Geodynamics articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article | 05 February 2013

  Effect of iron oxidation state on the electrical conductivity of the Earth’s lower mantle

  In the Earth’s lower mantle, pressure changes can cause spin transitions of iron, in turn influencing mantle properties. Here a new Mössbauer spectroscopy method is applied to show that Fe³⁺remains in the high-spin state at pressure–temperature conditions relevant for the lower mantle.

  • V. Potapkin
  • , C. McCammon
  •  & L. Dubrovinsky

• Article | 04 September 2012

  Reconstructing plate-motion changes in the presence of finite-rotations noise

  Reconstructing short-term plate-motion changes through time provides important geodynamical information, but data noise is a problem at fine temporal resolution. This study presents a trans-dimensional hierarchical Bayesian framework that eliminates noise without loss of temporal resolution.

  • Giampiero Iaffaldano
  • , Thomas Bodin
  •  & Malcolm Sambridge

• Article | 20 December 2011

  River-margin habitat of Ardipithecus ramidus at Aramis, Ethiopia 4.4 million years ago

  The habitat where early humans, hominins, lived provides information about the early part of human evolution. In this study, sedimentological and stable carbon and oxygen isotope data suggest homininArdipithecus ramiduslived in a river-margin forest in a wooded grassland landscape at Aramis, Ethiopia.

  • M. Royhan Gani
  •  & Nahid D. Gani

• Article | 13 December 2011

  Migrating deformation in the Central Andes from enhanced orographic rainfall

  Active shortening in the Central Andes shifted from the western to the eastern margin between 10-7 Myr ago, but the mechanism of formation is still unclear. Here, using critical wedge theory and local-scale fault friction calculations, this shift is proposed to have been controlled by changes in erosion patterns.

  • Kevin Norton
  •  & Fritz Schlunegger

• Article | 11 October 2011

  Osmium evidence for synchronicity between a rise in atmospheric oxygen and Palaeoproterozoic deglaciation

  The Early Palaeoproterozoic saw glaciations and a rise in atmospheric oxygen, but the link between these two changes is poorly understood. Here, osmium isotope records from sedimentary rocks indicate synchronicity between an episode of increasing oxygen and a glacial transition.

  • Yasuhito Sekine
  • , Katsuhiko Suzuki
  •  & Teruyuki Maruoka

• Article | 14 June 2011

  Helium penetrates into silica glass and reduces its compressibility

  SiO₂ glass and helium are important in various fields of science and engineering. Sato et al. show SiO₂glass to be less compressible in helium under high pressure, which may be relevant for the interpretation of high-pressure experiments and in the design of new materials.

  • Tomoko Sato
  • , Nobumasa Funamori
  •  & Takehiko Yagi

• Article | 03 May 2011

  Melt migration in basalt columns driven by crystallization-induced pressure gradients

  The internal textures of columnar-jointed lava flows and intrusions are poorly understood. Mattssonet al. propose a melt-migration model for Icelandic basalt driven by crystallization and volume decrease inside cooling columns, which explains the macroscopic features observed in columnar-jointed basalts.

  • Hannes B. Mattsson
  • , Luca Caricchi
  •  & Ann M. Hirt

• Article
  26 April 2011 | Open Access

  South China Sea hydrological changes and Pacific Walker Circulation variations over the last millennium

  Tropical Pacific hydrology affects the global climate through the strength of the Pacific Walker Circulation. Yanet al. reconstruct variations in the Pacific Walker Circulation in the South China Sea over the last millennium and find that less precipitation fell during warmer and more rainfall during cool periods.

  • Hong Yan
  • , Liguang Sun
  •  & Wenhan Cheng

• Article
  19 April 2011 | Open Access

  Mapping the evolving strain field during continental breakup from crustal anisotropy in the Afar Depression

  The spatial and temporal scales over which continental breakup occurs by mechanical deformation and magma intrusion remain controversial. Keiret al. quantify anisotropy across the Afar Triple Junction using S-wave splitting from earthquakes to evaluate the strain in a region of continental breakup.

  • Derek Keir
  • , M. Belachew
  •  & J.V. Rowland

• Article | 08 March 2011

  Prevailing oxic environments in the Pacific Ocean during the mid-Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2

  The second oceanic anoxic event occurred 94 million years ago and constituted a very large perturbation of the Earth's carbon cycle. Here, the authors study carbon isotopes and degrees of pyritization and demonstrate that, unlike other oceans, the Pacific remained oxygenated for most of this period.

  • Reishi Takashima
  • , Hiroshi Nishi
  •  & Keiichi Hayashi

• Article | 05 October 2010

  Evidence for infragravity wave-tide resonance in deep oceans

  Ocean tides and infragravity waves—the Earths 'hum'—have very different periods and wavelengths. Sugioka and colleagues report resonance between these two phenomena using arrays of broadband ocean-bottom seismometers and show that some tidal energy is transferred to the deep oceans through this coupling.

  • Hiroko Sugioka
  • , Yoshio Fukao
  •  & Toshihiko Kanazawa