Nature Geoscience contents: June 2016 Volume 9 Number 6 pp409-470

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TABLE OF CONTENTS June 2016 Volume 9, Issue 6 Editorial Commentary News and Views Perspective Letters Articles Corrigenda Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Subscribe to Nature with our best current personal subscription offer to access a wealth of scientific articles, features and news every week. Personal subscriptions include app, online, digital and print access so you can enjoy Nature anytime, anywhere.   Advertisement npj Climate and Atmospheric Science: open for submissions  An open access, online-only journal providing researchers, policy makers and the public with the latest research on weather and climate, publishing high-quality papers that focus on topics including climate dynamics, climate variability, weather and climate prediction, climate change, weather extremes, atmospheric composition including aerosols, the hydrological cycle and atmosphere-ocean interactions.  Find out more   Editorial Top Earth's changeable atmosphere   p409 doi:10.1038/ngeo2735 Billions of years ago, high atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations were vital to life's tenuous foothold on Earth. Despite new constraints, the composition and evolution of Earth's early atmosphere remains hazy. Commentary Top New Horizons at Pluto   pp411 - 412 Paul Schenk & Francis Nimmo doi:10.1038/ngeo2729 The New Horizons mission has revealed Pluto and its moon Charon to be geologically active worlds. The familiar, yet exotic, landforms suggest that geologic processes operate similarly across the Solar System, even in its cold outer reaches. News and Views Top Early Earth: Atmosphere's solar shock   pp413 - 414 Ramses Ramirez doi:10.1038/ngeo2728 Frequent storms on the young Sun would have ejected energetic particles and compressed Earth's magnetosphere. Simulations suggest that the particles penetrated the atmosphere and initiated reactions that warmed the planet and fertilized life. See also: Letter by Airapetian et al. Planetary science: Jumping grains on Mars   pp414 - 415 Wouter A. Marra doi:10.1038/ngeo2718 Liquid water on Mars may be an agent of surface change, but it is unstable under the thin atmosphere. Experiments suggest water percolating though Martian hillslopes ejects sediment as it boils under the low pressure, and modifies the landscape. See also: Letter by Massé et al. Carbon cycle: A hump in ocean-air exchange   pp415 - 416 Christopher M. Reddy doi:10.1038/ngeo2716 Semivolatile organic compounds from fossil fuels or incomplete combustion are ubiquitous. A suite of circumglobal measurements of their oceanic and atmospheric concentrations reveals large carbon fluxes through the deposition of these compounds. See also: Letter by González-Gaya et al. Geoscience EVENT Summer Courses in Climate Time Series Analysis (Basic Level/Advanced Level) 08.08.16 Bad Gandersheim, Germany More science events from Perspective Top Two-step rise of atmospheric oxygen linked to the growth of continents   pp417 - 424 Cin-Ty A. Lee, Laurence Y. Yeung, N. Ryan McKenzie, Yusuke Yokoyama, Kazumi Ozaki et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2707 Atmospheric oxygen levels increased in two stages. This two-step rise of oxygen may be a natural consequence of lowered oxidative capacity caused by the emergence of felsic continents and the growth of a continental carbon reservoir. Letters Top Transport processes induced by metastable boiling water under Martian surface conditions   pp425 - 428 M. Massé, S. J. Conway, J. Gargani, M. R. Patel, K. Pasquon et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2706 Liquid water on the Martian surface is expected to be metastable owing to low atmospheric pressure. Experiments at Martian conditions reveal that water and briny flows induce grain saltation and slope destabilization, with geomorphic consequences. See also: News and Views by Marra Mountain building on Io driven by deep faulting   pp429 - 432 Michael T. Bland & William B. McKinnon doi:10.1038/ngeo2711 The high relief on Jupiter's moon Io has been linked to compression due to global subsidence. Simulations show that Io's mountains may form along thrust faults that initiate at the lithosphere's base where the compressive stresses are highest. Airborne soil organic particles generated by precipitation   pp433 - 437 Bingbing Wang, Tristan H. Harder, Stephen T. Kelly, Dominique S. Piens, Swarup China et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2705 Airborne organic particles affect Earth's climate. Imaging of particles after rain events and experimental irrigation shows that water drop impaction of soils generates solid organic particles, with impacts on clouds and radiation absorption. High atmosphere-ocean exchange of semivolatile aromatic hydrocarbons   pp438 - 442 Belén González-Gaya, María-Carmen Fernández-Pinos, Laura Morales, Laurence Méjanelle, Esteban Abad et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2714 The global transport and fate of semivolatile aromatic hydrocarbons and their relevance for the carbon cycle are poorly quantified. Global measurements in paired atmospheric and ocean samples suggest that their contribution is substantial. See also: News and Views by Reddy Acceleration of oxygen decline in the tropical Pacific over the past decades by aerosol pollutants   pp443 - 447 T. Ito, A. Nenes, M. S. Johnson, N. Meskhidze & C. Deutsch doi:10.1038/ngeo2717 Dissolved oxygen in the mid-depth tropical Pacific Ocean has declined. Simulations with a combination of atmosphere and ocean models suggest that anthropogenic pollution can interact and amplify climate-driven impacts on ocean biogeochemistry. Earth's air pressure 2.7 billion years ago constrained to less than half of modern levels   pp448 - 451 Sanjoy M. Som, Roger Buick, James W. Hagadorn, Tim S. Blake, John M. Perreault et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2713 The composition of the Earth's early atmosphere is uncertain. The morphology of vesicles in basalts suggests that the air pressure 2.7 billion years ago was less than half of modern levels. Prebiotic chemistry and atmospheric warming of early Earth by an active young Sun   pp452 - 455 V. S. Airapetian, A. Glocer, G. Gronoff, E. Hébrard & W. Danchi doi:10.1038/ngeo2719 An energetic process is needed to convert N2 into compounds essential for life. Simulations show that interactions between powerful solar flares and Earth's magnetic field could have facilitated nitrogen fixation in the early atmosphere. See also: News and Views by Ramirez Articles Top Global dynamic topography observations reveal limited influence of large-scale mantle flow   pp456 - 463 M. J. Hoggard, N. White & D. Al-Attar doi:10.1038/ngeo2709 Mantle flow causes Earth's surface to uplift and subside. Global analysis of dynamically generated topography suggests that temperature-induced, small-scale mantle flow has a bigger influence on surface topography than large-scale mantle flow. Long-lived connection between southern Siberia and northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic   pp464 - 469 R. E. Ernst, M. A. Hamilton, U. Söderlund, J. A. Hanes, D. P. Gladkochub et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2700 The configurations of the ancient supercontinents are poorly known. Analysis of the ages of giant magma intrusions that affected both Siberia and Laurentia shows that the two continents were connected, possibly for as long as 1.2 billion years. Corrigenda Top Corrigendum: Amplification of Arctic warming by past air pollution reductions in Europe   p470 J. C. Acosta Navarro, V. Varma, I. Riipinen, Ø. Seland, A. Kirkevåg et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2723 Corrigendum: Acidification of East Siberian Arctic Shelf waters through addition of freshwater and terrestrial carbon   p470 Igor Semiletov, Irina Pipko, Örjan Gustafsson, Leif G. Anderson, Valentin Sergienko et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2726 Top Advertisement npj Pollution Control is a new open access journal that is now open for submissions. 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