Rocks store information from long ago. For instance, their composition can reveal the environmental conditions during their formation. This makes them extremely important in climate research. This led a research team at the University of Göttingen and the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences to investigate the following: do “cherts” – sedimentary rocks that form when silica-rich sediment mud is buried hundreds of meters deep – reveal anything about the climate of the past? The study found that oxygen isotopes in cherts do not show clear indicators about the early climate. However, they do record how much heat was released from the hot interior of the Earth to their location on the seafloor. This is crucial for understanding the early Earth: the findings allow researchers to understand the conditions on the Earth's surface up to 3.5 billion years ago. The research was published in the journal Geology.

Restoring degraded peatlands could play a vital role in tackling climate change, according to a new study led by researchers from Bangor University and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. The study shows that combining rewetting with biochar and iron sulphate additions can significantly slow down carbon loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from drained agricultural peat soils.

A new species of bacteria has been discovered off the coast of Oʻahu, shedding light on how unseen microbial life connects Hawaiʻi’s land and sea ecosystems.

A global research effort shows that extreme, prolonged drought conditions in grasslands and shrublands would greatly limit the long-term health of crucial ecosystems that cover nearly half the planet. The findings are particularly relevant as climate change increases the possibility of more severe droughts in the future – potentially leading to a situation that echoes the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

A new collaborative study led by scientists at the University of Washington and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science proposes that a tsunami struck the Caribbean island of Anegada between 1381 and 1391, carrying huge coral boulders inland and leaving behind a valuable record of geologic and climatic history.