The King’s Trough Complex is a several-hundred-kilometre-long, canyon-like system of trenches on the North Atlantic seafloor. Its formation was long thought to be the result of simple stretching of the oceanic crust. An international research team led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has now shown that the so-called “Grand Canyon of the Atlantic” was formed around 37 to 24 million years ago through the interplay of a temporarily existing plate boundary and an early branch of the Azores mantle plume. Their findings have been published in the AGU journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G-Cubed).

Should growing glacial lakes be used for energy production and water supply – or remain protected as ecologically valuable systems? A research team from the University of Potsdam, together with partners from the University of Leeds, has recorded the distribution and volume of glacial lakes worldwide. Their findings allow various usage scenarios to be derived, particularly in areas where the largest glaciers still exist today. Their scientific article has been published in Nature Water.

Deadly PM 2.5 air pollution that crosses state and national borders remains a serious global health issue. New research from the University of Notre Dame provides a tool to track responsibility and inform policy.

A research team from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS), together with collaborators, used complementary molecular dynamics simulations, combining ab initio and deep-learning potential methods. Their findings, published in Science Advances on January 28, reveal that under deep lower mantle and core–mantle boundary (CMB) conditions, water and the key hydrous mineral δ-AlOOH enter a superionic state—which combines features of a solid crystal lattice with liquid-like mobile ions—thereby fundamentally altering their stability and dehydration behavior.

A third of fish living in the remote coastal waters of the Pacific Island Countries and Territories are contaminated with microplastics, with especially high rates in Fiji, according to an analysis publishing January 28, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Jasha Dehm at the University of the South Pacific and colleagues.