Natural weathering processes are removing CO₂ from the air in a wide range of environments across continents and ocean. Until recently these ‘CO₂ vacuum cleaners’ were often studied separately, without properly examining their complex interactions. Now, an international team of Earth scientists is proposing an integrated vision of the many factors that influence the removal of atmospheric CO₂ from the highest mountain peaks to the deep ocean floor, including their various interactions. The so-called weathering continuum provides a much more complete picture on what controls and regulates the natural removal of CO₂, which could help in the development of enhancing weathering techniques.

Subduction, a crucial geological process on Earth, may have begun hundreds of millions of years earlier than traditionally believed. This surprising discovery comes from a new study published by researchers from GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, along with international colleagues, in Nature Communications. The team from Potsdam (Germany), Grenoble (France), and Madison (USA) presents groundbreaking evidence that subduction and continental crust formation during the so-called Hadean Eon were already active and more vigorous than previously thought.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers improved the precipitation simulation over the Tibetan Plateau using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with an optimized convective entrainment scheme and a turbulent orographic form drag scheme.

Kyoto, Japan -- Northern fur seals are long-distance migrants, moving seasonally between breeding colonies and wintering grounds. After leaving breeding colonies in autumn, they travel south for winter foraging, returning in early spring. This allows them to avoid sea ice and harsh conditions in northern waters while relocating to ice-free areas.

The southward migration of these seals has been relatively well-documented. One of their primary wintering areas is the Sea of Japan, where they can find abundant prey. They have also been reported to damage fishing gear and remove catch directly from nets, potentially competing with local fisheries.

The seals' northbound migration from wintering grounds back to breeding colonies in spring remains poorly understood, however. Factors such as tag loss, limited battery life, and the difficulty of capturing animals at sea pose particular challenges.

In dog drinking water sampled from wells across the country, 64 percent contained excessive levels of at least one potentially toxic heavy metal.

Analysis of ocean sediments has surfaced geochemical clues in line with the possibility that an encounter with a disintegrating comet 12,800 years ago in the Northern Hemisphere triggered rapid cooling of Earth’s air and ocean. Christopher Moore of the University of South Carolina, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on August 6, 2025.

A recent study in Nature Geoscience offers important new insights into the hidden role of ancient groundwater beneath the ocean floor – and how it may have interacted with ice sheets and rising sea levels during past climate changes. Groundwater is a vital source of fresh water, supplying nearly half of global domestic needs. But a large portion of this water – between 42 per cent and 85 per cent – is actually fossil groundwater, which flowed into the ground more than 11,700 years ago, before the start of the current geological period known as the Holocene. This ancient groundwater is not only difficult to replenish, but also increasingly vulnerable to modern pollution or salinization through seawater mixing. To protect this vital resource, it is important to understand how long it stays underground and how it moves and changes over time.