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The dwarf planet Ceres may have reoriented in the past due to a heterogeneously dense crust, a scenario consistent with gravity and topographic data and the distribution of crustal fractures.
Watersheds have a low buffering capacity for phosphorus inputs, and their recovery from phosphorus pollution can take over 2,000 years, according to an analysis of phosphorus data from a large North American river.
Sublimation rates of water ice in equatorial regions of Jupiter’s moon Europa are sufficient to sculpt bladed terrain that would pose a hazard to a potential lander mission.
Geophysical observations of the 2017 Tehuantepec earthquake suggest that oceanic lithosphere can sustain brittle behaviour and rupture in an earthquake at greater depths than previously assumed.
Slab stagnation in the transition zone is explained by a thin, weak layer and is transient on timescales of tens of millions of years, according to a global mantle convection model that includes phase changes and plate motion history.
Earthquakes that jump from fault to fault in subduction zones can be explained by locking on the plate interface, according to GPS data from New Zealand where the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake produced a complex array of crustal ruptures.
Recent warming and freshening of the Southern Ocean can be attributed to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, with stratospheric ozone depletion also playing a role, according to a synthesis of observations and climate model simulations.
Saturn’s moon Titan may have an active dust cycle in equatorial regions driven by storm winds, Cassini observations consistent with dust suspension in Titan’s atmosphere suggest.
Carbon release from permafrost thaw would substantially decrease the amount of carbon emissions required to meet climate targets, according to climate simulations.
Mesoscale ocean features can alter the magnitude of turbulent mixing caused by wind-driven internal waves, an analysis of Argo float and model data suggests.
On timescales of centuries and longer, aerosol concentrations in Antarctic ice are controlled by changes in the nature of mid- and high-latitude precipitation, according to analyses of palaeoclimate data.
Crustal structures are as important as deep mantle melting in controlling magma ascent and the composition and distribution of erupted material, according to 3D resistivity modelling, geophysical data and the distribution of Quaternary volcanism.
Rivers in the Western Siberian Lowland, the world’s largest peatland, play a significant role in the release of terrestrial carbon to the atmosphere, according to in situ measurements of carbon dioxide emissions from rivers.
The intensity of the North American summer monsoon was modified by changes in the extent of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation, according to isotope records and numerical simulations.
Arc volcanism emits higher metal fluxes to Earth’s atmosphere than hotspot volcanism. The systems’ unique gas compositions are controlled by magmatic water content and redox state, as shown by a compilation of volcanic gas and aerosol metal data.
Droughts can lead to large-scale decline in net CO2 uptake and increased water-use efficiency by plants, according to global analyses of atmospheric carbon isotope data from 2001 to 2011. This suggests that current climate models may underestimate carbon–drought feedbacks.
Halogens in Siberian xenoliths show that plume–lithosphere interaction controls the volatile content of large igneous provinces. The seawater-derived volatiles, implicated in the end-Permian mass extinction, infiltrated the lithosphere during subduction.
The subduction system recorded by the Semail Ophiolite of Oman was initiated by far-field events, according to a comparison of the ages of the upper and lower plate material.
Large earthquakes export significant carbon from mountain forests over millennia, according to analyses of sediments mobilized by earthquake-triggered landslides in New Zealand.