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.
Groundwater flow redistributes heat in the Earth’s crust. Numerical simulations of groundwater flow show net cooling of groundwater basins, as well as cooling of the underlying lithosphere in areas where groundwater flows over large distances.
Natural hydrocarbon seeps account for up to 47% of the oil released into the oceans. In situ and remote measurements of chlorophyll concentrations suggest that natural hydrocarbons enhance productivity in surface waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
Anthropogenic emissions of reactive nitrogen have had severe environmental impacts. An analysis of reactive nitrogen emissions from the production, consumption and transport of commodities attributes roughly a quarter to international trade.
Streamflow is a mixture of precipitation of various ages. Oxygen isotope data suggests that a third of global river discharge is sourced from rainfall within the past few months, which accounts for less than 0.1% of global groundwater.
Transfer of CO2 from Earth’s interior to the atmosphere happens largely by volcanic degassing. Measurements of CO2 emissions from faults in the East African Rift system imply that tectonic degassing is also important for deep carbon release.
Bacteria have been shown to be involved in the reduction of HgII to elemental mercury. Laboratory experiments with HgII and different carbon sources reveal that purple bacteria can use HgII as an electron acceptor, promoting bacterial growth.
Nutrient input from icebergs can fertilize productivity in the ocean. Ten years of satellite measurements reveal that giant icebergs could be responsible for up to 20% of carbon export to depth in the Southern Ocean.
The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather patterns worldwide. Numerical experiments with an Earth system model suggest that cloud feedbacks act to amplify ENSO variability by a factor of two or more.
A period of ocean anoxia about 120 million years ago coincided with high temperatures. A reconstruction of CO2 concentrations shows that volcanic outgassing from the Ontong Java Plateau caused CO2 levels to double during the anoxic event.