Nature Geoscience contents: May 2013 Volume 6 Number 5 pp321-411

Advertisement NPG and Frontiers form alliance to further open science Frontiers is at the forefront of building the ultimate Open Science platform and is driving innovations around peer-review, article and author impact metrics and social networking for researchers. NPG and Frontiers will work together to empower researchers to change the way science is communicated. Find out more TABLE OF CONTENTS May 2013 Volume 6, Issue 5 Editorial Commentaries In the press Research Highlights News and Views Progress Article Letters Article Corrigendum Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Nature Geoscience web focus: 5 years after the Wenchuan Earthquake The Wenchuan earthquake of 2008 killed more than 80,000 people and displaced millions. The most recent quake in April 2013 wreaked further havoc in the region. This web focus discusses the mechanisms for the Wenchuan quake and the implications for our understanding of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, the on-going risk from quake-induced landslides, and the societal impacts.  Free online to registered nature.com users until 31 October 2013.  Produced with support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.   Editorial Top Resilience from ruin   p321 doi:10.1038/ngeo1824 Five years ago, China was struck by the devastating Wenchuan earthquake. From the destruction comes new understanding. Commentaries Top Beware of slowly slipping faults   pp323 - 324 Pei-Zhen Zhang doi:10.1038/ngeo1811 The fault zone that hosted the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 had been assigned a moderate-to-low seismic hazard rating, because it slips slowly. In hindsight, it seems that this type of fault is not necessarily innocuous. The landslide story   pp325 - 326 Runqiu Huang and Xuanmei Fan doi:10.1038/ngeo1806 The catastrophic Wenchuan earthquake induced an unprecedented number of geohazards. The risk of heightened landslide frequency after a quake, with potential secondary effects such as river damming and subsequent floods, needs more focused attention. Bottom-up disaster resilience   pp327 - 328 Emily Y. Y. Chan doi:10.1038/ngeo1815 The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake highlights some of the successes of government-led schemes to mitigate the impact of natural disasters. A stronger focus on individuals and local communities could reduce losses even further in the future. In the press Top Wastewater injection cracks open quake concerns   p329 Nicola Jones doi:10.1038/ngeo1816 Research Highlights Top Climate science: Future land-carbon loss | Geodynamics: Long-term storage | Palaeoceanography: Current variations | Planetary science: Snow storms on Mars News and Views Top Atmospheric chemistry: Arctic snowpack bromine release   pp331 - 332 Jon Abbatt doi:10.1038/ngeo1805 Snow and ice influence the climate and chemistry of the polar atmosphere. Field experiments in Alaska point to the significance of surface snow for polar ozone depletion events. See also: Letter by Pratt et al. Mantle geodynamics: Older and hotter   pp332 - 333 Charles Langmuir doi:10.1038/ngeo1810 Volcanic rocks erupted at mid-ocean ridges can record the temperature of the underlying mantle. Ancient crust in the Atlantic Ocean formed from anomalously hot mantle, possibly warmed by continental insulation before the opening of the ocean basin. See also: Letter by Brandl et al. Climate change: Antarctic response   pp334 - 335 Tas van Ommen doi:10.1038/ngeo1812 Antarctic climate has undergone substantial shifts in past decades, but whether these changes are unusual in the long term is unclear. Ice-core records suggest that some aspects of this variability are unique to the past two millennia. See also: Letter by Steig et al. | Article by Abram et al. Mineralogy: Garnet goes hungry   pp335 - 336 Craig R. Bina doi:10.1038/ngeo1804 Sinking slabs of oceanic lithosphere often stagnate in Earth's mantle. Experiments show that common slab minerals transform to their high-pressure, high-density counterparts at very slow rates, thus keeping the slabs buoyant and impeding subduction. See also: Letter by van Mierlo et al. Climate change: Future rise in rain inequality   pp337 - 338 Michela Biasutti doi:10.1038/ngeo1814 Rainfall disparities are expected to intensify in response to anthropogenic climate change. Model simulations suggest that wet regions and seasons will get wetter, and that a warmer equator will get wetter too. See also: Letter by Huang et al. Geoscience JOBS of the week Postdoctoral Research Associates (ERC Advanced Grant: Robust Organic Tectonics) University of Liverpool More Science jobs from Geoscience EVENT 13th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference & EXPO SGEM2013 16.-22.06.13 Albena, Bulgaria More science events from Progress Article Top Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia   pp339 - 346 PAGES 2k Consortium doi:10.1038/ngeo1797 Temperature change over the past 2,000 years has shown pronounced regional variability. An assessment of all available continental temperature reconstructions shows a clear twentieth century warming trend, but no evidence of a coherent Little Ice Age or Medieval Warm Period. Letters Top Layered convection as the origin of Saturn's luminosity anomaly   pp347 - 350 Jérémy Leconte and Gilles Chabrier doi:10.1038/ngeo1791 Saturn is brighter than expected for a gas giant of its age. Calculations of Saturn's thermal evolution show that the presence of layered convection in Saturn's interior—much like that observed in the Earth's oceans—would have slowed the planet's cooling and may explain Saturn's anomalous luminosity. Photochemical production of molecular bromine in Arctic surface snowpacks   pp351 - 356 Kerri A. Pratt, Kyle D. Custard, Paul B. Shepson, Thomas A. Douglas, Denis Pöhler, Stephan General, Johannes Zielcke, William R. Simpson, Ulrich Platt, David J. Tanner, L. Gregory Huey, Mark Carlsen and Brian H. Stirm doi:10.1038/ngeo1779 Following the spring-time polar sunrise, ozone concentrations in the lower troposphere episodically decline to near-zero levels. Measurements on Alaskan snow and sea ice suggest that photochemical reactions in surface snow serve as a major source of reactive bromine to the overlying atmosphere, contributing to episodic ozone depletion. See also: News and Views by Abbatt Patterns of the seasonal response of tropical rainfall to global warming   pp357 - 361 Ping Huang, Shang-Ping Xie, Kaiming Hu, Gang Huang and Ronghui Huang doi:10.1038/ngeo1792 The response of tropical precipitation to global warming varies spatially and the factors controlling the spatial patterns of precipitation changes are unclear. An analysis of climate model simulations shows that warm regions are projected to become wetter in annual mean, whereas seasonally high rainfall anomalies are expected in regions that are currently wet. See also: News and Views by Biasutti Caribbean coral growth influenced by anthropogenic aerosol emissions   pp362 - 366 Lester Kwiatkowski, Peter M. Cox, Theo Economou, Paul R. Halloran, Peter J. Mumby, Ben B. B. Booth, Jessica Carilli and Hector M. Guzman doi:10.1038/ngeo1780 Multi-decadal variability in coral growth rates has been documented throughout the Caribbean over the past 150–200 years. Analyses of observational and model data suggest that anthropogenic aerosols were a key driver of variations in coral growth in the western Caribbean in the second half of the twentieth century. Influence of persistent wind scour on the surface mass balance of Antarctica   pp367 - 371 Indrani Das, Robin E. Bell, Ted A. Scambos, Michael Wolovick, Timothy T. Creyts, Michael Studinger, Nicholas Frearson, Julien P. Nicolas, Jan T. M. Lenaerts and Michiel R. van den Broeke doi:10.1038/ngeo1766 In the Antarctic interior, assessments of surface mass balance may overestimate accumulation because high winds remove some of the annual snowfall. Geophysical observations reveal localized zones of persistent wind scour (where little or no snow accumulates) that are predicted to occur across approximately 5% of the Antarctic surface. Recent climate and ice-sheet changes in West Antarctica compared with the past 2,000 years   pp372 - 375 Eric J. Steig, Qinghua Ding, James W. C. White, Marcel Küttel, Summer B. Rupper, Thomas A. Neumann, Peter D. Neff, Ailie J. E. Gallant, Paul A. Mayewski, Kendrick C. Taylor, Georg Hoffmann, Daniel A. Dixon, Spruce W. Schoenemann, Bradley R. Markle, Tyler J. Fudge, David P. Schneider, Andrew J. Schauer, Rebecca P. Teel, Bruce H. Vaughn, Landon Burgener, Jessica Williams and Elena Korotkikh doi:10.1038/ngeo1778 Whether changes in atmospheric circulation over West Antarctica during the past few decades are part of a longer-term trend is unclear. Ice cores reveal a significant increase in the oxygen isotopes from precipitation over the past 50 years, but the anomaly cannot be distinguished from natural climate variability. See also: News and Views by van Ommen Important role for ocean warming and increased ice-shelf melt in Antarctic sea-ice expansion   pp376 - 379 R. Bintanja, G. J. van Oldenborgh, S. S. Drijfhout, B. Wouters and C. A. Katsman doi:10.1038/ngeo1767 In sharp contrast to events in the Arctic region, sea ice surrounding Antarctica has expanded slightly in the past few years. A combination of observations and climate model simulations suggests that cooling of the surface ocean by meltwater from the Antarctic ice shelves has contributed significantly to this sea ice expansion. Relative sea-level rise around East Antarctica during Oligocene glaciation   pp380 - 384 Paolo Stocchi, Carlota Escutia, Alexander J. P. Houben, Bert L. A. Vermeersen, Peter K. Bijl, Henk Brinkhuis, Robert M. DeConto, Simone Galeotti, Sandra Passchier, David Pollard, Henk Brinkhuis, Carlota Escutia, Adam Klaus, Annick Fehr, Trevor Williams, James A. P. Bendle, Peter K. Bijl, Steven M. Bohaty, Stephanie A. Carr, Robert B. Dunbar, Jose Abel Flores, Jhon J. Gonzàlez, Travis G. Hayden, Masao Iwai, Francisco J. Jimenez-Espejo, Kota Katsuki, Gee Soo Kong, Robert M. McKay, Mutsumi Nakai, Matthew P. Olney, Sandra Passchier, Stephen F. Pekar, Jörg Pross, Christina Riesselman, Ursula Röhl, Toyosaburo Sakai, Prakash Kumar Shrivastava, Catherine E. Stickley, Saiko Sugisaki, Lisa Tauxe, Shouting Tuo, Tina van de Flierdt, Kevin Welsh and Masako Yamane doi:10.1038/ngeo1783 The growth of ice on Antarctica about 34 million years ago affected sea level. A combination of modelling and marine sediment analyses shows that sea level near the developing ice sheet first fell and then rose as a result of crustal deformation imposed by the ice growth. Compositional gaps in igneous rock suites controlled by magma system heat and water content   pp385 - 390 Elena Melekhova, Catherine Annen and Jon Blundy doi:10.1038/ngeo1781 Lavas erupted from individual volcanic centres often have one of two distinct compositions. High pressure and temperature experiments on lava samples collected from St Vincent Volcano in the Caribbean, combined with thermal modelling, show that this compositional bimodality is generated by volcanic systems with low heat and water content. High mantle temperatures following rifting caused by continental insulation   pp391 - 394 Philipp A. Brandl, Marcel Regelous, Christoph Beier and Karsten M. Haase doi:10.1038/ngeo1758 The continents are thought to insulate and heat the underlying mantle. Geochemical analyses of lava samples formed at a mid-ocean ridge in the Atlantic Ocean immediately after continental breakup show that the mantle was up to 150 °C hotter than today and took about 70 million years to cool. See also: News and Views by Langmuir Bifurcation of the Yellowstone plume driven by subduction-induced mantle flow   pp395 - 399 C. Kincaid, K. A. Druken, R. W. Griffiths and D. R. Stegman doi:10.1038/ngeo1774 In the northwestern United States, two neighbouring volcanic chains—the Snake River Plain and High Lava Plains—decrease in age in opposing directions. Laboratory experiments show that diverging volcanic chains can form where vigorous mantle circulation beneath a subduction zone causes an upwelling mantle plume to split into two. Stagnation of subducting slabs in the transition zone due to slow diffusion in majoritic garnet   pp400 - 403 W. L. van Mierlo, F. Langenhorst, D. J. Frost and D. C. Rubie doi:10.1038/ngeo1772 Subducting slabs of oceanic lithosphere often stagnate before reaching the lower mantle. Laboratory experiments under high pressures and temperatures show that pyroxene, a common mineral in such slabs, is transformed to its dense, high-pressure counterpart, majorite garnet, at a very slow rate, temporarily keeping the slabs buoyant compared to the surrounding mantle. See also: News and Views by Bina Article Top Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century   pp404 - 411 Nerilie J. Abram, Robert Mulvaney, Eric W. Wolff, Jack Triest, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Luke D. Trusel, Francoise Vimeux, Louise Fleet and Carol Arrowsmith doi:10.1038/ngeo1787 The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. A reconstruction of ice melt from an ice core taken near the northeastern tip of the peninsula over the past 2,000 years shows that surface melt has accelerated during the twentieth century. See also: News and Views by van Ommen Corrigendum Top High-velocity collisions from the lunar cataclysm recorded in asteroidal meteorites   p411 S. Marchi, W. F. Bottke, B. A. Cohen, K. Wunnemann, D. A. Kring, H. Y. McSween, M. C. De Sanctis, D. P. O'Brien, P. Schenk, C. A. Raymond and C. T. Russell doi:10.1038/ngeo1803 Top Advertisement Nature Geoscience: call for papers The Nature Geoscience Editorial team is now accepting manuscripts from researchers who are active at the frontiers of this diverse and multidisciplinary field. Articles for Nature Geoscience will be selected and edited to have the maximum appeal to the global geosciences community. Manuscripts should be submitted through the online submission system The complete Guide for Authors can be viewed online   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. 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