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The recurrence time of megathrust earthquakes in Chile may be controlled by frictional contrasts at depth, according to analyses of stress build-up and release related to the December 2016 southern Chile earthquake.
Terrestrial vegetation contributes to the seasonal variation of atmospheric mercury concentrations, according to analyses of atmospheric trace gas dynamics and satellite data. The data show that the photosynthetic activity of vegetation correlates with atmospheric mercury.
Observations of the radiative forcing from methane at the Earth’s surface are influenced by absorption effects from water vapour, according to spectroscopic measurements and line-by-line calculations.
A country’s metal footprint increases by 2% for every 1% increase in gross capital formation, according to a metal footprint quantification and panel analysis of 43 economies during 1995–2013.
Grounding lines in parts of West Antarctica, East Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula retreated faster than typical post-glacial pace, according to satellite observations and ice geometry measurements.
The shape of mid-ocean ridges is influenced by lithospheric mechanical strength, according to laboratory simulations of diverging plates. The results imply that large tectonic plates probably could not have formed on a younger, hotter Earth.
Particle microenvironments can sustain anaerobic metabolisms such as denitrification in hypoxic ocean areas, according to biogeochemical modelling. Rates of water column denitrification may be up to double previous estimates.
The Yellowstone hotspot could be fed by a thin, thermal mantle plume that extends from the core–mantle boundary to the surface position of the hotspot, according to analyses of seismic data.
Winter floods flushed out 70% of the microplastic contamination from riverbed sediments in northwest England, according to analyses of sediment samples from 40 rural and urban sites.
Mantle convection in rocky planets in a synchronous orbit around their
host stars can induce continuous reorientation, according to an analysis of the
efficiency of true polar wander for synchronous exoplanets.
Biocrust coverage of soils could decrease by 25–40% within 65 years, due
to climate and land-use changes. Biocrusts, such as lichens and algae, cover 12% of
Earth’s land surface but environmental modelling suggests that they are vulnerable
to change.
The onset of deep water export from the North Atlantic Ocean preceded
the onset of Antarctic glaciation by about one million years, according to sediment
geochemistry, and may have been triggered by tectonic changes in the Atlantic
basin.
Observations of ethane and propane distributions in the atmosphere are
reproduced in simulations with an atmospheric chemistry transport model, if fossil
emissions are a factor of two to three higher than previously assumed.
South American and African cratons may have been substantially modified
by mantle plumes, according to analyses of seismic images and tectonic records. The
results imply that cratons may not be as stable as once thought.
Complex patterns of crustal deformation in the western Mediterranean
region may be attributable to movements of the African Plate that drag the subducted
Gibraltar slab through the mantle, according to numerical simulations.
Mature parts of the shallow megathrust beneath Costa Rica are
characterized by striking corrugations that may channel fluids, according to seismic
images. Nascent sections of the subduction zone plate boundary appear only weakly
corrugated.
Hydroxyl produced by space weathering processes may be widespread and persistent
on the lunar surface according to analysis of spectral data from the Chandrayaan-1
spacecraft.
Depending on their connectivity to the river network, wetlands can be much more efficient at removing nitrate in a watershed than common nitrogen mitigation strategies according to an analysis of the Minnesota River basin.
A 1.5 °C climate target implies total emissions of carbon from the start of 2017 must fall below 195 to 205 PgC, according to an observationally constrained very large ensemble of simulations with an efficient Earth system model.