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Volcanism in the western US may result from warm oceanic mantle beneath the Pacific Ocean being drawn eastwards by mantle flow induced by the sinking of Farallon slabs, according to numerical model simulations.
Wind power for energy generation is projected to decrease in northern mid-latitudes and increase in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere, suggests an analysis of climate model simulations utilizing an industry wind turbine power curve.
The faults in creeping segments of subduction zones are weaker than those in locked segments, according to analyses of stress orientations and GPS data from subduction zones globally.
Amplification of the methane cycle by anyoxygenic photosynthesis could have warmed early Earth and countered the faint young Sun, geochemical modelling suggests. A combination of H2-based and Fe2+-based photosynthesis acts to enhance methane fluxes.
Extratropical feedbacks between climate and aerosols from landscape fire and biogenic secondary organic aerosols are significant, according to a global aerosol model that is constrained by observations.
Iceberg melt is the largest annual freshwater source in a south Greenland fjord, with release largely below 20 m depth, according to iceberg-model simulations. Furthermore, iceberg melt peaks later in the year than other sources of freshwater.
Collisions of large differentiated impactors during the late stages of Earth’s accretion may have heterogeneously mixed projectile material into the Earth, explaining observed chemical and isotopic heterogeneities in mantle materials.
Past megathrust earthquakes in the Costa Rica subduction zone have slipped all the way up to the seafloor, according to analyses of core and seismic data. This shallow slip was accommodated by layers of weak biogenic ooze.
Seismic activity within subducted slabs could be caused by differential stress release, according to analysis of fossilized remnants of earthquake slip in an exhumed slab. These deep earthquakes were previously thought to mark either slab dehydration, or thermal runaway processes .
The fraction of NO2 in NOx emitted from European road transport is up to a factor of two smaller than used in policy projections, suggests an analysis of 130 million roadside observations. Roadside air quality standards may thus be obtained faster.
A spike of carbon-rich volcanism during the Ediacaran period identified in detrital zircon data may reflect a reorganization of the Neoproterozoic deep carbon cycle.
An increase in biodiversity 450 million years ago coincided with a rise in atmospheric oxygen concentrations, suggests a geochemical analysis. Oxygen availability may have thus helped spur the radiation alongside climatic cooling.
Consolidated sediments in the Cascadia subduction zone may create conditions favourable for megathrust earthquake ruptures over long distances and close to the trench, according to analyses of seismic velocity of sediments from the region. Less-consolidated sediments instead may promote aseismic slip of the plate boundary.
A super-hydrated clay mineral may play an important role in the solid Earth’s water cycle, according to laboratory experiments. The mineral kaolinite can carry and release large amounts of water during subduction.
Storms are not only generated at higher latitudes, they also travel further in a warmer climate, according to analyses of climate model output with a storm-tracking algorithm. The larger travel distance is attributed to stronger upper-level winds and increased atmospheric water vapour.
Degassing of large amounts of CO2 from continental rifts may have contributed to greenhouse climate episodes over the past 200 million years, according to numerical models.
The current distribution of crops around the world neither attains maximum production nor minimum water use, according to a crop water model and yield data. An optimized crop distribution could feed an additional 825 million people and substantially reduce water use.
Lavas sourced from Archaean mantle plumes have anomalously light oxygen isotope signatures, according to geochemical analyses of lava samples from southern Africa. The results imply that Earth’s early mantle was heterogeneous.
Interactions between narrow frontal currents and topography in the Drake Passage enhance bottom mixing, according to ocean glider observations. Such interactions between frontal currents and topography could help close Southern Ocean overturning.