Analyzing over 15,000 ice cliffs in Antarctica over a four-year period, scientists learned how the ice cliffs and the larger ice sheet behind them evolved over time. They found ice cliff collapse happened more quickly than expected, but also that the cliffs stabilized instead of continuing to erode the larger ice sheet.

A recent study published in National Science Review has revealed silicate magma can store far more oxygen than its chemically allows. In high-pressure experiments, silicate melt can store up to about 5 wt.% excess oxygen, which is released as the magma rising. The findings suggest that oxygen-rich magmas could carry oxidizing power from Earth’s interior toward the surface, and may explain links between large-scale magmatism episodes and atmospheric oxidation in Earth’s history.

Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique: Researchers from the Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies (BCSS) Ocean Observatory have documented ancient forests that grew on the Mozambican coast thousands of years ago and have been found beneath the sea, where they now serve as hotspots teeming with marine life similar in biodiversity to coral reefs. The discovery raises the question of how many more of these hidden peat reefs exist around the world’s coastlines and how to evaluate them as a carbon store and develop policies to protect them and their biodiversity.