Fig. 2. Seafloor expression of the NFZ in northern Cascadia.

Map of seafloor scarps associated with active Nootka Fault Zone (NFZ) deformation. Color shading represents the gradient of seafloor bathymetry calculated from an azimuth of 300° clockwise from north using the Global Multi Resolution Topography version 4 grid (89). The scarps of the Northern Nootka Fault (NNF) and Southern Nootka Fault (SNF) have an average trend of ~N28°E. H, Haggis Mound; M, Maquinna Mound. Note that the NFZ is wider in the SW and narrows toward the deformation front in the NE.

Fig. 9. Slab fragmentation and cessation of subduction enabled by the NFZ.

Schematic 3D interpretation of the NFZ-Exp-JdF triple junction region in northern Cascadia where subduction termination is imminent. The paleo-NFZ (thin black lines) developed as a broad shear zone in nascent oceanic lithosphere and reactivated inherited abyssal hill faults formed at the ridge. The weakened lithosphere buckled as a trench-parallel slab tear formed at the northern edge of the Exp slab and migrated across the paleo-NFZ wake. Recent strain localization along the modern NFZ at ~1 Ma dissected the migrating slab tear and effectively isolated the Exp microplate, leading to enhanced tearing, decoupling, and a local reduction in the slab pull force. The NFZ thus serves as a trench-normal segmentation boundary enabling piecewise slab fragmentation and subduction termination.

for reference from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_inner_core

Recent geophysical studies show that Yellowstone’s shallow magma reservoirs are replenished by melts from the asthenosphere. Both seismic and magnetotelluric images reveal that the Yellowstone caldera complex and magma reservoirs are connected by a southwest-dipping plumbing network that extends to the uppermost asthenosphere beneath the eastern Snake River Plain, where hot asthenosphere partially melts. This tilted translithospheric magma plumbing system (TLMPS) is a robust feature of different observational studies, but its geodynamic origin remains unknown.

To identify the driving mechanism of Yellowstone’s tilted TLMPS and the origin of melts, we constructed a comprehensive three-dimensional geodynamic model using geophysically and geodynamically constrained present-day structures of the convective mantle and the continental lithosphere. In this model, we simultaneously calculated the present-day dynamics of the lithosphere and the convective mantle in a unified physical framework.

Our results show that Yellowstone’s tilted TLMPS is primarily controlled by lithospheric tectonics. Below Yellowstone, our model predicts a southwest-dipping extension zone, jointly shaped by the lithospheric body force due to lithospheric density structure and basal traction caused by eastward-flowing hot asthenosphere interacting with the lithosphere. This tilted translithospheric deforming zone closely resembles the geophysically imaged TLMPS beneath Yellowstone, confirming the key role of tectonic extension in tapping melts from the uppermost asthenosphere and bringing them to the surface.

Cartoon showing Yellowstone’s present-day translithospheric magma plumbing system (TLMPS).

The blue region in the lithosphere, representing the tectonic extensional region, generally outlines the TLMPS in the Yellowstone region. In the asthenosphere beneath Yellowstone, eastward-flowing hot material produces primary melts with little input from the mantle plume. After penetrating into the lithosphere, primary melts migrate into the tilted TLMPS and ultimately fuel Yellowstone’s surface volcanism. LAB, lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary.

for reference from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle_plume

The above graphic from wikipedia illustrates how most geologists formerly believed volcanic activity at Yellowstone arose, a modern example can be seen in the Hawaiian Island Chain. This new research proposes an alternate view of Yellowstone.

Our recent study at the University of British Columbia analyzed 657 watersheds across the globe. By using a tool called the Young Water Fraction, we found that forest loss significantly accelerates how fast precipitation travels through a landscape.

...

Young Water Fraction tells us what proportion of a stream is made up of rain that fell recently—typically within the last two to three months. Ideally, we want a low percentage of young water.

A low amount means the landscape is acting like a sponge, filtering rain through the soil and into groundwater, which sustains the river during dry seasons. A high amount of young water, however, suggests a "leaky" watershed that sheds new rain almost immediately.

The reasons for this leakage are tied to how we treat the land. When a forest canopy is removed, raindrops hit the ground with full force instead of being intercepted by leaves. Furthermore, heavy machinery and logging roads pack the soil tight, making it harder for water to sink in.

Lastly, without trees to breathe water back into the atmosphere through transpiration, the soil stays saturated. When the next rain comes, there is no room left to store it, forcing the water to run off quickly into the stream.

This loss of retention capacity is especially potent in watersheds with shallow groundwater. In these areas, the soil layers are thin, limiting how much rain can be stored. Any disturbance to the land cover lacks a buffer, immediately translating into altered, younger streamflow.

link to open access paper..

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-43457-0_reference.pdf

link to open access paper..

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-03338-w

Dehydration of the Pacific Plate, subducting westward beneath the Australian Plate, drives arc magmatism and the formation of arc front volcanoes, most of which host active hydrothermal systems and also some massive sulfide mineralization with high grades of Au/Gold. Submersible dives have been conducted on 14 hydrothermally-active volcanoes of the Kermadec Arc with four of the volcanoes (29%) found to host sites with massive sulfide mineralization. Some of the best studied are Brothers and Clark Seamount.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40356

It transports far more than 100 times as much water as all of the Earth's rivers combined: The Antarctic Circumpolar Current rushes around the southern continent unhindered by land masses and is therefore a fundamental component of the climate system. In a recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute describes how and when this mighty ring current developed in Earth's history.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

The Van der Grinten projection is a compromise map projection that is neither equal-area nor conformal. It projects the entire Earth into a circle, though the polar regions are subject to extreme distortion. The projection was proposed by Alphons J. van der Grinten in 1904, and, unlike perspective projections, is an arbitrary geometric construction on the plane. It was adopted as the National Geographic Society's reference map of the world from 1922 until 1988.

15° graticule. Imagery is a derivative of NASA’s Blue Marble summer month composite with oceans lightened to enhance legibility and contrast. Image created with the Geocart map projection software.

Author: Strebe

CC BY-SA 3.0

Beyond human ignitions, roads also alter the ecological conditions that drive fire risk. Aplet’s research found elevated ignitions from lightning near roads, not because there were more strikes, but because roads change ground-level fuel conditions by putting gaps in the forest canopy that allow sunlight and wind to heat and dry vegetation on the forest floor.

Roads also serve as corridors for invasive species, many of which evolved to use fire to help them spread. In the Great Basin, an area that stretches from Salt Lake City to nearly Sacramento, southern Oregon to Las Vegas, cheatgrass carried by vehicles, boots, and livestock to roadsides has displaced native vegetation by creating continuous fields of fine stalks that dry out when other grasses are just sprouting. The dry cheatgrass ignites easily and burns quickly across landscapes where native grasses that stay moist later in the season and grow in dispersed bunches previously inhibited the spread of the flames.

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