Nature Geoscience

Nature Geoscience is a monthly journal dedicated to publishing high-quality original research papers across all areas of the geosciences. The journal’s content reflects all the disciplines within the geosciences, including studies of the Earth’s climate system, the solid Earth and the planets. Nature Geoscience covers studies based on all the methods used by geoscientists, ranging from field work and numerical modelling on regional and global scales to theoretical studies and remote sensing. Physical, chemical and biological investigations that contribute to our understanding of the Earth system or the planets are all represented.

URL: http://feeds.nature.com/ngeo/rss/current

Updated: 1 day 9 hours ago

Tectonics regulate CO<sub>2</sub> release more strongly than chemical weathering in central Italy

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 22 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01397-2

In a part of the Apennines, where the Earth’s crust is thin and heat flow is high, production of CO2 from deep below the mountains dominates over near-surface weathering processes that consume this greenhouse gas. Ultimately, the magnitude of deep CO2 release tips the balance towards a landscape that is a net carbon emitter.

Global patterns in river water storage dependent on residence time

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 22 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01421-5

A global gauge-corrected monthly river flow and storage dataset suggests that residence time is a key driver of water storage and variability and indicates substantial freshwater discharge to the ocean from the Maritime Continent.

Evidence of strong aerosol cooling implies great efficacy of marine cloud brightening

Fri, 04/19/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 19 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01428-y

Aerosol–cloud interactions are the largest uncertainty in radiative forcing. We combined machine learning and long-term satellite observations to quantify aerosol fingerprints on tropical marine clouds, using degassing volcanic events in Hawaii as natural experiences, and found that cloud cover increased relatively by 50% in humid and stable atmosphere, leading to strong cooling radiative forcing.

Deep CO<sub>2</sub> release and the carbon budget of the central Apennines modulated by geodynamics

Fri, 04/19/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 19 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01396-3

The regional geodynamic gradient controls metamorphic carbon release during mountain building and regulates the inorganic carbon budget, according to carbon estimates in two river catchments of Italy’s central Apennines.

Weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation abyssal limb in the North Atlantic

Fri, 04/19/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 19 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01422-4

Mooring observations and hydrographic data suggest the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation abyssal limb has weakened over the past two decades in the North Atlantic, most likely due to reduced Antarctic Bottom Water formation rates.

Greater climate sensitivity implied by anvil cloud thinning

Wed, 04/17/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 17 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01420-6

Changes in anvil clouds with warming do not produce a negative feedback on climate sensitivity as previously thought, according to an ensemble of cloud-resolving models.

Out of sight burbankite

Fri, 04/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01410-8

Burbankite is a rare sodium carbonate mineral that is easily dissolved away in its host igneous rocks. Its formation and dissolution can help concentrate rare earth elements that are vital for a low-carbon future, as Sam Broom-Fendley explains.

The ultra-lowdown on mantle heterogeneity

Fri, 04/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01432-2

Compositional and structural variations within Earth’s lower mantle are a complex puzzle to which seismic data hold clues.

Seismic methodologies key to unlocking Earth’s lowermost mantle

Fri, 04/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01416-2

Advances in seismological observational and modelling techniques are needed to constrain complex lowermost mantle structures and understand their influence on the global dynamics and evolution of Earth’s interior.

Ultralow velocity zones in the deep Earth

Fri, 04/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01415-3

Nature Geoscience spoke with Samantha Hansen, a geophysicist at the University of Alabama and Sebastian Rost, a global seismologist at the University of Leeds about the ultralow velocity zones in the lowermost mantle.

Rapid Laurentide Ice Sheet growth preceding the Last Glacial Maximum due to summer snowfall

Fri, 04/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01419-z

The size and shape of the North American ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum was set by atmospheric moisture transport feedbacks during summer, not by the geometry of the earlier intermediate-sized ice sheet, according to a coupled climate–ice sheet model.

Evolution of Earth’s oxygenation and temperature depends on surface carbonate accumulation

Thu, 04/11/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 11 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01429-x

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.

Substantial cooling effect from aerosol-induced increase in tropical marine cloud cover

Thu, 04/11/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 11 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01427-z

Satellite observations from volcanic eruptions suggest that aerosols induce substantial cooling due to the reflectivity of increased tropical marine cloud cover, implying a high climate sensitivity.

Crustal carbonate build-up as a driver for Earth’s oxygenation

Wed, 04/10/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 10 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01417-1

The accumulation and subsequent recycling of carbonate in the crust may have helped to drive the oxygenation of the early Earth, according to an ocean and atmosphere box model incorporating the inorganic carbon cycle.

Anthropogenic impacts on mud and organic carbon cycling

Tue, 04/09/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 09 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01405-5

Human activities have altered the production, transport and fate of mud and associated organic carbon, with important implications for global carbon cycling.

Production of Neoproterozoic banded iron formations in a partially ice-covered ocean

Tue, 04/09/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 09 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01406-4

Neoproterozoic banded iron formations formed in partially glaciated oceans where iron-rich and oxygenated water masses met, according to ocean modelling.

Pervasive fluorinated chemicals

Mon, 04/08/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 08 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01413-5

Pollution by per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) is widespread in global water resources and likely to be underestimated, according to global analysis of available PFAS data.

Don’t judge the Moon’s interior by its cover

Mon, 04/08/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 08 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01409-1

The Moon’s primordial solidification is believed to have produced a layer of dense ilmenite cumulates beneath the crust. Remnants of this layer have now been detected under the lunar nearside.

Vestiges of a lunar ilmenite layer following mantle overturn revealed by gravity data

Mon, 04/08/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 08 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01408-2

The Moon’s gravity field preserves a record of the overturn of the early lunar mantle and sinking of dense ilmenite-bearing cumulates, according to a comparison of Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory gravity data and geodynamic models.

Underestimated burden of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in global surface waters and groundwaters

Mon, 04/08/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 08 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01402-8

A global data analysis suggests that a large fraction of surface waters and groundwaters globally have concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that exceed international advisories or national regulations.