Apex predators can have a powerful impact on coastal erosion rates by keeping grazer populations down, but their influence has been largely overlooked.
erosion & weathering
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Last Chance Lake Harbors the Highest Known Levels of Phosphate
Bodies of water such as this might have functioned as cradles of life, given their unique biogeochemistry.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Going Through a Rough Patch: Modeling Sediment Moving in Rivers
Irregularities of the rocky surface due to bumps and sediment patches are key to capturing the movement of sediment grains in rivers.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Rainstorm Intensity Drives Desert Landscape Evolution
New mathematical models show that the persistence of near-vertical cliffs in arid landscapes is maintained by infrequent, but high-intensity rain storms.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
How Good a Recycler is the Himalaya?
Researchers use sediment recycling to their advantage to calculate how fast the hills at the front of the Himalaya are eroding based on the concentration of rare elements in river sands.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Modeling Braided Rivers in Presence of Exotic Weeds and Dams
Numerical modeling can help with identifying the combined effects of weed growth, flood frequency, and magnitude on gravel bed rivers.
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Quartz-Gobbling Worms Are Weathering Earth’s Soils
New research in mineral weathering shows that earthworms may be an important contributor to Earth’s weathering cycle.
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Weathering of Rocks Can Release Carbon Dioxide
New research upends the notion that the weathering of rocks mainly removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Rocks can also be carbon sources, releasing as much CO2 as Earth’s volcanoes.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Revealing a Catchment’s Erosional Secrets: Grain Size Matters
A provenance study with 699 new samples from 12 different sediment grain sizes (from sand to boulder) shows that each fraction originates from distinct parts of a mountain catchment in California.
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Did These Curious Rock Formations Inspire the Great Sphinx?
New research says it’s plausible the Great Sphinx started life as a geomorphological oddity known as a yardang.