Nature Geoscience contents: April 2016 Volume 9 Number 4 pp261-336

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Advertisement npj Clean Water: open for submissions  An open access, online-only journal, dedicated to publishing high-quality papers that describe the significant and cutting-edge research that continues to ensure the supply of clean water to populations.  Explore the benefits of submitting your next manuscript. TABLE OF CONTENTS April 2016 Volume 9, Issue 4 Editorial Correspondence Commentary News and Views Letters Articles Corrigendum Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement All content now free to access including archives! Nature Communications is an open access journal that publishes high-quality research from all areas of the natural sciences. Papers published by the journal represent important advances of significance to specialists within each subject area including the Earth Sciences. Visit the website to explore ALL the content available within your field. ht     Editorial Top Inside the black box   p261 doi:10.1038/ngeo2694 The review process is at the heart of scientific publishing. We would like to share with our readers some of the considerations that go into finding the best possible set of referees for each paper. Correspondence Top Sustainable geoscience   p262 Iain Stewart doi:10.1038/ngeo2678 Accessibility and innovation   p263 Richard A. Bennett & Diedre A. Lamb doi:10.1038/ngeo2685 Commentary Top Cities lead on climate change   pp264 - 266 Richard D. Pancost doi:10.1038/ngeo2690 The need to mitigate climate change opens up a key role for cities. Bristol's year as a Green Capital led to great strides forward, but it also revealed that a creative and determined partnership across cultural divides will be necessary. News and Views Top Cryosphere: Submarine Antarctic icescapes   pp267 - 268 David W. Ashmore doi:10.1038/ngeo2680 The Antarctic ice sheet is fringed by ice shelves. Remote imagery identifies extensive basal channels in these shelves that grow and deepen on decadal timescales. See also: Letter by Alley et al. Carbon cycle: Global warming then and now   pp268 - 269 Peter Stassen doi:10.1038/ngeo2691 A rapid warming event 55.8 million years ago was caused by extensive carbon emissions. The rate of change of carbon and oxygen isotopes in marine shelf sediments suggests that carbon emission rates were much slower than anthropogenic emissions. See also: Article by Zeebe et al. Seismology: Remote-controlled earthquakes   pp269 - 271 Gavin Hayes doi:10.1038/ngeo2663 Large earthquakes cause other quakes near and far. Analyses of quakes in Pakistan and Chile suggest that such triggering can occur almost instantaneously, making triggered events hard to detect, and potentially enhancing the associated hazards. See also: Article by Nissen et al. Arctic climate change: Greenhouse warming unleashed   pp271 - 272 Thorsten Mauritsen doi:10.1038/ngeo2677 Human activity alters the atmospheric composition, which leads to global warming. Model simulations suggest that reductions in emission of sulfur dioxide from Europe since the 1970s could have unveiled rapid Arctic greenhouse gas warming. See also: Letter by Acosta Navarro et al. Geoscience JOBS of the week LabexMER International postdoctoral Fellowships in marine Sciences Université de Brest BP Foundation McKenzie Professorship of Earth Sciences University of Cambridge More Science jobs from Geoscience EVENT 78th EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition 2016 30.05.16 Vienna, Austria More science events from Letters Top Remote sensing evidence for an ancient carbon-bearing crust on Mercury   pp273 - 276 Patrick N. Peplowski, Rachel L. Klima, David J. Lawrence, Carolyn M. Ernst, Brett W. Denevi et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2669 Mercury appears darker globally than expected. Remote sensing evidence from the MESSENGER spacecraft indicates that the planet’s darkening agent is carbon and suggests that it originates from an ancient graphite-rich crust. Amplification of Arctic warming by past air pollution reductions in Europe   pp277 - 281 J. C. Acosta Navarro, V. Varma, I. Riipinen, O. Seland, A. Kirkevag et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2673 The reasons for amplified warming in the Arctic are not clear. Simulations with an Earth system model suggest that the decline in European aerosol emissions since 1980 explains a substantial fraction of the warming. See also: News and Views by Mauritsen High aerosol acidity despite declining atmospheric sulfate concentrations over the past 15 years   pp282 - 285 Rodney J. Weber, Hongyu Guo, Armistead G. Russell & Athanasios Nenes doi:10.1038/ngeo2665 Atmospheric sulfate levels are thought to determine the pH of small aerosol particles. Thermodynamic analysis of field aerosol data reveals that fine particles remain acidic in the southeastern United States despite large sulfate reductions. Disentangling greenhouse warming and aerosol cooling to reveal Earth’s climate sensitivity   pp286 - 289 T. Storelvmo, T. Leirvik, U. Lohmann, P. C. B. Phillips & M. Wild doi:10.1038/ngeo2670 Earth’s climate sensitivity has been debated. An econometric analysis of observations shows that aerosol cooling has masked about one-third of greenhouse gas warming and yields a transient climate sensitivity of 2 ± 0.8 °C. Impacts of warm water on Antarctic ice shelf stability through basal channel formation   pp290 - 293 Karen E. Alley, Ted A. Scambos, Matthew R. Siegfried & Helen Amanda Fricker doi:10.1038/ngeo2675 The Antarctic Ice Sheet is buttressed by floating ice shelves. Remote sensing data show extensive basal channels, particularly in West Antarctica, which grow quickly in response to warm water intrusion. See also: News and Views by Ashmore Biological role in the transformation of platinum-group mineral grains   pp294 - 298 Frank Reith, Carla M. Zammit, Sahar S. Shar, Barbara Etschmann, Ralph Bottrill et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2679 Microbes can mineralize metals such as gold. Observations of platinum-group mineral grains and incubation experiments reveal that bacteria can also transform these metals, which could affect their mobility in surface environments. Gold enrichment in active geothermal systems by accumulating colloidal suspensions   pp299 - 302 Mark Hannington, Vigdis Harðardottir, Dieter Garbe-Schönberg & Kevin L. Brown doi:10.1038/ngeo2661 How gold ore deposits form in the absence of a magmatic source for gold is unclear. Analysis of hydrothermal fluids from the Reykjanes geothermal field reveals that gold can become trapped as a colloidal suspension and accumulate over time. The role of a keystone fault in triggering the complex El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake rupture   pp303 - 307 John M. Fletcher, Michael E. Oskin & Orlando J. Teran doi:10.1038/ngeo2660 Large earthquakes can rupture several faults. Analysis of seismic data from the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake in California suggests that multiple faults were pinned to a keystone fault whose rupture triggered cascading slip. The lateral extent of volcanic interactions during unrest and eruption   pp308 - 311 Juliet Biggs, Elspeth Robertson & Katharine Cashman doi:10.1038/ngeo2658 One volcanic eruption can trigger another. Global analysis of coupled eruptions suggests that the extent of magma mush, stress changes, dyke intrusions and earthquakes can couple volcanic eruptions over increasing distances. Articles Top Pan-Arctic ice-wedge degradation in warming permafrost and its influence on tundra hydrology   pp312 - 318 Anna K. Liljedahl, Julia Boike, Ronald P. Daanen, Alexander N. Fedorov, Gerald V. Frost et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2674 The polygonal patterns in permafrost regions are caused by the formation of ice wedges. Observations of polygon evolution reveal that rapid ice-wedge melting has occurred across the Arctic since 1950, altering tundra hydrology. Sequestration of carbon in the deep Atlantic during the last glaciation   pp319 - 324 J. Yu, L. Menviel, Z. D. Jin, D. J. R. Thornalley, S. Barker et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2657 The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere declined as the Earth entered the last glacial period. Estimates of deep carbonate ion concentrations suggest that a substantial amount of carbon was sequestered in the deep Atlantic Ocean. Anthropogenic carbon release rate unprecedented during the past 66 million years   pp325 - 329 Richard E. Zeebe, Andy Ridgwell & James C. Zachos doi:10.1038/ngeo2681 Carbon release rates during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum are difficult to constrain. Comparing relative rates of carbon cycle and climate change at the event’s onset suggests emissions were much slower than anthropogenic emissions. See also: News and Views by Stassen Limitations of rupture forecasting exposed by instantaneously triggered earthquake doublet   pp330 - 336 E. Nissen, J. R. Elliott, R. A. Sloan, T. J. Craig, G. J. Funning et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2653 Assessments of earthquake risk often assume rupture of a single fault. Analysis of a 1997 Pakistan earthquake reveals that not one but two separate ruptures caused the shaking, implying that cascading events should be factored into forecasts. See also: News and Views by Hayes Corrigendum Top Corrigendum: Missing iris effect as a possible cause of muted hydrological change and high climate sensitivity in models   p336 Thorsten Mauritsen & Bjorn Stevens doi:10.1038/ngeo2682 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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