TABLE OF CONTENTS
| January 2012 Volume 5, Issue 1 |  | | |  |  Editorial
Correspondence
In the press
Research Highlights
News and Views
Review
Letters
Articles
Erratum | | | | | | | Advertisement |  | Nature Geoscience Focus on Ocean Islands
Free online access until end of February 2012
In this focus we collect research articles and opinion pieces that explore some possible mechanisms for the creation of ocean islands and seamounts, and highlight their connections to the deep and upper mantle.
Access the content free online to registered nature.com users | | | | | Editorial |  Top | |  | | Embargoes on the web p1
doi:10.1038/ngeo1365
With the advent of Web 2.0, not only journalists report science to the public. Researchers should be aware of the implications for the public dissemination of their findings.
Full Text | PDF | | Correspondence | Top | | | | Mystery behind Hitchcock's birds pp2 - 3
Sibel Bargu, Mary W. Silver, Mark D. Ohman, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson and David L. Garrison
doi:10.1038/ngeo1360
Full Text | PDF | | In the press | Top | | | | Climate change confirmed... again p4
Alexandra Witze
doi:10.1038/ngeo1355
Full Text | PDF | | Research Highlights | Top | | | | Mars demagnetized | Black-carbon burial | Cretaceous eccentricity | Oscillation controls | Buckled slabs | News and Views | Top | | | | Palaeoclimate: Hidden glacial carbon pp6 - 7
Martin Claussen
doi:10.1038/ngeo1351
Atmospheric CO2 levels were much lower during the last glacial maximum than in the pre-industrial period. Ice-core data and biogeochemical modelling suggest that difference is partly due to the greater mass of inert carbon in glacial terrestrial biomes.
Full Text | PDF
See also: Article by Ciais et al. | | Planetary science: Kick for the cosmic clockwork pp7 - 8
Matija Ćuk
doi:10.1038/ngeo1362
Mercury's spin and its orbit around the Sun are tied to each other in a unique arrangement. According to a set of calculations, random asteroid impacts may have aided the planet's evolution into the current spin-orbit pattern.
Full Text | PDF
See also: Letter by Wieczorek et al. | | Atmospheric chemistry: Natural atmospheric acidity pp8 - 9
Dylan B. Millet
doi:10.1038/ngeo1361
Formic acid exerts a significant influence on atmospheric chemistry and rainwater acidity. Satellite observations and model simulations suggest that terrestrial vegetation accounts for around 90% of the formic acid produced annually.
Full Text | PDF
See also: Letter by Stavrakou et al. | | Ronald Greeley: Planetary pioneer p10
Robert Pappalardo
doi:10.1038/ngeo1363
Full Text | PDF | | | | |
| | Review | Top | | | | Resilience of persistent Arctic mixed-phase clouds pp11 - 17
Hugh Morrison, Gijs de Boer, Graham Feingold, Jerry Harrington, Matthew D. Shupe and Kara Sulia
doi:10.1038/ngeo1332
Mixed-phase clouds, comprising both ice and supercooled liquid water, have a large impact on radiative fluxes in the Arctic. Interactions between numerous local feedbacks sustain these complex cloud systems, leading to the development of a resilient mixed-phase cloud system.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF | | Letters | Top | | | | Mercury's spin-orbit resonance explained by initial retrograde and subsequent synchronous rotation pp18 - 21
Mark A. Wieczorek, Alexandre C. M. Correia, Mathieu Le Feuvre, Jacques Laskar and Nicolas Rambaux
doi:10.1038/ngeo1350
The planet Mercury rotates three times about its spin axis for every two orbits around the Sun. Numerical modelling suggests that this unusual pattern could result from initial retrograde rotation that was captured into a stable synchronous orbit, and subsequent disturbance by a large impact.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Ćuk | | Mesospheric electric breakdown and delayed sprite ignition caused by electron detachment pp22 - 25
A. Luque and F. J. Gordillo-Vázquez
doi:10.1038/ngeo1314
The electric discharge of a thundercloud in the troposphere is often accompanied by upper-atmospheric electric discharges such as sprites or halos. Numerical simulations of the electric response of the mesosphere to lightning suggest that the process of electron associative detachment is fundamental to upper-atmospheric electrodynamics.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: Erratum by Luque & Gordillo-Vázquez | | Satellite evidence for a large source of formic acid from boreal and tropical forests pp26 - 30
T. Stavrakou, J-F. Müller, J. Peeters, A. Razavi, L. Clarisse, C. Clerbaux, P-F. Coheur, D. Hurtmans, M. De Mazière, C. Vigouroux, N. M. Deutscher, D. W. T. Griffith, N. Jones and C. Paton-Walsh
doi:10.1038/ngeo1354
Formic acid contributes significantly to acid rain in remote environments. Satellite measurements combined with model simulations indicate that annual formic acid production is two to three times larger than current estimates suggest.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Millet | | Anthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth's energy balance pp31 - 36
Markus Huber and Reto Knutti
doi:10.1038/ngeo1327
The formal detection of climate warming and its attribution to human influence has so far relied on the differences between natural and anthropogenic warming patterns. An alternative and entirely independent attribution method that relies on the principle of conservation of energy instead, confirms greenhouse gas warming by 0.85 °C since the mid-twentieth century, half of which was offset by aerosol cooling.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF | | Rapid response of Helheim Glacier in Greenland to climate variability over the past century pp37 - 41
Camilla S. Andresen, Fiammetta Straneo, Mads Hvid Ribergaard, Anders A. Bjørk, Thorbjørn J. Andersen, Antoon Kuijpers, Niels Nørgaard-Pedersen, Kurt H. Kjær, Frands Schjøth, Kaarina Weckström and Andreas P. Ahlstrøm
doi:10.1038/ngeo1349
During the early twenty-first century, the Greenland Ice Sheet experienced the largest ice mass loss on instrumental record. An analysis of sand deposition in Sermilik Fjord, off Helheim Glacier in east Greenland, suggests that despite strong variability over the past 120 years, similarly high rates of iceberg calving have only occurred once before, in the 1930s.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF | | Emplacement of massive turbidites linked to extinction of turbulence in turbidity currents pp42 - 45
Mariano I. Cantero, Alessandro Cantelli, Carlos Pirmez, S. Balachandar, David Mohrig, Thomas A. Hickson, Tzu-hao Yeh, Hajime Naruse and Gary Parker
doi:10.1038/ngeo1320
Massive-turbidite deposits are common in deep-water environments. Numerical simulations suggest that when turbulence is extinguished as turbidity currents reach areas of minimal slope, sediment reworking ceases, which allows the deposition of massive units.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF | | Influence of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on the East Asian winter monsoon pp46 - 49
Youbin Sun, Steven C. Clemens, Carrie Morrill, Xiaopei Lin, Xulong Wang and Zhisheng An
doi:10.1038/ngeo1326
East Asian summer monsoon precipitation varied on millennial timescales during the last glacial period. Sediment records and climate modelling suggest that the winter monsoon was also affected by millenial scale variability, and that the abrupt changes were driven by changes in the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF | | Recent contribution of sediments and fluids to the mantle's volatile budget pp50 - 54
Simon Turner, John Caulfield, Michael Turner, Peter van Keken, René Maury, Mike Sandiford and Gaelle Prouteau
doi:10.1038/ngeo1325
Subduction modifies the cycling of Earth's volatile elements. Geochemical analyses of fragments of mantle rocks collected above the Batan Island subduction zone, Philippines, suggest that wet sediment melts are released from the subducted slab, followed later by release of aqueous fluids, yet a significant amount of water is retained in the wedge.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF | | Anisotropic uppermost mantle in young subducted slab underplating Central Mexico pp55 - 59
Teh-Ru Alex Song and YoungHee Kim
doi:10.1038/ngeo1342
Oceanic lithosphere contains a record of plate-spreading rates, but the oldest oceanic plates have been subducted into the mantle. Measurements of seismic wave velocities in the subducted part of the Cocos Plate beneath central Mexico reveal an anisotropy that was created when the plate formed, preserving an archive of ancient plate-spreading rates on Earth.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF | | Modern-style plate subduction preserved in the Palaeoproterozoic West African craton pp60 - 65
J. Ganne, V. De Andrade, R. F. Weinberg, O. Vidal, B. Dubacq, N. Kagambega, S. Naba, L. Baratoux, M. Jessell and J. Allibon
doi:10.1038/ngeo1321
The timing of onset of modern-style plate tectonics on Earth is debated. Analysis of rocks in the West African metamorphic province, which is more than 2 Gyr old, reveals that some minerals formed under conditions similar to those in modern-day subduction zones, suggesting that subduction occurred on the Palaeoproterozoic Earth.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF | | Articles | Top | | | | Arsenic sequestration by organic sulphur in peat pp66 - 73
Peggy Langner, Christian Mikutta and Ruben Kretzschmar
doi:10.1038/ngeo1329
Wetlands cover more than 6% of the global ice-free land area, and represent an important arsenic sink. Laboratory experiments suggest that natural organic matter plays an active role in the immobilization of arsenic in anoxic wetlands.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF | | Large inert carbon pool in the terrestrial biosphere during the Last Glacial Maximum pp74 - 79
P. Ciais, A. Tagliabue, M. Cuntz, L. Bopp, M. Scholze, G. Hoffmann, A. Lourantou, S. P. Harrison, I. C. Prentice, D. I. Kelley, C. Koven and S. L. Piao
doi:10.1038/ngeo1324
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose at the end of the last glacial period, but the sources of this carbon are uncertain. Ice-core data and carbon-cycle modelling suggest that the disappearance of a terrestrial inert carbon pool may have contributed to the rise.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Claussen | | Erratum | Top | | | | Mesospheric electric breakdown and delayed sprite ignition caused by electron detachment
A. Luque and F. J. Gordillo-Vázquez
doi:10.1038/ngeo1357
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