Residence Time Distribution

Tropical forests account for more than 50% of the global terrestrial carbon sink, but climate change threatens to alter the carbon balance of these ecosystems.

Humic-like dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a major component of DOM in marine sediment pore waters. It is usually regarded as refractory for their complex molecular structures and long residence time in natural environments. However, its bio-reactivity remains poorly explored, especially in depositional settings with different organic matter availability, which makes its roles in supporting deep life and…

Using a first-of-its-kind approach that entailed drones and infrared imagery, researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst investigated a series of former commercial cranberry bogs in eastern Massachusetts that are being restored. The team not only demonstrated how to best restore freshwater wetlands, but also showed that these wetlands are operating as self-sustaining ecosystems. The work was recently…

For the second year running, US scientists observed record increases in the atmospheric concentration of the potent greenhouse gas methane, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday.

A team of scientists has discovered an 'unexpected' accumulation of beryllium-10 -- a rare radionuclide produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere -- in samples taken from the bottom of the Central and Northern Pacific.

Adipic acid, a fundamental component in the manufacture of chemical fibers, nylon 66, engineering plastics, and various pharmaceutical, food, and chemical products, is commonly synthesized through a green process involving the oxidation of cyclohexene with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) catalyzed by sodium tungstate (Na2WO4).

During the 1950s and 1960s, Minamata Bay in Japan was the site of widespread mercury poisoning caused by the consumption of fish containing methylmercury—a toxic form of mercury that is synthesized when bacteria react with mercury released in water. Mercury poisoning caused deaths and widespread neurological disorders, as well as intergenerational harm as many of the survivors had children with birth defects. As…

Because rivers are in near-constant motion, researchers previously assumed lightweight microplastics quickly flowed through rivers, rarely interacting with riverbed sediments. With new simulations, researchers now have discovered hyporheic exchange -- a process in which surface water mixes with water in the riverbed -- can trap lightweight microplastics that otherwise might be expected to float.

About 510 million years ago, a deadly combination of low oxygen and surging hydrogen sulfide may have been what decimated 45% of all ocean life.

Carbon sequestration in soils can contribute to mitigate climate change, and soil organic matter associated with minerals has the highest capacity to store carbon. A team of researchers, including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, assessed the factors controlling mineral-associated organic matter.

Nearly a third of Earth's freshwater resources lie in groundwater—much more than in all lakes, rivers and the atmosphere combined, and exceeded only by the frozen water in polar ice caps. Accordingly, about half of humankind depends on groundwater as a source of drinking water.

Scientists have developed a way to maximize hydrogen yields from biowaste, within few milliseconds. The method uses rapid photo-pyrolysis to produce hydrogen gas and solid conductive carbon from banana peels.

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The open burning of hazardous chemicals has been banned for more than 40 years. How was it allowed to happen in a rural East Palestine, Ohio?

Global warming is not solely a modern-day occurrence but has been a prominent feature of Earth's geological history for millennia. One such event occurred approximately 40 million years ago, lasting ~400,000 years, known as the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO).

National University of Singapore (NUS) scientists have demonstrated that stepwise customized functionalization of multihydrosilanes to access fully substituted silicon compounds can be realized using neutral eosin Y, an inexpensive dye molecule.

A cold sparkling water. Waves crashing on the beach. The crackle of a bonfire. Steam from a kettle.

Recently, new areas of research have arisen because of environmental concerns since the Industrial Revolution that focus on vanadium cycling between the atmosphere, water and sediments. Vanadium has been widely recognized as a trace contaminant in fossil fuels, especially crude oil, due to significant vanadium enrichment, and can be released to seawater through oil spills or atmospheric deposition associated with…

A new study helps to explain what defines how long a drug molecule stays bound to its target.

To remain below 2 °C of warming, most IPCC pathways call for active CO2 removal (CDR). On geological timescales, ocean uptake regulates atmospheric CO2 concentration, with two homeostats driving CO2 uptake: dissolution of deep ocean carbonate deposits (1 ka timescales) and terrestrial weathering of silicate rocks (