Disciplines / Research questions
Earth science
48 research topics · 161 questions
Deep-sea hydrothermal ecosystem4 questions
Post-eruption recolonization and episodic connectivity of deep-sea hydrothermal vent metapopulations: larval supply versus habitat suitability, cryptic larval identity, and open-state dynamics
Causal basis of the ~25 °C habitat partition and of inferred cross-domain interactions in hydrothermal-vent tubeworm "core communities"
In situ validation and ecological scaling of hydrogen-powered chemosynthesis in hydrothermal vent symbioses
Phantom stepping stones on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: are the intermediate chemosynthetic habitats required for vent-ecosystem connectivity extant or extinct?
The enigmatic Paleo-Asian Ocean3 questions
When and how did the Paleo-Asian Ocean finally close along the Solonker suture? Reconciling conflicting closure ages, testing the slab break-off model, and explaining the missing collision features
Post-closure detachment of the Paleo-Asian oceanic slab beneath the Solonker Suture: whole-slab foundering, limb rupture (breakoff), ridge-subduction tearing, or another terminal process?
Timing and along-strike pattern of the final closure of the eastern Paleo-Asian Ocean along the Changchun–Yanji suture zone, NE China
Research Methods Suitable for Earth's Giant and Complex Systems3 questions
Extending the Kullback–Leibler divergence measure of ensemble-forecast predictability limits from the Lorenz model to realistic high-dimensional weather and climate prediction systems
Open problems in formalizing Earth's autopoietic complexity: testable organization-based models, fatal versus non-fatal perturbations, and biospheric anticipation
Mechanism of the non-monotonic dependence of reservoir-computing predictive skill on training-data length in North Atlantic SST prediction
The Charm of Tethys—Origin, Evolution, and Resource and Environmental Effects2 questions
Resolving the Cretaceous Neo-Tethys ridge subduction beneath the southern Eurasian margin: ridge geometry, Lhasa terrane thickening, redox control on Gangdese metallogeny, and a quantitative thermomechanical model
Tectonic nature and closure history of the Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone: plate-boundary status, subduction polarity, and terminal closure timing of the Bangong-Nujiang Ocean
Formation and safe utilization of highly toxic in natural gas reservoirs3 questions
Quantitative prediction of thermochemical sulfate reduction and H2S enrichment in the sour gas reservoirs of the Sichuan Basin: the role of Mg2+, TSR kinetics and thresholds, sulfate provenance, and H2S destruction
Quantitative source partitioning and souring-progression forecasting for H2S in the Shanul gas field (Coastal Fars, Iran): the low-temperature thermochemical sulfate reduction problem
Completing the first-principles microkinetic account of CH4 + H2S conversion to methanethiol/dimethyl sulfide on promoted Mo6S8 clusters: deferred Eley–Rideal and Mars–van Krevelen pathways, first-principles diffusion and the higher-sulfur Mo6Sx (x>8) stoichiometries, and the anomalous Ni promoter
What thermodynamic and kinetic conditions govern soil desilication and aluminium enrichment?6 questions
Atomic structures and surface formation mechanism of the metastable aluminosilicates formed in the Al–Si–H2O system on amorphous silica
Quantifying the formation temperatures and hydrologic conditions of distinct gibbsite generations in the Trombetas allitic weathering profile (Amazonia)
Quantitative apportionment of climatic and topographic controls on desilication-allitisation intensity in tropical high-relief soils
Operative controls on dissolved aluminium activity in acid forest soils of southern and southwestern China: mineral equilibrium, cation exchange, organic complexation, or kinetics?
Depth-dependent kaolinite saturation states in soil solutions and the thermodynamic control of desilication–allitization in highly weathered tropical soils
Gibbsite genesis in strongly weathered acidic soils: direct primary-aluminosilicate weathering versus clay-mineral intermediates, and the inherited-versus-neoformed question for gibbsite in the soil nanoparticle fraction
Why are there such large differences in biota across different regions?1 questions
Quantitative Explanation of the Impact of Changes in Underlying Surface Properties on Local Climate7 questions
Attribution of the multi-decadal decline in near-surface wind speed and wind-energy density: anthropogenic land-surface change versus large-scale atmospheric circulation
The sign and dynamical pathway of irrigation-induced precipitation change: toward a general quantitative account
Open core of the local/nonlocal separation framework for land-cover-change climate effects: areal-extent robustness under interactive oceans, complex-terrain sampling, and attribution of nonlocal responses to remote sources
Causal attribution of observed climate sensitivity to decadal land cover and land use change across the conterminous United States
Disentangling the mechanisms by which lower aerosol pollution amplifies the local cooling effect of afforestation
Process-level attribution of the irrigation cooling effect on land surface temperature across China
Attributing local temperature change to land use intensity in China: disentangling intensity from cover change and the unexplained urban warming mechanism
Abiosynthesis and evolution of organic matter on early Earth1 questions
How were the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys formed?7 questions
Timing and mechanism of the entrenchment of the Jinshaan Gorge and the formation of the Yellow River's Ordos bend
Timing and mechanism of Three Gorges valley incision and integration of the Yangtze River through the gorges
Origin age and incision mechanism of the upper Yellow River valley across the northeastern Tibetan Plateau
How, when, and in what order did the middle Yellow River integrate through the Hetao Basin–Jinshaan Gorge–Fenwei Basin–Sanmen Gorge chain?
Quantitative controls on channel planform diversity in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers: thresholds separating braided from anabranching/anastomosing rivers and sensitivity to environmental change
When was the Sanmen Gorge incised? Timing and forcing of the birth of the through-going, exorheic Yellow River
Timing and mechanism of Three Gorges channelization and upper-Yangtze integration as recorded by the Yichang Gravel Layer, Jianghan Basin, middle Yangtze River
Were the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age global or regional climate anomalies?2 questions
Robustness and attribution of the absence of globally coherent warm and cold periods over the preindustrial Common Era
Quantitative separation of smoothing artifacts, external forcing, and internal variability in the scale-dependent synchronization of Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age peak temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere
Rapoport's rule for geographic gradients in species range sizes6 questions
Generality and mechanisms of cross-gradient range-size patterns (Stevens' pattern and negative elevation-by-latitude relationships) in tropical montane organisms
Generality of the nonlinear thermal-gradient explanation for latitudinal range-size gradients and the reverse of Rapoport's rule
Missing drivers of broad-scale variation in New World bird range sizes and the generality of the two-dimensional Rapoport pattern
Mechanisms linking vertical and latitudinal range sizes in the global ocean: drivers of the bathymetric Rapoport pattern and of marine '3-D generalists'
Mechanistic validation of the Climatic Variability Hypothesis: does climatic variability shape geographic range extent through physiological tolerance?
Disentangling the drivers and robustness of Rapoport-like latitudinal patterns in the global distributions of alien bird species