Rock weathering is an important process regulating atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and long-term climate evolution, yet how enhanced erosion affects rock weathering and its carbon effects remains poorly understood. Focusing on the Lancang River basin on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, the authors quantitatively reveal the differential responses of silicate, carbonate, and sulfide weathering to changes in erosion. The results show that, as erosion intensifies, silicate weathering rates decrease while sulfide oxidation rates increase, causing weathering in the basin to tend toward a net carbon source. The related findings have now been published in Science China Earth Sciences.

A few days of rain does not change the low groundwater levels after a long drought. To better determine how groundwater systems recover after a drought and which groundwater reserves are most vulnerable, hydrologist Sandra Hauswirth developed a method to classify groundwater systems based on their ability to recover from long drought. With a very high resolution global groundwater model (1 kilometer) it was possible to determine and analyse how a groundwater system responds during a drought and how quickly it can recover. This provides policymakers with the means to better respond to or prevent sever groundwater problems  in the future.

Dinos might have been beachcombers that dined on washed-up seafood, a new study has found. Marine plants have higher carbon isotope values than land plants and these reflect in the bodies of the animals that eat them. Researchers showed that carbon isotope traces in fossilized teeth and bones from coastal assemblages were consistently higher than the carbon isotope values of fossils from land-locked assemblages – a signature that could be linked to the consumption of seafood. The authors said the study highlights the connections terrestrial and marine ecosystems have and have had for millions of years.

A new study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences shows that greening in China generally cools the local climate with more rainfall over southern and northeastern China, while greening in India tends to produce warming and less rainfall. The Co-occurring greening in China and India yields uniform climate feedbacks across over half global lands, producing cooler and wetter southern China, cooler western Eurasia, and warmer northern North America.

Scientists have helped solve a longstanding mystery about how Earth remained habitable after oxygen first accumulated in its atmosphere more than 2 billion years ago, providing evidence that an ancient ocean chemistry sustained life-friendly conditions.