Nature Geoscience contents: August 2011 Volume 4 Number 8 pp493-571

TABLE OF CONTENTS August 2011 Volume 4, Issue 8 Editorial Correspondence In the press Books and Arts Research Highlights News and Views Review Letters Article Recommend to your library Web feed Article has related Backstory Available online only Subscribe Advertisement Nature Outlook: Biofuels To find out more about the potential and pitfalls of this sustainable technology, access the Outlook free online for six months. Produced with support from: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BP, Ceres, São Paulo Research Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center   Editorial Top Ice and ocean p493 doi:10.1038/ngeo1232 A substantial amount of the Earth's surface water moves between ice sheets and oceans as the climate oscillates on geological timescales. Ocean warming, as well as atmospheric temperature rise, affects the current redistribution in response to climate change. Full Text | PDF Correspondence Top Focus on known active faults p494 John McCloskey doi:10.1038/ngeo1221 Full Text | PDF In the press Top Volcano mix-up p495 Axel Bojanowski doi:10.1038/ngeo1222 Full Text | PDF Books and Arts Top Indelible footprint p496 Victor Brovkin reviews The Anthropocene: A New Epoch of Geological Time? by Jan Zalasiewicz, Mark Williams, Alan Haywood & Michael Ellis doi:10.1038/ngeo1220 Full Text | PDF Research Highlights Top Our choice from the recent literature p497 doi:10.1038/ngeo1230 Full Text | PDF News and Views Top Geodynamics: Surface impact of mantle processes pp498 - 499 Philip A. Allen doi:10.1038/ngeo1216 Dynamic motions in Earth's mantle can be expressed at the surface. Rocks and landscapes beneath the North Atlantic Ocean record surface uplift driven by pulses of hot material upwelling in a mantle plume beneath Iceland. Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Hartley et al. | Letter by Poore et al. Planetary science: More surprises from the Moon pp499 - 501 Noah Petro doi:10.1038/ngeo1225 Volcanic deposits on the Moon are almost entirely composed of basaltic lava flows that make up the dark and extensive mare plains. High-resolution images and compositional data now reveal rare, non-mare volcanism on the Moon's farside. Full Text | PDF See also: Article by Jolliff et al. Atmospheric science: Cloud rupture p501 Anna Armstrong doi:10.1038/ngeo1227 Full Text | PDF Palaeoclimate: El Niño in the Pliocene pp502 - 503 Anna S. von der Heydt & Henk A. Dijkstra doi:10.1038/ngeo1224 Whether interannual variability in the Pacific Ocean was a feature of the warm Pliocene climate is debated. Variance in reconstructed eastern tropical Pacific surface temperatures provides strong support for persistent El Niño activity at this time. Full Text | PDF Plate tectonics: Pushy plume p503 Amy Whitchurch doi:10.1038/ngeo1228 Full Text | PDF Climate science: Afforestation cools more or less pp504 - 505 Richard A. Betts doi:10.1038/ngeo1223 Forests affect climate not only by taking up carbon, but also by absorbing solar radiation and enhancing evaporation. In the tropics, the climate benefit of afforestation may be nearly double that expected from carbon budgets alone. Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Arora & Montenegro Geoscience JOBS of the week Senior Research Fellow in Marine Metacommunity Dynamics University of Melbourne Melbourne, Australia microarray in plankton ecology Ifremer Brest, France University Lecturer in Physical Climate Science University of Oxford Oxford, United Kingdom Analyst- Ecological Modeler Abt Associates Bethesda, MD Junior Scientist (m / f) for X-Ray Imaging in Palaeontology -Ref 2428 ESRF Grenoble More Science jobs from Geoscience EVENT Technical Meeting on World Thorium Resources 17 October - 21 October 2011 Kerala, India More science events from Review Top Stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet in a warming world pp506 - 513 Ian Joughin & Richard B. Alley doi:10.1038/ngeo1194 Ice sheets, and in particular the West Antarctic ice sheet, are expected to shrink in size as the world warms, which in turn will raise sea level. A Review of the literature suggests that much of this ice sheet will survive beyond this century, but confident estimates of the likelihood of future collapse require further work. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Letters Top Small temperature benefits provided by realistic afforestation efforts pp514 - 518 Vivek K. Arora & Alvaro Montenegro doi:10.1038/ngeo1182 Afforestation, the conversion of croplands or marginal lands into forests, is considered one of the key climate-change mitigation strategies available to governments. Model simulations suggest that the temperature benefits of realistic afforestation efforts are marginal. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Betts Stronger ocean circulation and increased melting under Pine Island Glacier ice shelf pp519 - 523 Stanley S. Jacobs, Adrian Jenkins, Claudia F. Giulivi & Pierre Dutrieux doi:10.1038/ngeo1188 The ice shelf buttressing Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier has been melting rapidly. Observations taken between 1994 and 2009 show that meltwater production has increased by about 50% since 1994, as a result of a stronger circulation below the ice shelf. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Different magnitudes of projected subsurface ocean warming around Greenland and Antarctica pp524 - 528 Jianjun Yin, Jonathan T. Overpeck, Stephen M. Griffies, Aixue Hu, Joellen L. Russell & Ronald J. Stouffer doi:10.1038/ngeo1189 Accurate projections of global sea-level rise require information of future ocean warming in the vicinity of the large ice sheets. An analysis of 19 climate model projections suggests that subsurface ocean warming near both polar ice sheets will be substantial, with the potential to lead to significant increases in ice-mass loss. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Dust- and mineral-iron utilization by the marine dinitrogen-fixer Trichodesmium  pp529 - 534 Maxim Rubin, Ilana Berman-Frank & Yeala Shaked doi:10.1038/ngeo1181 Blooms of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium, which fuel primary production in tropical and subtropical waters, require large quantities of iron. Laboratory incubations suggest that Trichodesmium accelerates the dissolution of iron oxides and dust, increasing the rate of iron uptake. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Deep-sea mud in the Pacific Ocean as a potential resource for rare-earth elements pp535 - 539 Yasuhiro Kato, Koichiro Fujinaga, Kentaro Nakamura, Yutaro Takaya, Kenichi Kitamura, Junichiro Ohta, Ryuichi Toda, Takuya Nakashima & Hikaru Iwamori doi:10.1038/ngeo1185 World demand for rare-earth elements and the metal yttrium is rapidly increasing. An analysis of more than 2,000 seafloor sediment samples suggests that deep-sea mud constitutes a highly promising giant resource for these elements. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Glacial to Holocene swings of the Australian-Indonesian monsoon pp540 - 544 Mahyar Mohtadi, Delia W. Oppo, Stephan Steinke, Jan-Berend W. Stuut, Ricardo De Pol-Holz, Dierk Hebbeln & Andreas Lückge doi:10.1038/ngeo1209 The Australian-Indonesian monsoon is an important component of the climate system in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. High-resolution records of monsoon-controlled austral winter upwelling during the past 22,000 years reveal that glacial–interglacial variations in the Australian–Indonesian winter monsoon have been in phase with the Indian summer monsoon system. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Sedimentary underplating at the Cascadia mantle-wedge corner revealed by seismic imaging pp545 - 548 Andrew J. Calvert, Leiph A. Preston & Amir M. Farahbod doi:10.1038/ngeo1195 Earth's largest earthquakes occur at the boundary between subducting oceanic crust and the overriding plate, yet the position of the plate boundaries remains uncertain. Analysis of zones of low seismic wave velocities beneath the northern Cascadia subduction zone implies that the plate boundary here may be deeper than previously thought. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Magmatic breakup as an explanation for magnetic anomalies at magma-poor rifted margins pp549 - 553 Adrien Bronner, Daniel Sauter, Gianreto Manatschal, Gwenn Péron-Pinvidic & Marc Munschy doi:10.1038/ngeo1201 During continental breakup, the onset of seafloor spreading is thought to be marked by the first occurrence of a magnetic anomaly. Analysis of seismic and magnetic data from the Iberia–Newfoundland continental-rift system suggests that the first magnetic anomaly observed here instead represents a magmatic event that pre-dates seafloor spreading. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Ancient lithospheric source for Quaternary lavas in Hispaniola pp554 - 557 George D. Kamenov, Michael R. Perfit, John F. Lewis, Adam R. Goss, Ricardo Arévalo Jr & Robert D. Shuster doi:10.1038/ngeo1203 Fragments of ancient continental lithosphere, entrained in the shallow oceanic mantle, have been found in a number of locations in the Southern Hemisphere. Isotopic analyses of material from Quaternary volcanic centres in Hispaniola indicate that the lavas are derived from an ancient lithospheric fragment with affinities to the supercontinent Gondwana. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Ocean circulation and mantle melting controlled by radial flow of hot pulses in the Iceland plume pp558 - 561 Heather Poore, Nicky White & John Maclennan doi:10.1038/ngeo1161 V-shaped ridges of thickened oceanic crust above the Iceland plume are thought to record variations in the convection of the mantle below. Geochemical analyses of basalt samples taken from the ridges suggest the thickened crust formed as the result of blobs of hot mantle rising up in the underlying plume. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Allen Transient convective uplift of an ancient buried landscape pp562 - 565 Ross A. Hartley, Gareth G. Roberts, Nicky White & Chris Richardson doi:10.1038/ngeo1191 Hot mantle upwelling in the Icelandic plume has caused episodic uplift of sedimentary basins located off the northwest coast of Europe. Reconstruction of river profiles on an ancient buried landscape constrains the history of surface uplift and suggests that pulses of hot plume material spread out at velocities of 35 cm yr-1. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Allen Article Top Non-mare silicic volcanism on the lunar farside at Compton–Belkovich pp566 - 571 Bradley L. Jolliff, Sandra A. Wiseman, Samuel J. Lawrence, Thanh N. Tran, Mark S. Robinson, Hiroyuki Sato, B. Ray Hawke, Frank Scholten, Jürgen Oberst, Harald Hiesinger, Carolyn H. van der Bogert, Benjamin T. Greenhagen, Timothy D. Glotch & David A. Paige doi:10.1038/ngeo1212 Non-basaltic volcanism is rare on the Moon and has been found predominantly on the lunar nearside. Analysis of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images and spectral data reveal the presence of compositionally evolved, non-basaltic volcanism on the lunar farside. Abstract | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Petro Top Advertisement Nature Geoscience – Reaching new heights in geoscience research Nature Geoscience is pleased to announce that the 2010 ISI impact factor is 10.392*, according to the ISI Journal Citation Reports®. This places Nature Geoscience first among all journals in geosciences. *2010 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2011).   Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. For event advertising opportunities across the Nature Publishing Group portfolio please contact natureevents@nature.com More Nature Events

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