Rare earth element tracers provide insight into how fire and wind transport influence the vegetation state of the world’s drylands.
soils
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Postfire Debris Flows Strike in a Puzzling Pattern
California geologists are improving their understanding and forecasting of which slopes in wildfire-burned areas might fail during heavy rainstorms.
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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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Affordable Robots Measure Soil Respiration
Measuring soil carbon flux, also known as soil respiration, can be expensive or time-consuming. A set of affordable robots that gather these data autonomously could especially benefit the Global South.
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Fire Histories May Be Written on Grains of Sand
Tiny bits of quartz record the intensity of fires from hundreds or even thousands of years ago, potentially offering new ways to study historic fires and how heat affects soil.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Sulfur is Demanding its Place in Crop Nutrient Budgeting
Scientists advocate for a more significant consideration of sulfur from a multidisciplinary perspective as a necessary step towards sustainable crop management.
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How Llama Poop Is Helping an Andean Community Adapt to Melting Glaciers
Reintroducing these animals can enrich barren soils and potentially reduce water contamination, a study shows.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Reporting Model Results Even When They Cannot (Yet) be Tested
Models simulating the nitrogen cycle track its multiple chemical forms but tend to report a subset that can be compared with available field measurements.
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Natural Nitrogen Emissions Are Rising in California
Wildfires and soil microbes are releasing more nitrogen oxides in California as the climate gets warmer and drier.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Warming Reduces Relative Humidity Through Soil Moisture
Relative humidity over land decreases in a warmer climate as a result of interactive soil moisture response.