When waves hit vegetated dunes, waterlogged areas form in front of plants, making for sand that’s easier to wash away. But you still need plants to form dunes in the first place.
geomorphology
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Supersized Potholes Discovered off South African Coast
Curious circular pits off South Africa’s Eastern Cape coast are larger than any similar feature previously recorded. Their origin remains a morphological mystery.
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As the Arctic Warms, These Rivers Are Slowing Down
The Arctic is warming up, but instead of large rivers migrating faster, they’re actually slowing down because of shrubification.
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One Surface Model to Rule Them All?
For the first time, scientists have forged a nearly all-encompassing model of Earth’s surface evolution over the past 100 million years.
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In New Zealand, Fish Are Helping Scientists Find Gold
Enormous amounts of gold lie buried beneath the rubble of New Zealand’s mountains, and scientists are using freshwater fish genetics to find it.
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A 1952 Landslide Hints at Early Permafrost Thaw in the Arctic
Scientists took a deeper look at a 70-year-old slide and found that climate change likely set the stage for the disaster.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Topography Along the Apennines Reflects Subduction Dynamics
Topography and exhumation vary strongly along the Apennines, reflecting the geometry of the Moho and different geodynamic mechanisms.
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Decoding the Secrets of Shifting Sediments
In the small-scale details of grain shape, researchers have found a new way to understand how sediment flows in a river, a process shaping Earth’s landscapes.
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A Mysterious Dome Reveals Clues to Australia’s Miocene History
The Nullarbor Plain has been relatively untouched by geological forces, leaving traces of the continent’s deep past.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Why Do Arc Volcanoes Deform Less Than Ocean Island Volcanoes?
Volcanic ground deformation is not simply correlated with erupted volume. Researchers propose that high concentrations of magmatic volatiles make systems more compressible and suppress deformation.