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Increased melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica, measured by satellite gravity, has decreased the angular velocity of Earth more rapidly than before and has already affected global timekeeping.

This study provides seismic evidence for the presence of partial melts along the base of Cascadia’s subducting slab, with implications to lithosphere-asthenosphere decoupling that potentially influences subduction dynamics and earthquake cycles.

Using observations of double-difference relocated earthquakes in a local three-dimensional velocity model for Ecuador, a detailed image of seismicity is created, forming the base for more realistic models of earthquake rupture, slip and hazard in subduction zones.

A 3D stochastic declustering algorithm, applied to data from the dense seismic array at the Alto Tiberina Fault system, Italy, suggests the difference between earthquake size distributions of independent and triggered seismicity is not an artifact.

A small ultralow velocity anomaly has been identified between the Pacific subduction and upper-lower mantle boundary. This anomaly implies significant buoyancy, which may bring the slab easier to develop into a M8+ deep earthquake.

Burial-dating methods using cosmogenic nuclides indicate that the oldest stone tools at Korolevo archaeological site in western Ukraine date to around 1.4 million years ago, providing evidence of early human dispersal into Europe from the east.

Understanding the silicon-oxygen system is crucial for various applications. Here, the authors present an interatomic potential covering a wide range of the Si-O configurational space and showcase applications to silica and Si-SiO2 interfaces.

Crustal permeability evolution predicted from observed MEQs using Bi-LSTM models. MEQ-to-permeability relations confirmed across multiple field data sets using transfer learning with scaling relationships confirmed using physics-based models.

This study reveals that in the Earth’s mid-mantle, ferropericlase (the second most abundant mineral) undergoes a major electronic reconfiguration. At the base of the mantle, an enrichment in silica may represent a crystallised ancient magma ocean.

Tsunami generated by pyroclastic flows are recorded in near-source condition. Waveform remains stable for different velocity and geometry of the sliding body. Volume is calculated from tsunami height. Tsunami occurring near populated coast can be detected automatically in real-time.

Oceanic detachment faults play a central role in accommodating the plate divergence at mid-oceanic ridges. Here, the authors show micro-seismicity of a nearly-amagmatic flip-flop detachment fault system at the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge.

High-resolution vertical land motion and elevation datasets combined with projections of sea-level rise of 32 major US coastal cities shows that a considerable amount of land area, population, and properties are threatened by relative sea-level rise by 2050.

Delamination of Adriatic continental lithosphere beneath the eastern Apennines is facilitated by the development of a weak, lower crustal shear zone, according to shear wave velocities determined from inversion of dense teleseismic receiver functions.

Natural climate variability and persistency are reflected in the scaling properties of climate records. Here, the authors show that the scaling properties of interglacial and glacial climates are distinctively different: The former is monofractal while the latter is multifractal with much longer range memory.

Methane release across the Arctic continental shelf has been attributed to modern dissociation of gas hydrate, accelerated by ocean warming. Here, the authors show that thermogenic methane was stored as subglacial gas hydrate during the last glaciation, and subsequently released following ice sheet retreat.

The lightning's nature is that different-polarity leaders extend in air. Only negative leaders' development was previously associated to floating plasma. We found that the floating plasma could also lead the positive leader stepwise development.

This paper shows that faults comprised of heterogeneously distributed materials, as is typical for tectonic faults in nature, are weaker and more unstable than equivalent faults where the materials are homogeneously mixed together.

Low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs) in megathrusts are due to weak shear strength and high fluid pressure, but controls on LFE location remain unclear. Nakajima and Hasegawa show that LFE occurrence is limited to beneath unmetamorphosed undrained portions of the overlying plate.

Large methane hydrates reserves are found in mud volcanoes, but climate change may lead to methane release. Here, the authors show that methane adsorption creates overpressures leading to rapid recirculation of seawater, thus reducing the melting timescales of methane hydrates from millennia to decades.

Melting behaviour of MgO under pressure remains unclear despite the importance of constraining the rheology and composition of the Earth’s mantle. Here, the authors show that melting temperatures in earlier static experiments were underestimated based on micro-texture analysis of the quenched samples.

Weakly coupled subduction zones may generate earthquakes that lead to tsunamis, but their structure and seismicity are poorly constrained with the Ryukyu subduction zone as one such example. Here, Arai et al. present seismological evidence from Ryukyu showing megathrust faults and low frequency earthquakes.

Earthquakes have been theorised to produce gravity signals that may arrive before seismic waves, but until now they had not been detected. Montagneret al. have detected prompt gravity signals from the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake thus allowing an early warning of earthquakes before seismic wave arrival.

The source of the anisotropic layer (D'' layer) at the bottom of the lower mantle remains unclear. Here, using high pressure and temperature experiments, the authors find that seismic anisotropy observed at the D'' layer is caused by 50% deformation of the minerals post-perovskite and ferropericlase.

The amount of carbon stored in closed hidden reservoirs is unknown. Here the authors use a computational approach to study the evolution of carbon species and observe polymerization of carbon atoms at high pressures, illustrating the potential for a significant carbon reservoir in the Earth’s deep interior.

Mount St Helens is the most active volcano in the Cascades but is located 50 km west of the arc axis. Hansen et al. use high resolution seismic data to image a boundary in Moho reflectivity beneath St Helens implying a serpentinized mantle wedge and a melt source region that lies to the east towards Mount Adams.

Monitoring the flux of gas from volcanoes is a fundamental component of volcano monitoring programs and is used as a basis for eruption forecasting. Here, the authors present a new method using video images of volcanic gas plumes to measure the speed of convective structures and to estimate volcanic fluxes.

Slow slip events have been observed in different subduction zones, but their relationship to megathrust earthquakes remains elusive. Here, the authors postulate that a transient event may have led to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake as the hypocentre falls within a zone of positive Coloumb stress change.

The influence of surface ponding on the interior of ice shelves is currently unknown. Here, the authors combine surface and borehole geophysics on the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica, with remote sensing and modelling and show how pond refreezing increases ice shelf density and temperature.

The behaviour of subducted carbonates at high pressures within the Earth is still poorly understood. Here, the authors present experimental and theoretical evidence of a new carbon–oxygen bond in a high-pressure mineral phase, which has implications for the viscosity and mobility of carbonate melts.

Due to a paucity of terrestrial data, knowledge of the size of the East Antarctic ice sheet in the past is limited. Here, the authors present isotope data of sulfates from the Lewis Cliff Ice Tongue moraine, which suggest temporary existence of ice-free conditions in central Antarctica since the Miocene.

Our understanding of the internal dynamics of the Earth is limited by the lack of seismic data available from oceanic domains. Here, the authors use observations from floating submarine seismographs to show that this technique may provide seismic data to fill the gaps in our knowledge.

Recent studies suggest that the Moon is not as volatile-poor as once thought, and that volatile elements should be concentrated in crustal materials. Here, the authors present Zn isotopic and abundance data as evidence of evaporative loss of volatiles during formation of the Moon, supporting alternative models.

Complex life forms began to emerge during the Precambrian. Here, the authors tie this evolution to an increase in trace metal availability, namely the Mo content of lacustrine shales, suggesting that life evolved in terrestrial and marginal marine environments rather than the Mo-limited deep ocean.

Suspended sediment currents travel through channels on the ocean floor to deliver enormous volumes of sediment to the deep ocean. Here, using a new approach for scaled laboratory experiments, the authors show how feedback between these currents and their deposits drive the formation of these submarine channels.

The behaviour of fluids along fault planes is not well defined, despite geophysical evidence that they play an important role in earthquake generation. Here, Sano et al.present helium anomaly data and suggest that fluid flowed from the mantle to the trench during the magnitude 9 Tohoku-Oki earthquake.

Volcanic eruptions are thought to restore equilibrium when overpressure in the crust is induced by new magma rising from depth. Here, the authors use data from the 2007 Stromboli eruption as well as models to suggest that eruption is instead a consequence of the gravity-driven instability of the volcanic edifice.

Utilizing supercritical geothermal water could multiply energy production, but the abundance, location and size of such resources is unclear. Here, the authors present numerical simulations and suggest that supercritical water may play a key role in removing heat from all magmatic intrusions.

Molar tooth structures are common in early- to mid-Proterozoic carbonates but extremely rare in rocks younger than 750 Ma. Here, the authors show molar tooth carbonate formation is related to benthic methane fluxes.

Growth of salt crystals in pores is one of the most damaging weathering mechanisms for stone in ornamental structures and historical buildings. Here, the authors present a simple yet powerful treatment for predicting when salt damage will occur, quantifying this susceptibility to salt crystallization.

Following the Mw6 South Napa earthquake in California, previously dry streams and springs began to flow. Here, the authors present data from repeated stream surveys and laboratory measurements and suggest that the new flows originated from groundwater in the mountains and were released by the earthquake.

It is unclear why some ocean island basalts at ‘hotspots’ have low ³He/⁴He ratios similar to mid-ocean ridge basalts. Here, the authors perform convection calculations and show that these isotopic ratios can be reproduced by the episodic entrainment of deep isolated mantle reservoirs into thermal plumes.

Meteorites falling on Earth today are believed to represent 100–150 parent bodies. Within 470 Myr ago sediments at a limestone quarry in Sweden, Schmitz et al. have found and identified a new type of meteorite based on chromium and oxygen isotopes sourced from a previously unknown parental body.