Nature Geoscience contents: June 2015 Volume 8 Number 6 pp417-490

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TABLE OF CONTENTS June 2015 Volume 8, Issue 6 Editorials Correspondence Commentary News and Views Review Letters Article Addendum Advertisement   Ready for a glimpse of tomorrow? Visit KAUST Discovery today KAUST Discovery highlights the cutting-edge research, technologies and innovations emerging from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.   http://discovery.kaust.edu.sa Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Nature Outlook Biomaterials The Nature Outlook: Biomaterials examines the many ways in which solutions created by the natural world - by spiders, mussels, geckos, lotus leaves and more - are inspiring technological imitations that surpass some of the best existing human-engineered substances. Access the Outlook free online for six months. Produced with support from: KISCO Ltd. in association with Spiber Inc.     Editorials Top Ecology in a changing climate   p417 doi:10.1038/ngeo2460 Complex ecological and evolutionary controls of forest dynamics make projecting the future difficult. More space for methods   p417 doi:10.1038/ngeo2461 Nature Geoscience introduces 3,000-word Methods sections that are integrated with the online paper. Correspondence Top Pliocene warmth and gradients   pp419 - 420 Chris Brierley, Natalie Burls, Christina Ravelo & Alexey Fedorov doi:10.1038/ngeo2444 See also: Correspondence by O'Brien et al. | Article by O'Brien et al. | News and Views by Pagani Reply to 'Pliocene warmth and gradients'   p420 Charlotte L. O'Brien, Gavin L. Foster, James W. B. Rae & Richard D. Pancost doi:10.1038/ngeo2445 See also: Correspondence by Brierley et al. Commentary Top The catastrophic nature of humans   pp421 - 422 Richard Guthrie doi:10.1038/ngeo2455 Natural landscapes are shaped by frequent moderate-sized events, except for the rare catastrophe. Human modifications to the Earth's surface are, compared with natural processes, increasingly catastrophic. News and Views Top Ocean science: Hiatus heat in the Indian Ocean   pp423 - 424 Jérôme Vialard doi:10.1038/ngeo2442 Global surface warming has slowed since the start of the twenty-first century, while Pacific heat uptake was enhanced. Analyses of ocean heat content suggest that the warm water was transferred to the Indian Ocean, through the Indonesian straits. See also: Letter by Lee et al. Geomorphology: Rain revs the crustal conveyor   pp424 - 425 Jane K. Willenbring doi:10.1038/ngeo2450 It is intuitive, but evidence that high levels of precipitation increase erosion rates has been elusive. The ages of exposed porphyry copper deposits reveal that rocks emplaced at depth travel to the surface faster where precipitation rates are high. See also: Letter by Yanites & Kesler Planetary science: Titan dissolved   p426 Tamara Goldin doi:10.1038/ngeo2457 Carbon cycle: Hoard of fjord carbon   pp426 - 427 Richard Keil doi:10.1038/ngeo2433 Fjords account for less than 0.1% of the surface of Earth's oceans. A global assessment finds that organic carbon is buried in fjords five times faster than other marine systems, accounting for 11% of global marine organic carbon burial. See also: Letter by Smith et al. Planetary science: Titan dissolved   p426 Tamara Goldin doi:10.1038/ngeo2457 Geodynamics: Double dip   pp428 - 429 Magali Billen doi:10.1038/ngeo2431 The Indian Plate moved north unusually quickly during the late Cretaceous. Numerical simulations suggest that this rapid migration was caused by the pull of two coupled, narrowing subduction zones. See also: Letter by Jagoutz et al. Palaeoceanography: Corrosive circulation   pp429 - 430 Morgan F. Schaller doi:10.1038/ngeo2446 An ancient carbon release resulted in widespread dissolution of carbonates at the sea floor. Numerical simulations suggest that the pattern of dissolution can be explained by a top-down invasion of corrosive bottom waters from the North Atlantic. See also: Letter by Alexander et al. Biogeochemistry: Silica cycling over geologic time   pp431 - 432 Daniel J. Conley & Joanna C. Carey doi:10.1038/ngeo2454 The Earth's long-term silica cycle is intimately linked to weathering rates and biogenic uptake. Changes in weathering rates and the retention of silica on land have altered silica availability in the oceans for hundreds of millions of years. Review Top Stratospheric influence on tropospheric jet streams, storm tracks and surface weather   pp433 - 440 Joseph Kidston, Adam A. Scaife, Steven C. Hardiman, Daniel M. Mitchell, Neal Butchart et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2424 The atmospheric layer that lies above Earth's weather systems can exert a strong downward influence. A review of this influence on storm tracks and surface weather suggests that the dynamical links between the layers hold across timescales. Letters Top Future productivity and carbon storage limited by terrestrial nutrient availability   pp441 - 444 William R. Wieder, Cory C. Cleveland, W. Kolby Smith & Katherine Todd-Brown doi:10.1038/ngeo2413 Nutrient limitation of plant growth can reduce net plant productivity. Model projections indicate that productivity declines when nitrogen and phosphorus limitations are considered, turning terrestrial ecosystems into a net source of CO2 by 2100. Pacific origin of the abrupt increase in Indian Ocean heat content during the warming hiatus   pp445 - 449 Sang-Ki Lee, Wonsun Park, Molly O. Baringer, Arnold L. Gordon, Bruce Huber et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2438 The slow surface warming since 1998 has been linked to high ocean heat uptake. An analysis of observations and ocean model simulations suggests that the increase in Pacific heat uptake has been compensated by heat transport to the Indian Ocean. See also: News and Views by Vialard High rates of organic carbon burial in fjord sediments globally   pp450 - 453 Richard W. Smith, Thomas S. Bianchi, Mead Allison, Candida Savage & Valier Galy doi:10.1038/ngeo2421 Fjords have been hypothesized to be hotspots of organic carbon burial. A global compilation of organic carbon data and sedimentation rates shows that fjords sequester twice as much carbon as other ocean regions. See also: News and Views by Keil Persistence of dissolved organic matter in lakes related to its molecular characteristics   pp454 - 457 Anne M. Kellerman, Dolly N. Kothawala, Thorsten Dittmar & Lars J. Tranvik doi:10.1038/ngeo2440 Organic matter's molecular structure has been thought to influence its decomposition. Analyses of dissolved organic carbon in Swedish lakes found that aliphatic and N-containing compounds persisted, while oxidized aromatic compounds were lost. Sudden spreading of corrosive bottom water during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum   pp458 - 461 Kaitlin Alexander, Katrin J. Meissner & Timothy J. Bralower doi:10.1038/ngeo2430 The Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum was associated with warming and seafloor carbonate dissolution. Numerical simulations suggest that the spread of deep corrosive water from the North Atlantic can explain the observed dissolution patterns. See also: News and Views by Schaller A climate signal in exhumation patterns revealed by porphyry copper deposits   pp462 - 465 Brian J. Yanites & Stephen E. Kesler doi:10.1038/ngeo2429 Porphyry copper deposits are emplaced at a fixed crustal depth in convergent tectonic settings. The age and distribution of deposits exposed at the surface suggest that mountain exhumation is influenced by precipitation rates. See also: News and Views by Willenbring A global transition to ferruginous conditions in the early Neoproterozoic oceans   pp466 - 470 Romain Guilbaud, Simon W. Poulton, Nicholas J. Butterfield, Maoyan Zhu & Graham A. Shields-Zhou doi:10.1038/ngeo2434 Deeper ocean waters were anoxic during the Neoproterozoic. Geochemical data suggest a transition from sulphidic to iron-rich mid-depth waters about one billion years ago, coincident with increased iron influx from the supercontinent Rodinia. Earthquake supercycle in subduction zones controlled by the width of the seismogenic zone   pp471 - 474 Robert Herrendörfer, Ylona van Dinther, Taras Gerya & Luis Angel Dalguer doi:10.1038/ngeo2427 Some subduction zones experience earthquake supercycles. Numerical simulations show that successive megathrust earthquakes may load neighbouring parts of the fault, causing it to eventually fail in a giant earthquake that completes a supercycle. Anomalously fast convergence of India and Eurasia caused by double subduction   pp475 - 478 Oliver Jagoutz, Leigh Royden, Adam F. Holt & Thorsten W. Becker doi:10.1038/ngeo2418 Prior to collision with Eurasia, the Indian Plate rapidly accelerated northwards. Numerical simulations show that the combined pull of two slabs in two parallel, north-dipping subduction systems could have caused this pulse of rapid movement. See also: News and Views by Billen Long-term interaction between mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes   pp479 - 483 J. M. Whittaker, J. C. Afonso, S. Masterton, R. D. Muller, P. Wessel et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2437 Tectonic plate and lower-mantle motions are often considered independent. Plate tectonic reconstructions reveal long-lived interactions between mantle plumes and mid-ocean ridges that imply feedback between plate boundaries and the deep mantle. Article Top Phase transformation and nanometric flow cause extreme weakening during fault slip   pp484 - 489 H. W. Green II, F. Shi, K. Bozhilov, G. Xia and Z. Reches doi:10.1038/ngeo2436 Faults weaken during earthquakes. Laboratory simulations of earthquake rupture show that the nanometric-scale fault gouge created during slip is inherently weak and flows by grain-boundary sliding, providing a mechanism to weaken faults. Addendum Top Addendum: The rise and fall of methanotrophy following a deepwater oil-well blowout   p490 M. Crespo-Medina, C. D. Meile, K. S. Hunter, A-R. Diercks, V. L. Asper et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2447 Top 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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