Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Mining the deep seabed is fraught with challenges. Untapped mineral potential under the shallow, more accessible continental shelf could add a new dimension to offshore mining and help meet future mineral demand.
Zinc and silicon distributions co-vary in much of the global oceans. Observations and numerical modelling suggest that this co-variation can arise in the absence of mechanistic links between the uptake of zinc and silicate.
Reconstructions of Holocene summer temperatures differ between models and vegetation-based proxies. A quantitative reconstruction for the Mediterranean region based on fossil midge assemblages suggests warm summers, in line with climate models.
Air pollution in large cities remains a persistent public health problem. Adapting air quality forecasts for use by decision makers could help mitigate severe pollution events.
Atmospheric oxygen was maintained at low levels throughout huge swathes of Earth's early history. Estimates of phosphorus availability through time suggest that scavenging from anoxic, iron-rich oceans stabilized this low-oxygen world.
A global cooling trend culminated in the glaciation of Antarctica during the Eocene–Oligocene transition. Simulations suggest that ocean circulation changes and enhanced drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide can explain this climate shift.
Most of Mars’s initial water has been lost through atmospheric escape, but seasonal imbalances of measured hydrogen loss compared to oxygen are enigmatic. Photochemical models suggest that seasonal water vapour at high altitudes enhances hydrogen loss rates.
Fixed nitrogen is lost from oxygen minimum zones. Experimental data from an anoxic lake show that the presence of Fe(II) limits this loss, suggesting that ancient anoxic and iron-rich oceans may not have been nitrogen limited.
During the latest Eocene, declining atmospheric CO2 levels led to the inception of the Antarctic ice sheet. Simulations suggest that the deepening of the Drake Passage caused climate changes that enhanced continental weathering and CO2 drawdown.
The net carbon flux on land comprises emissions from land-use change and uptake by vegetation. An evaluation of vegetation models suggests that emissions from land-use change, and thus the terrestrial sink, may be substantially underestimated.
Groundwater resources are directly affected by climate variability via precipitation, evapotranspiration and recharge. Analyses of US and India trends reveal that climate-induced pumping indirectly influences groundwater depletion as well.
The climatic response to the eruption of the Samalas Volcano in 1257 has been elusive. Medieval archives tell of a spatially variable reaction, with Europe and Japan experiencing severe cold compared to relative warmth in North America.
The brittle–ductile transition is thought to control crustal permeability. Laboratory experiments and model simulations show that permeability is also stress dependent and ductile granitic rocks may have enough permeability to host geothermal resources.
The climatic response to the 1257 Samalas eruption is unclear. Analyses of proxy data and medieval archives suggest that the eruption triggered some of the coldest summers of the past millennium, but only in some Northern Hemisphere regions.
Carbonated silicate melts are expected to exist in the mantle, but have been elusive in nature. Geochemical analyses of rocks from the South China Sea identify such melts formed in the mantle and erupted at the surface through thin lithosphere.
Drought affects deep groundwater through changes in natural recharge with a multi-year time lag. Rapid changes in US groundwater storage in response to climate variability reflect the human response to drought through groundwater pumping.
The upper atmosphere of Venus rotates much faster than the planet itself. An anomalous stationary structure observed by the Akatsuki mission at the cloud tops of Venus could be an atmospheric gravity wave induced by mountain topography below.
Soils have the capacity to store water at the land–atmosphere interface. Analysis of global satellite data suggests that significant precipitation can be retained by soils, leading to even less groundwater storage in water-starved regions.
Large iron deposits formed episodically in the Archaean oceans. Experimental data and geochemical modelling suggest that green rust was an important contributor to the formation of these deposits and the Archaean iron cycle in general.
