from deep in Earth’s mantle, but the nature of their source is uncertain. A study of this source’s evolution over two billion years provides valuable information about its properties.
- Catherine Chauvel
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Mysteries of the ancient mantle, and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Listen to the latest from the world of science, with Noah Baker and Benjamin Thompson.
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Letter |
Kimberlites reveal 2.5-billion-year evolution of a deep, isolated mantle reservoir
Globally distributed kimberlites have their origins in a single, homogeneous early Earth reservoir that was subsequently perturbed, probably by subduction along the margins of Pangaea, around 200 million years ago.
- Jon Woodhead
- , Janet Hergt
- & Geoff Nowell
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News & Views |
Small and large earthquakes can have similar starts
A long-standing question in seismology is whether small and large earthquakes have similar or different onsets. An analysis of earthquakes around Japan shows that, in some cases, these onsets are almost identical.
- Rachel E. Abercrombie
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Letter |
Frequent observations of identical onsets of large and small earthquakes
Analysis of a dataset of high-sensitivity Tohoku–Hokkaido seismograph records shows that pairs of subduction-type earthquakes of different sizes have very similar initial characteristics, implying that the final size of an earthquake cannot be reliably predicted from these.
- Satoshi Ide
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Letter |
Death march of a segmented and trilobate bilaterian elucidates early animal evolution
Yilingia spiciformis, a bilaterian dating to the Ediacaran period, is described from body fossils associated with trails produced by the animal, shedding light on the origins of segmentation and motility in bilaterian animals.
- Zhe Chen
- , Chuanming Zhou
- & Shuhai Xiao
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News |
Ocean drilling revolutionized Earth science — now geologists want to plumb new depths
International panel lays out an ambitious vision of exploring the planet through to 2050.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Geologist’s sacking prompts outcry
Researchers say that Irina Artemieva’s dismissal from the University of Copenhagen runs counter to international academic standards.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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Letter |
Seismic velocities of CaSiO3 perovskite can explain LLSVPs in Earth’s lower mantle
Unexpectedly low seismic velocities of CaSiO3 perovskite in deeply subducted oceanic crust can explain the properties of anomalous continent-sized regions in Earth’s lower mantle.
- A. R. Thomson
- , W. A. Crichton
- & S. A. Hunt
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Research Highlight |
Danger lurks in Californian fault long presumed dead
A Los Angeles fault could unleash significant destruction — but isn’t factored into the region’s earthquake planning.
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Letter |
Metamorphism and the evolution of plate tectonics
Variability in Earth’s thermal gradients, recorded by metamorphic rocks through time, shows that Earth’s modern plate tectonics developed gradually since the Neoarchaean era, three billion years ago.
- Robert M. Holder
- , Daniel R. Viete
- & Tim E. Johnson
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: A mindset for success, and mercury in fish
Listen to the latest science news, with Noah Baker and Nick Howe.
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Letter |
Deep roots for mid-ocean-ridge volcanoes revealed by plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions
Volatile contents of plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions from volcanoes at the Gakkel mid-ocean ridge suggest that magmatic crystallization extends to depths of 16 kilometres, much deeper than suggested by olivine-hosted melt inclusions.
- Emma N. Bennett
- , Frances E. Jenner
- & C. Johan Lissenberg
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News Feature |
Humans versus Earth: the quest to define the Anthropocene
Researchers are hunting for nuclear debris, mercury pollution and other fingerprints of humanity that could designate a new geological epoch.
- Meera Subramanian
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News |
India’s geologists champion law to protect fossil treasures
Scientists estimate that several hundred geological sites are threatened by the prospect of vandalism or development.
- Priyanka Pulla
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Editorial |
Write rules for deep-sea mining before it’s too late
The International Seabed Authority must commit the mining industry to a sustainable future.
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Books & Arts |
Leonardo da Vinci’s laboratory: studies in flow
On the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance icon’s death, Martin Kemp looks anew at his innovative experimental models for the motion of water and blood.
- Martin Kemp
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Letter |
Deep hydrous mantle reservoir provides evidence for crustal recycling before 3.3 billion years ago
Hydrogen isotopes and compositions of melt inclusions in olivine in komatiites indicate a hydrous source produced by recycling of seawater-altered crust into the deep mantle over 3.3 billion years ago.
- Alexander V. Sobolev
- , Evgeny V. Asafov
- & Gary R. Byerly
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Letter |
Reconstructing the late-accretion history of the Moon
Lunar impact simulations find an impactor-retention ratio three times lower than previously thought and indicate that highly siderophile element retention began 4.35 billion years ago, resolving accretion mass discrepancies between Earth and the Moon.
- Meng-Hua Zhu
- , Natalia Artemieva
- & Kai Wünnemann
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Correspondence |
Preserve Mount Vesuvius history in digging out Pompeii’s
- Roberto Scandone
- , Lisetta Giacomelli
- & Christopher Kilburn
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Letter |
Neogene cooling driven by land surface reactivity rather than increased weathering fluxes
A carbon cycle model constrained by weathering-sensitive isotopic tracers reveals that long-term cooling in the Neogene period reflects a change in how surface denudation is partitioned into weathering and erosion.
- Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein
- , Daniel E. Ibarra
- & Friedhelm von Blanckenburg
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Books & Arts |
James Lovelock at 100: the Gaia saga continues
Tim Radford reassesses the independent scientist’s groundbreaking body of writing.
- Tim Radford
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Research Highlight |
Volcano’s magma hit top speed
Volcanologists might need to update their ideas about how molten rock travels from deep within Earth to erupt at the surface.
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Egg pigmentation probably has an Archosaurian origin
- Jasmina Wiemann
- , Tzu-Ruei Yang
- & Mark A. Norell
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Matters Arising |
Egg pigmentation probably has an early Archosaurian origin
- Matthew D. Shawkey
- & Liliana D’Alba
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Letter |
Turbulent convective length scale in planetary cores
Numerical modelling of rotating turbulent convective flows shows that the length scale of convection in planetary cores is set by the flow speed and not by the fluid viscosity.
- Céline Guervilly
- , Philippe Cardin
- & Nathanaël Schaeffer
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Books & Arts |
Radiocarbon revolution: the story of an isotope
Chris Turney applauds a book on carbon-14 and its key applications in archaeology, climatology and oceanography.
- Chris Turney
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Article |
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Global analysis of streamflow response to forest management
Analysis of forest-management studies finds that forest removal is more likely to increase streamflow in areas with greater water storage between the surface and bedrock, and that forest planting is more likely to decrease streamflow in drier climates.
- Jaivime Evaristo
- & Jeffrey J. McDonnell
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Books & Arts |
An ode to carbon
Ted Nield mulls over an ambitious opus on the sixth element.
- Ted Nield