Earth-Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"Atmospheric mercury stable isotopes: Advances in mercury cycle tracing and projections of future trends","authors":"Chao Zhang,&nbsp;Ruoyu Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105348","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mercury (Hg) stable isotopes have emerged as a powerful tracer to resolve the sources, transformations, and deposition pathways of atmospheric Hg. Beyond conventional mass-dependent fractionation (MDF), atmospheric reactions can induce unique Hg mass-independent fractionation (MIF). This review synthesizes current sampling strategies and pretreatment protocols for gaseous Hg(0) and reactive Hg(II) in particulates and precipitation, and compiles their isotope compositions (δ²⁰²Hg for MDF, Δ¹⁹⁹Hg for odd-MIF and Δ²⁰⁰Hg for even-MIF) across terrestrial background, urban-industrial, marine boundary layer, and polar regions. Terrestrial background Hg(0) typically exhibits positive δ²⁰²Hg with negative Δ¹⁹⁹Hg and Δ²⁰⁰Hg, whereas reactive Hg(II) shows negative δ²⁰²Hg with positive Δ¹⁹⁹Hg and Δ²⁰⁰Hg. These complementary patterns reflect predominant roles of photoreduction of Hg(II) and vegetation uptake of Hg(0). Urban-industrial Hg(0) tends to have low δ²⁰²Hg and elevated Δ¹⁹⁹Hg and Δ²⁰⁰Hg, consistent with anthropogenic influence. However, post-emission transformations frequently obscure primary isotope signatures of Hg(II), complicating source-receptor relationships. In polar regions, reactive Hg (II) bears strong imprints of photoredox reactions at the snow-atmosphere interface, typically exhibiting very negative Δ¹⁹⁹Hg values. Integrating isotope observations with deposition pathways indicates that dry deposition of Hg(0) often dominates fluxes to both terrestrial and marine surfaces. Scenario analysis under Shared Socioeconomic Pathways project notable increases in δ²⁰²Hg and Δ¹⁹⁹Hg under low-emission futures. To better implement the Minamata Convention in a changing climate, future research should prioritize species-specific Hg sampling, better mechanistic understanding of isotope fractionation, and expanded isotope monitoring in underrepresented regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 105348"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145598747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Experimental and analytical approaches to deformation bands: A critical review of laboratory methods, quantitative techniques, and modeling strategies","authors":"Mingming Jiang ,&nbsp;Yejun Jin ,&nbsp;Xiaofei Fu ,&nbsp;Quanyou Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105343","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105343","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Deformation bands are a type of local strain concentration structure that develops in porous rocks, and they play an important role in the fluid dynamics of underground reservoirs. Although field outcrop observations can provide important information for revealing the geometry and distribution characteristics of deformation bands, capturing the dynamic processes and controlling mechanisms of deformation band formation and evolution is difficult. In recent years, laboratory-scale physical simulations have become key methods for studying the formation processes of deformation bands by precisely controlling stress, displacement, and material properties to reproduce the evolution path. In this study, the shear experiment methods, quantitative structural analysis techniques, and numerical simulation strategies that are widely used in the current research on deformation bands are systematically reviewed and evaluated. Physical simulation methods, such as ring shear, direct shear, triaxial shear, and sandbox experiments, and porosity and permeability measurement methods, which are based on computed tomography (CT) scans and image processing, are assessed in this paper. Furthermore, the ways that experimental data are used in the construction of parameters of discrete element and continuum models are discussed, as are modeling practices at the core and regional scales. Finally, the main challenges are summarized, including in situ permeability testing for consolidated rocks, the imperfection of quantitative structure analysis technologies, the difficulty in simulating the effects of cement, and the bottleneck in cross-scale modeling, and key directions for future research are proposed. The aim of this review is to establish a research framework that integrates experiments, calculations, and observations to provide theoretical and methodological support for an in-depth understanding of the formation mechanism of deformation bands and their control on underground fluid migration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 105343"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145593686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tectonic controls on volcanism in transfer fault zones: Insights from the Catalan Volcanic Zone (Northeastern Iberia)","authors":"David Cruset ,&nbsp;Jaume Vergés ,&nbsp;Marc Viaplana-Muzas ,&nbsp;Xavier Bolós ,&nbsp;Adelina Geyer ,&nbsp;Jordi Díaz ,&nbsp;Mahdi Najafi ,&nbsp;Mar Moragas ,&nbsp;Leo J. Millonig ,&nbsp;Axel Gerdes ,&nbsp;Estefanía Bravo-Gutiérrez ,&nbsp;Montserrat Torné ,&nbsp;Ivone Jiménez-Munt ,&nbsp;Daniel García-Castellanos","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105342","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105342","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Transfer fault zones are commonly associated with volcanic activity. While geochronological methods such as the U<img>Pb and Ar<img>Ar dating have been traditionally used to establish the absolute timing of volcanism, recent advances allow us the dating of fracture-filling minerals. However, integrated tectono-volcanic and geochronological studies of fault zones are scarce, limiting our ability to constrain accurately the evolution of fault-controlled volcanic zones.</div><div>This paper reviews the tectono-volcanic history of northeastern Iberia through the geochronological and kinematic analysis of well-known examples of Neogene to Quaternary fault zones with associated volcanism along the Transverse Ranges. These fault zones are located at the northwestern tip of a NW-SE transfer zone that segmented the Liguro-Provençal Rift. We integrate available geological and geophysical data with new structural analysis of meter scale fractures across three fault zones and U<img>Pb dating of fracture-filling carbonates.</div><div>The U<img>Pb dating of fracture-filling calcite reveals early Eocene strike-slip faulting at ∼49 Ma, during the Alpine compression, and synchronous strike-slip and extensional dip-slip faulting from ∼22 to ∼2 Ma, coinciding with the Liguro-Provençal rifting. We propose a new lithospheric-scale model in which faults acted as sub-vertical conduits for the ascent of magmas sourced from the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary, based on the composition of recovered xenoliths. Our geochronological dataset supports the hypothesis that fault reactivation governs the timing, location and migration of volcanism in the Neogene to Quaternary Catalan Volcanic Zone, which was additionally influenced by lithospheric thinning and the development of transfer fault zones that potentially reflect the reactivation of Mesozoic structures. These processes share striking similarities with those observed in the western Mediterranean Region, the European Cenozoic Rift System, and other extensional systems worldwide, highlighting the role of inherited transfer fault zones in the evolution of volcanism.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 105342"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145593687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multiparameter insights into the months-long evolution of Mt. Etna discharge system prior to the December 2018 eruption","authors":"Daniele Carbone ,&nbsp;Flavio Cannavò ,&nbsp;Marco Liuzzo ,&nbsp;Giovanni Bruno Giuffrida ,&nbsp;Filippo Greco","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105341","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105341","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The 24–27 December 2018 Mt. Etna's flank eruption was one of the most important from this volcano in the last 20 years, especially in terms of the associated pre-, <em>syn</em>- and post-eruptive dynamics, as testified by the impressive ground deformation and release of seismic energy. Here, we build on existing literature and integrate it with previously unpublished findings, retrieved from the analysis of gravity time series, to gain unprecedented insight into the deep processes that determined the conditions for the breakout of the December 2018 eruption.</div><div>Pre-eruptive emplacement of magma at shallow depth (∼2 km b.s.l.) did not occur progressively over the months preceding the eruption, but, rather, within a one-month timeframe (early October to early November 2018), as revealed by a marked gravity increase. This magma transfer was favored by enhanced permeability of the central discharge system, which also led to a decrease in the peripheral CO₂ flux. Ground deformation data point to a volume change at deeper depth, suggesting that the shallower magma influx was mostly accommodated (and “hid”) by compression of pre-existing magma. Since early November, further overpressurization could no more be buffered by the compressibility of the magma at 2 km depth, due to the decrease in the volume fraction of exsolved gas, and was more effectively transmitted to the host rock, which enhanced transfer of gas and magma through the uppermost part of the discharge system, accompanied by growing unrest.</div><div>In our view, the important amount of magma which accumulated at relatively shallow depth during early October to early November pushed the plumbing system of Mt. Etna under disequilibrium conditions, ultimately favoring the emplacement of the dike which fed the December 2018 eruption.</div><div>Besides establishing a long-term framework to consistently explain the geophysical and geochemical observations related to the December 2018 eruption, we come to the more general conclusion that multiparameter evaluation is essential to properly understand the behavior of a complex volcano, like Mt. Etna. We also highlight the important role played by magma compressibility in controlling pre-eruptive processes and shaping the characteristics of certain observables used to monitor and study active volcanoes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 105341"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145583848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sediment export from continental source areas to intra-shelf basins: Mass balancing, controls and sequence stratigraphy (Arabian Plate, Cretaceous)","authors":"Nikolaos Michael,&nbsp;Rainer Zühlke","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105339","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105339","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The main objectives of this paper include a quantitative understanding of sediment supply from continental source areas to intra-shelf basins at a plate-scale, key mechanisms and a review of frequently applied propositions in clastic sequence stratigraphy studies. The Cretaceous source-to-sink system preserved on the Arabian Plate serves as test case due to the availability of a unique subsurface data base with more than 1500 wells over an area of 1700 × 1500 km. Sand front trajectories, contours of ≤10 % sand content, indicate the distal limit of coarse sediment transport on the shelf top. At plate scale, sand volumes and rates of input strongly varied with ratios of up to 14:1 between individual Cretaceous time intervals of 1.3–10 Myr each, comparable to 3^rd to 2^nd order durations of eustatic sea-level change. The sand front migrated up to +200 km in basin-ward and up to ‐100 km in continent-ward direction. For extended time intervals, changes in sediment input primarily controlled the pro−/retrogradation of shelf-top clastic depositional systems, not eustatic or relative sea-level changes as proposed in many sequence stratigraphic studies. The lowstand shedding concept for clastic depositional systems holds the potential for misinterpretation if continental sediment supply is assumed to be constant. Sediment trajectories are not necessarily a reliable indicator of changes in relative or eustatic sea-level. Sediment supply was controlled by structural reconfigurations in continental source areas, specifically by periodic large-scale uplift, regional block faulting and strike-slip faulting. Changes in the proportion of total clastics and in the ratio of coarse:fine clastics correlate with moderate climate changes during the Cretaceous in low-latitude areas of the Arabian Plate.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"273 ","pages":"Article 105339"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145567640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geologic hydrogen: From natural occurrences to anthropogenic generation – A review of fundamentals, potential, challenges and prospects","authors":"Mengwei Liu ,&nbsp;Travis Warner ,&nbsp;Yumeng Zhao ,&nbsp;Zhao Xia ,&nbsp;Danrong Zhang ,&nbsp;Peng Zhan ,&nbsp;Rachel Frohman ,&nbsp;Gabriel Creason ,&nbsp;Yongkoo Seol","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105338","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105338","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Growing demand for hydrogen is exposing the environmental and economic limits of reforming-based and carbon-managed supply chains, while the scale-up of electrolytic capacity remains capital-constrained. Geologic hydrogen, defined as molecular H₂ generated and stored within the Earth's crust offers a complementary, potentially lower-cost resource, yet exploration is still ad hoc. This review (1) revisits a global inventory of confirmed hydrogen seeps and subsurface occurrences; (2) analyzes the controlling reactions, migration pathways, and trapping conditions governing these occurrences; (3) proposes a process-based geologic hydrogen system concept analogous to, yet distinct from, the petroleum system; and (4) evaluates potential geologic hydrogen systems within the United States as a representative case study. We contrast natural systems powered by serpentinization, mantle degassing or radiolysis with anthropogenic systems that stimulate the same reactions or convert in-situ hydrocarbons. Stable hydrogen accumulations require generation rates that outpace combined physical, chemical and microbial losses; the Bourakébougou field (Mali) exemplifies a self-recharging, free-gas reservoir sustained by meteoric-water serpentinization beneath an efficient caprock. Prospective geologic hydrogen resources are likely to occur in regions where iron-rich lithologies, deep-seated faults, and low-permeability sealing formations coexist. Applying this principle, we highlight three promising hydrogen play types in U.S. geological terrains: ophiolite belts (Appalachian and Californian regions), the Midcontinent Rift and the Lake Superior banded‑iron formations. Multiphysics numerical models and positive-unlabeled machine-learning workflows help to accelerate play screening and de-risk future production; yet, reaction kinetics, stimulation strategies, and full techno-economic and life-cycle assessments remain pivotal knowledge gaps.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"274 ","pages":"Article 105338"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145560285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An atlas of ancient vegetation-induced sedimentary structures (VISS): Their biogeomorphological, sedimentological and evolutionary significance","authors":"James A. Craig,&nbsp;Neil S. Davies,&nbsp;William J. McMahon","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105326","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105326","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Vegetation-induced sedimentary structures (VISS) provide tangible evidence of plants mediating sediment deposition and erosion in ancient environments, because they represent primary sedimentary structures formed from direct interactions of land plants with sediment or hydrodynamics. VISS are pervasive in modern landscapes yet are often under-reported from the geological record. We review the stratigraphic distribution of VISS in the siliciclastic record, using both existing reports and several newly discovered examples, and from this provide an atlas of twelve key forms of VISS and their formative mechanisms. Examples are illustrated in a range of sedimentary and fossil contexts to aid improved identification and we highlight several instances of VISS preserved without concomitant fossil vegetation, providing expanded evolutionary records from environments where fossil preservation was unfavourable. Timescales of VISS creation are partly determined by the lifespans of trigger vegetation, and we show how VISS can thus be used to constrain depositional timespans represented at outcrop. The small spatiotemporal scale of VISS inherently renders them high-resolution records of local-scale biogeomorphic processes, and we demonstrate how they can provide small-scale windows onto larger-scale biogeomorphology. The presently known deep time history of VISS is discussed in relation to plant evolutionary events; from their first appearance in Lower Devonian strata, their expansion through to the Pennsylvanian in line with the progressive evolution of rooting, arborescence and forestation, and further into the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Particular attention is paid to our own observations from latest Pennsylvanian-Permian strata, which record a widespread shift from lycopsid-dominated ‘coal swamps’ to conifer-dominated drylands. Taphonomic conditions discourage plant preservation in drylands which renders an apparent scarcity of vegetation fossils. However, the extended record of VISS demonstrates that early conifers were important biogeomorphic agents following the demise of coal forest flora.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 105326"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145531249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early land plant evolution facilitated marine animal dispersal: Insights from the Late Ordovician–Early Devonian microconchids","authors":"Zhiwei Yuan ,&nbsp;Jiashu Wang ,&nbsp;Hui Wang ,&nbsp;Lu Liu ,&nbsp;Wenkun Qie ,&nbsp;Pu Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105325","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105325","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rafting is an effective biotic dispersal mechanism that enables organisms, in particular the terrestrial and coastal ones that are unable to survive in the open ocean, to cross the wide expanses of ocean basins. Studies on modern ecosystems show that floating remains of land plants could serve as dispersal vehicles for diverse organisms, from microscopic fungi to large reptiles. This phenomenon has also been documented in the fossil record, as exemplified by the Triassic crinoid <em>Traumatocrinus</em> colonies attached to driftwood. However, the early history of rafting on land plant remains, and its relationship to the origin and early evolution of land plants, remain poorly understood. Microconchids, a group of small lophophorate-grade encrusting tentaculitoid tubeworms that thrived from the Late Ordovician to the Middle Jurassic, habitually colonized various substrates including land plants. Herein we presented a newly compiled dataset of microconchids and early land plants from the Late Ordovician to Early Devonian, and reconstructed the biogeographic distribution of these organisms. To better evaluate the dispersal history of microconchids during the studied time interval, a new descriptor, the dispersal velocity, was introduced to estimate the dispersal area of microconchids per million years. Our results showed that microconchids underwent rapid biogeographic expansions during the Wenlock of the Silurian and the Early Devonian. Interestingly, these two epochs saw major evolutionary events and great development of early land plants. Considering that microconchids, commonly reported from shallow marine settings, have invaded freshwater habitats as early as the Devonian, the coincidence of rapid microconchid expansion with the emergence of early land plants during the Wenlock suggested that land plant remains may have functioned as a newly emerged type of substrates in promoting the microconchid dispersal. The significant microconchid expansion during the Early Devonian, when the biomass of early land plants was evidently increased as inferred from dramatically elevated diversity and biogeographic expansion of land plants, was likely attributed to the large amounts of land plant substrates that enhanced microconchid rafting. This interpretation is supported by fossil evidence from multiple regions, where many transported plant remains within the coastal to fluvial environments were found encrusted by microconchids. Thus, we proposed that the evolution of early land plants may have played an important role in the global dispersal of microconchids.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 105325"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145531398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tectonic influence on the characteristics of contourite systems","authors":"Zhi Lin Ng ,&nbsp;Shan Liu ,&nbsp;Hui Chen ,&nbsp;Shaoru Yin ,&nbsp;F. Javier Hernández-Molina ,&nbsp;Débora F.P. Duarte ,&nbsp;Xinyu Xue ,&nbsp;Zhixuan Lin ,&nbsp;Kunwen Luo ,&nbsp;Ming Su","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105327","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105327","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tectonic influence on bottom current processes, particularly in active margin settings, may result in contourite deposits that are morphologically distinct from those developed along passive margins. Despite numerous works on the role of tectonics in the development of contourites deposits and the evolution of water mass circulation, there remains limited consensus on standardised criteria for the identification and characterisation of contourite drifts. The aim of our study is to distinguish the various tectonic controls on contourite deposition through a comprehensive review of existing knowledge, supported by morphologic characterisation, morphometric quantification, and statistical analysis of the dimensional relationship between structural and contourite features. We present three representative analogues from the South China Sea that illustrate depositional, erosional, and mixed features of both its modern and ancient contourite systems, and compare them with the well-known Gulf of Cádiz contourite systems.</div><div>Tectonically-influenced contourite systems can be classified into three categories based on structural control: <em>confined</em>, <em>fault-controlled</em>, and <em>obstacle-controlled drifts</em>. The associated tectonic structures and movements—such as uplift and subsidence—affect both the external geometry and internal configuration of the drifts. To better capture the complexity of tectonic influence on contourite deposition, several conceptual models are summarised for each type of structural control, and a revised classification framework for contourite drifts is proposed.</div><div>Regional tectonic evolution also plays a crucial role in contourite development, governing their evolutionary phases—<em>onset</em>, <em>growth</em>, and <em>buried</em>-stages. Their long-term evolution is further influenced by global events associated with reconfiguration of oceanic gateways and changes in circulation patterns, driven by the coupling of astronomical and tectonic processes and modulated by orbital-scale variations in bottom current activity. The role of tectonics in contourite deposition carries significant geological implications—contourite drift architecture, sedimentary facies distribution, sediment supply and accommodation, seafloor stability and geohazards—as well as economic relevance to the energy sector and marine ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 105327"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145525060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Regimes of bedforms created by down-slope density currents","authors":"Octavio E. Sequeiros ,&nbsp;Benoit Spinewine ,&nbsp;Gary Parker ,&nbsp;Carlos Pirmez ,&nbsp;Enrica Viparelli ,&nbsp;Juan J. Fedele ,&nbsp;Marcelo H. García ,&nbsp;Débora Koller ,&nbsp;Michele Bolla Pittaluga ,&nbsp;Miwa Yokokawa","doi":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105322","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105322","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bedforms in rivers have been extensively studied for decades. Turbidite outcrops also display bedforms emplaced subaqueously by turbidity currents. Recent breakthroughs in the attainable resolution of deep underwater bathymetric/seismic mapping have revealed that bedforms in submarine environments may be as widespread and diverse as those associated with fluvial flows. Turbidity currents that emplace subaqueous bedforms run down submarine canyons, traverse and overflow leveed channels on submarine fans, or manifest themselves as sheet turbidity currents along continental margins. Submarine bedforms present features that appear to be analogous to their fluvial counterparts. Submarine bedforms have traditionally been interpreted with the use of tools, and in particular phase diagrams, that were developed solely for fluvial bedforms. The use of such tools is motivated by the fact that simultaneous observation of the bedforms as they evolve in the field and the turbidity currents that create them remains at the edge of present capabilities. We fill this gap in part with a technique that has been successfully implemented for fluvial bedforms, i.e. experimentation. We present observations of bedforms emplaced by saline and turbidity currents in laboratory flumes. The experimental flows span a wide range of densimetric Froude numbers, including both subcritical and supercritical regimes, and produced various bedform types including subcritical and supercritical-regime ripples/dunes, upstream-migrating and downstream-migrating antidunes, and cyclic steps. We have gathered a comprehensive set of fluvial and submarine field bedforms worldwide from multiple environments including submarine canyons, levees, slopes, and fans; some of which include associated flow observations. The data are summarized in a set of bedform dimensions and regime diagrams, which are applicable to saline and/or turbidity currents, and generally to any down-slope moving bottom flow. The regimes for submarine bedforms show both similarities and differences with fluvial regimes. Our diagrams and guidelines constitute a new tool for the interpretation of field-scale bedforms generated by turbidity currents.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11483,"journal":{"name":"Earth-Science Reviews","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 105322"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145510006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}