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 16 hours ago

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.

Weak anvil cloud area feedback suggested by physical and observational constraints

Mon, 04/01/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 01 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01414-4

Tight physical and observational constraints suggest the anvil cloud area feedback is weak, but the anvil cloud albedo feedback remains highly uncertain.

Author Correction: Abrupt Holocene ice loss due to thinning and ungrounding in the Weddell Sea Embayment

Mon, 03/25/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 25 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01430-4

Author Correction: Abrupt Holocene ice loss due to thinning and ungrounding in the Weddell Sea Embayment

Underestimated volcanic hazard of Santorini

Mon, 03/25/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 25 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01395-4

Volcanism after large, caldera-forming eruptions is thought to be muted. Exploration of the partially submerged caldera of Santorini reveals that large explosive eruptions have occurred since the caldera formed.

Author Correction: Co-variation of silicate, carbonate and sulfide weathering drives CO<sub>2</sub> release with erosion

Mon, 03/25/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 25 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01426-0

Author Correction: Co-variation of silicate, carbonate and sulfide weathering drives CO2 release with erosion

Diurnal warming rectification in the tropical Pacific linked to sea surface temperature front

Mon, 03/25/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 25 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01391-8

Daytime surface ocean warming has large-scale patterns associated with the sea surface temperature front, leading to an afternoon slackening of the front and impacts on surface wind variability.

Hazardous explosive eruptions of a recharging multi-cyclic island arc caldera

Mon, 03/25/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 25 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01392-7

Evidence for a past large explosive eruption within the Santorini caldera suggests that early stages of silicic caldera cycles can be more hazardous than previously assumed, according to analyses of intra-caldera deposits from the Kameni Volcano.

Phosphorus’s cosmic courier

Tue, 03/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01389-2

Schreibersite is found in meteorites and thought to dwell in planetary cores. Tingting Gu explains how it may also have supported life on the early Earth.

Connecting geology to ecology

Tue, 03/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01411-7

Understanding the ecosystem response to global environmental change requires consideration of geological processes, highlighting the interconnected nature of our Earth system.