Volume 12 Issue 10, October 2019

The large domes found on the dwarf planet Ceres may not result from cryovolcanism, but from solid-state flow analogous to salt doming on Earth, according to numerical simulations of gravitational loading.

The structure of the lithosphere is key to reconciling the dynamic topography predicted by mantle convection models with residual topography derived from observations, suggest analyses of both models and data.

Some lake basins in the polar regions of Titan may be craters from nitrogen vapour explosions due to past warming, according to analysis of their morphology in comparison to terrestrial explosion craters from magma–water interaction.

Domes on the dwarf planet Ceres could form by solid-state flow of low-density, ice-rich parts of its crust—a process analogous to salt doming on Earth—according to numerical simulations.

Glaciers in the Andes have lost about 23 Gt of mass per year between 2000 and 2018, with the fastest loss in Patagonia, according to time series of digital elevation models that are based on ASTER stereo images.

The northern temperate carbon sink is estimated to increase by 0.64 PgC each year for each increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations by 100 ppm, suggests an analysis of data from field experiments at 7 sites constraints.

Inclusion of sponge spicules and radiolarians increases the global ocean biological sink of silicon by 28%, with 95% of that increase attributed to sponges, according to examination of sediments from 17 marine cores.

Evaporite dissolution coupled with pyrite burial can lead to biogeochemical feedbacks that explain the enigmatic Neoproterozoic carbon isotope record, according to numerical model simulations.

The channel morphology of rapidly eroding landscapes does not scale with river erosion rates, according to isotopic and topographic analysis.

A redistribution of marine calcifiers along with a reduction in weathering led to increased seafloor carbonate deposition during the late Neogene, according to a global compilation of carbonate mass accumulation rate records from sediment cores.

Seismicity induced by wastewater injections is widespread in Oklahoma, probably because its basement is susceptible to the reactivation of basement-rooted faults, according to three-dimensional seismic analyses, rock-mechanics experiments and field surveys.

The structure of the lithosphere and its impact on mantle flow significantly influence the impact of Earth’s interior dynamics on surface topography, suggest statistical analyses of Earth’s topography.

Depleted mantle is a volumetrically dominant component of the Azores plume and possibly of oceanic basalt sources more generally, according to neodymium isotope compositions of olivine-hosted melt inclusions from lavas of the Azores mantle plume.

The Havre Tough back-arc basin, New Zealand, formed rapidly and in two phases: initial, limited seafloor spreading was followed by a transition to arc magmatism, as shown by geophysical data and modelling.

The Burma Terrane was part of a Trans-Tethyan island arc that began to collide with India 60 million years ago, according to palaeomagnetic data.

The post-spinel transition in mantle composition, which occurs at 660-km depth in Earth’s mantle, takes place over a pressure range equivalent to 250 m in depth, according to multi-anvil experiments for realistic mantle compositions and temperatures.