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Earth’s oldest known felsic rocks formed by partial melting at low pressures and high temperatures caused by impact melting of mafic Hadean crust, according to phase equilibria and trace element modelling.
A Cenozoic reconstruction of the δ34S of marine sulfate suggests a shift in the locus of pyrite burial from shallow seas to the open ocean during the early Eocene.
Episodic melting of some Antarctic ice shelves is linked to ocean temperature cycles, according to new observations collected over 17 years near the Dotson Ice Shelf.
Enhanced overturning in the Pacific Ocean flushed carbon from the abyssal ocean to the atmosphere during the last deglaciation, according to authigenic neodymium isotope data.
Robust evidence for a previously proposed sea-level fall and rise during the Last Interglacial is lacking, according to a synthesis. This calls estimates of high rates of sea-level rise at the end of the Last Interglacial into question.
Experiments suggest that magnetite precipitation on early Mars was accompanied by the release of H2 that may have helped to warm the planet and stabilize liquid water at the Martian surface.
The redox state of volcanic gases and melts can become decoupled during magma ascent, according to observations of gas emissions from Kīlauea’s lava lake, Hawaii. Cooling of fast-rising bubbles changes the abundance of redox-sensitive gas species.
Earth’s resources may not be running out, but the planet’s capacity to cope with the resulting waste products is limited. Resource geology can no longer be the preserve of the economic, mining or petroleum geologist; sustainably providing for the world’s population requires a broader skillset.
Radiation patterns for deep earthquakes could be a result of shear faulting mechanisms—similar to those for shallow earthquakes—but in highly anisotropic rock fabric, suggest seismic analyses.
The amount of nitrate in the surface of the Southern Ocean has increased during the Holocene, weakening the biological pump and potentially contributing to the rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
The strength of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds varied throughout the Holocene, according to a reconstruction from lake sediments, with periods of stronger winds coincident with higher atmospheric CO2 levels.
Rainfall interception by vegetation is an underappreciated part of the terrestrial hydrological cycle. Numerical modelling shows that non-vascular plants, such as lichens, substantially increase the interception capacity of the land surface.
Non-vascular vegetation, such as mosses and lichens, can intercept and evaporate substantial amounts of precipitation at a global scale, suggest numerical simulations and comparisons to field observations.
Microbial life colonized the land surface by 3.2 billion years ago, forming complex communities distinct from those in nearby marine environments, according to analyses of fossilized microbial mats in the Moodies Group, South Africa.
The isotopic composition of sulfur minerals formed during the Archaean can be reconstructed from dissolved sulfur in rivers draining cratons. Analyses from Canada suggest that the Archaean sulfur cycle was in isotopic mass balance.
Plants influence geomorphology. Research on salt marshes suggests that feedbacks between geomorphic processes and life-history traits of plants produce species-specific signatures in the organization of biogeomorphic landscapes.