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.

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Early Jurassic large igneous province carbon emissions are constrained by sedimentary mercury

Tue, 03/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01379-4

The carbon emissions of large igneous province magmatism are commonly associated with severe environmental crises. We developed a technique that used sedimentary mercury records to estimate these carbon fluxes through time and found that they are smaller and/or slower than assumed, which suggests that the influence of carbon-cycle feedback processes is underestimated in current models.

Remnants of shifting early Cenozoic Pacific lower mantle flow imaged beneath the Philippine Sea Plate

Tue, 03/12/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 12 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01404-6

A record of lower mantle flow from 50 million years ago is preserved in the Pacific region and provides evidence for past lower mantle deformation, according to seismic anisotropy tomography.

Late Pleistocene emergence of an anthropogenic fire regime in Australia’s tropical savannahs

Mon, 03/11/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 11 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01388-3

A shift towards more-frequent, less-intense fires in Australia began about 11,000 years ago due to management by Indigenous societies, according to charcoal and stable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon records extending back 150,000 years.

Wind-steered Eastern Pathway of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

Mon, 03/11/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 11 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01407-3

About half of the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation flows east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a pathway steered by wind and not bottom topography, according to hydrographic data, reanalysis and model simulations.

Light on dark waters

Fri, 03/08/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 08 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01376-7

Canal networks in Southeast Asian peatlands are zones of rapid, light-driven biogeochemical cycling. The canals increase carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere and decrease organic carbon export to the ocean.

Canal networks regulate aquatic losses of carbon from degraded tropical peatlands

Fri, 03/08/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 08 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01383-8

Canal networks are a hotspot for the loss of carbon from tropical peatlands following disturbance, according to measurements of oxidation rates for dissolved organic carbon to carbon dioxide in drainage canals in Southeast Asia.

Cenozoic eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau controlled by tearing of the Indian slab

Thu, 03/07/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 07 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01382-9

The Cenozoic eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau can be explained by slab tear and the resulting mantle flow beneath the eastern region, according to analysis of seismic tomography, tectonic and magmatic records of the Indian mantle lithosphere.

Observational evidence for Criegee intermediate oligomerization reactions relevant to aerosol formation in the troposphere

Tue, 03/05/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 05 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-023-01361-6

Measurements of Criegee intermediate oligomerization signatures in the Amazon rainforest indicate that the role of Criegee intermediate chemistry in the composition of Earth’s troposphere has been underestimated.

Detections of ultralow velocity zones in high-velocity lowermost mantle linked to subducted slabs

Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 04 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01394-5

Global detections of ultralow velocity zones in high-velocity lowermost mantle regions are associated with thermochemical anomalies linked to subducted slabs, according to analysis of SKKKP B-caustic diffractions with anomalous seismic structures in the mantle and outer core.

Author Correction: Late Pleistocene 100-kyr glacial cycles paced by precession forcing of summer insolation

Fri, 03/01/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 01 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01412-6

Author Correction: Late Pleistocene 100-kyr glacial cycles paced by precession forcing of summer insolation

Global emergent responses of stream microbial metabolism to glacier shrinkage

Fri, 03/01/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 01 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01393-6

Glacier shrinkage intensifies phosphorus limitation but alleviates carbon limitation in glacier-fed streams, according to analyses of resource stoichiometry and microbial metabolism in glacier-fed streams from mountain regions.

Ultralow velocity zone and deep mantle flow beneath the Himalayas are linked to a subducted slab

Wed, 02/28/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 28 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01387-4

Through the detection of postcursors of shear waves diffracted at the core–mantle boundary, a zone of ultralow seismic velocities has been identified at the base of the mantle beneath the Himalayas. The presence of this zone is probably linked to a subducted slab remnant that is driving mantle flow in the region.

Linking biosphere with lithosphere by assessing how earthquakes affect forest growth

Mon, 02/26/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 26 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01381-w

Earthquakes not only affect tree growth directly by causing physical injury to individual trees but also indirectly by inducing changes in forest habitats. We established linkage between tree-ring series and seismic disturbances and found that prominent and lasting seismic legacies in drier areas may be due to an increased infiltration of precipitation through earthquake-induced soil cracks.

Early Jurassic large igneous province carbon emissions constrained by sedimentary mercury

Mon, 02/26/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 26 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01378-5

Sedimentary mercury measurements suggest carbon emissions from Early Jurassic large igneous province activity were lower than estimates from carbon-cycle models, implying feedbacks that are unaccounted for.

Ultralow velocity zone and deep mantle flow beneath the Himalayas linked to subducted slab

Mon, 02/26/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 26 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01386-5

The presence of an ultralow velocity zone and seismic anisotropy in the lowermost mantle beneath the Himalayas is linked to subducted slab remnants and southwest mantle flow, according to analyses of seismic waves and mantle anisotropy measurements.

Rockfall from an increasingly unstable mountain slope driven by climate warming

Fri, 02/23/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 23 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01390-9

Climate warming has driven increased rockfall from an unstable mountain slope in the Swiss Alps, according to a record of rockfall activity spanning the past century based on tree damage.

Emergent temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon driven by mineral associations

Tue, 02/20/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 20 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01384-7

Temperature sensitivity of bulk soil carbon stocks is controlled by the compositional distribution between mineral-associated and particulate carbon, according to analyses of global soil carbon pools.

Shifts of forest resilience after seismic disturbances in tectonically active regions

Tue, 02/20/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 20 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01380-x

Earthquakes can cause decadal-scale shifts in forest growth resilience by increasing the infiltration of precipitation through earthquake-induced soil cracks, according to global analyses of tree-ring width and historic earthquake data.

Recent pronounced warming on the Mongolian Plateau boosted by internal climate variability

Wed, 02/14/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 14 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01377-6

Relatively strong warming over the Mongolian Plateau in recent decades can be explained, in part, by synchronous internal climate oscillations, according to climate model experiments.

Drought response of the boreal forest carbon sink is driven by understorey–tree composition

Tue, 02/13/2024 - 00:00

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 13 February 2024; doi:10.1038/s41561-024-01374-9

Carbon sink in young boreal forests is more vulnerable to drought than in mature forests due to the greater contribution and drought sensitivity of understorey relative to trees, according to carbon flux assessments of managed boreal forests in northern Sweden during the 2018 European summer drought.