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Increased river incision and landscape erosion can be attributed to late Cenozoic cooling/changes in hydroclimate, according to cosmogenic isotope and luminescence ages of a sequence of bedrock terraces in the Yukon River basin.
Carbon-rich Pacific deep water extended into the South Atlantic some 38,000 to 28,000 years ago, potentially contributing to a reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide and the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum, according to deep-water carbonate chemistry reconstructions.
Thermomechanical modelling shows that the formation and diverse morphologies of coronae on Venus can be explained by interactions between the lithosphere and impinging mantle plumes. Some corona structures are consistent with ongoing plume activity.
Formation of mass-independent isotope fractionation of sulfur signatures recorded in Archaean sedimentary rocks could have occurred in an oxygen-rich atmosphere, according to thermodynamic and kinetic calculations and analysis of Earth’s early sulfur cycle.
The mantle lithosphere has thinned more than the crust beneath the Malawi Rift despite being melt-poor, according to seismic wave imaging; this suggests early melting of fusible mantle material.
Plant roots in thawing permafrost soils act to enhance microbial decomposition and the loss of soil organic carbon, according to an analysis of observational data and a rhizosphere priming model.
Organic carbon in the top metre of Earth’s soils is far older than previously thought, averaging 4,800 years old. These radiocarbon-derived age estimates require us to recalibrate our expectations of ecosystem gains and losses of carbon.
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Patterns of erosion and deposition by some slope streaks on Mars are consistent with a dry dust avalanche origin, according to an analysis of orbital images before and after new streaks formed.
Compositional signatures of subducted crust in the deep-mantle sources of ocean island volcanoes in the Atlantic Ocean but not the Pacific reveal that plate motions on Earth’s surface influence the characteristics of Earth’s deepest interior.
Interactions between magma and water can drive explosive fragmentation eruptions of the type seen in the Havre volcanic eruption, New Zealand, in 2012, even under submarine conditions, according to laboratory fragmentation experiments.
Major sediment-hosted base metal deposits are located within 200 km of the border between thick and thin lithosphere, according to statistical comparisons between global lithospheric thickness and known deposit locations.
Earth’s deep-mantle domains are geochemically distinct. The African domain is enriched in subducted material, which suggests a different history from the Pacific domain and a dynamic relationship between plate tectonics and deep-mantle structures.
High conductance in the lowermost mantle beneath the Pacific deflects the planetary gyre, which results in limited variation in the magnetic field in the region, according to numerical modelling of Earth’s core dynamics.
Soils may accumulate less carbon and with a slower turnover than Earth system models predict, according to analysis of the age distribution of global soil carbon, which finds that the mean age of soil carbon is older than that in simulated in models.
Regional changes in dry-season water availability over recent decades can be attributed to human-induced climate change, according to analyses of global reconstructions.
Pluto’s subsurface ocean may have formed early due to accretionary heating, a comparison of thermal evolution modelling with observed tectonic structures suggests.