Gas fields and large shallow seismogenic reverse faults are anticorrelated

We investigated the spatial relationships among 18 known seismogenic faults and 1651 wells drilled for gas exploitation in the main hydrocarbon province of northern-central Italy, a unique dataset worldwide. We adopted a GIS approach and a robust statistical technique, and found a significant anticorrelation between the location of productive wells and of the considered seismogenic faults, which are often overlain or encircled by unproductive wells. Our observations suggest that (a) earthquake ruptures encompassing much of the upper crust may cause gas to be lost to the atmosphere over geological time, and that (b) reservoirs underlain by smaller or aseismic faults are more likely to be intact. These findings, which are of inherently global relevance, have crucial implications for future hydrocarbon exploitation, for assessing the seismic-aseismic behaviour of large reverse faults, and for the public acceptance of underground energy and CO2 storage facilities-a pillar of future low carbon energy systems-in tectonically active areas

Mega debris flow deposits on the western Wilkes Land margin, East Antarctica

n/

Lymphocyte-Derived Exosomal MicroRNAs Promote Pancreatic β Cell Death and May Contribute to Type 1 Diabetes Development.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease initiated by the invasion of pancreatic islets by immune cells that selectively kill the β cells. We found that rodent and human T lymphocytes release exosomes containing the microRNAs (miRNAs) miR-142-3p, miR-142-5p, and miR-155, which can be transferred in active form to β cells favoring apoptosis. Inactivation of these miRNAs in recipient β cells prevents exosome-mediated apoptosis and protects non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice from diabetes development. Islets from protected NOD mice display higher insulin levels, lower insulitis scores, and reduced inflammation. Looking at the mechanisms underlying exosome action, we found that T lymphocyte exosomes trigger apoptosis and the expression of genes involved in chemokine signaling, including Ccl2, Ccl7, and Cxcl10, exclusively in β cells. The induction of these genes may promote the recruitment of immune cells and exacerbate β cell death during the autoimmune attack. Our data point to exosomal-miRNA transfer as a communication mode between immune and insulin-secreting cells

The evolving paleobathymetry of the circum-Antarctic Southern Ocean since 34 Ma – A key to understanding past cryosphere-ocean developments

The Southern Ocean is a key player in the climate, ocean and atmospheric system. As the only direct connection between all three major oceans since the opening of the Southern Ocean gateways, the development of the Southern Ocean and its relationship with the Antarctic cryosphere has influenced the climate of the entire planet. Although the depths of the ocean floor have been recognized as an important factor in climate and paleoclimate models, appropriate paleobathymetric models including a detailed analysis of the sediment cover are not available. Here, we utilize more than 40 years of seismic reflection data acquisition along the margins of Antarctica and its conjugate margins, along with multiple drilling campaigns by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and its predecessor programs. We combine and update the seismic stratigraphy across the regions of the Southern Ocean and calculate ocean-wide paleobathymetry grids via a backstripping method. We present a suite of high-resolution paleobathymetric grids from the Eocene-Oligocene Boundary to modern times. The grids reveal the development of the Southern Ocean from isolated basins to an interconnected ocean affected by the onset and vigor of an Antarctic Circumpolar Current, as well as the glacial sedimentation and erosion of the Antarctic continent. The ocean-wide comparison through time exposes patterns of ice sheet development such as switching of glacial outlets and the change from wet-based to dry-based ice sheets. Ocean currents and bottom-water production interact with the sedimentation along the continental shelf and slope and profit from the opening of the ocean gateways

Continental slope and rise geomorphology seaward of the Totten Glacier, East Antarctica (112°E-122°E)

The continental slope and rise seaward of the Totten Glacier and the Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica features continental margin depositional systems with high sediment input and consistent along-slope current activity. Understanding their genesis is a necessary step in interpreting the paleoenvironmental records they contain. Geomorphic mapping using a systematic multibeam survey shows variations in the roles of downslope and along slope sediment transport influenced by broad-scale topography and oceanography. The study area contains two areas with distinct geomorphology. Canyons in the eastern part of the area have concave thalwegs, are linked to the shelf edge and upper slope and show signs of erosion and deposition along their beds suggesting cycles of activity controlled by climate cycles. Ridges between these canyons are asymmetric with crests close to the west bank of adjacent canyons and are mostly formed by westward advection of fine sediment lofted from turbidity currents and deposition of hemipelagic sediment. They can be thought of as giant levee deposits. The ridges in the western part of the area have more gently sloping eastern flanks and rise to shallower depths than those in the east. The major canyon in the western part of the area is unusual in having a convex thalweg; it is likely fed predominantly by mass movement from the flanks of the adjacent ridges with less sediment input from the shelf edge. The western ridges formed by accretion of suspended sediment moving along the margin as a broad plume in response to local oceanography supplemented with detritus originating from the Totten Glacier. This contrasts with interpretations of similar ridges described from other parts of Antarctica which emphasise sediment input from canyons immediately up-current. The overall geomorphology of the Sabrina Coast slope is part of a continuum of mixed contourite-turbidite systems identified on glaciated margins.Australian Government 4333Australian Research Council DP170100557Italian Programma Nazionale di Richerch in Antartide (PNRA)Spanish Government CTM2014-60451-C2-1-P CTM2017-89711-C2-1-

A cross-section analysis of FT3 age-related changes in a group of old and oldest-old subjects, including centenarians’ relatives, shows that a down-regulated thyroid function has a familial component and is related to longevity

Background: several studies suggest that a decreased thyroid activity might be favourable in oldest-old subjects and that subclinical thyroid hyperfunction may be detrimental

Cenozoic history of Antarctic glaciation and climate from onshore and offshore studies

The past three decades have seen a sustained and coordinated effort to refine the seismic stratigraphic framework of the Antarctic margin that has underpinned the development of numerous geological drilling expeditions from the continental shelf and beyond. Integration of these offshore drilling datasets covering the Cenozoic era with Antarctic inland datasets, provides important constraints that allow us to understand the role of Antarctic tectonics, the Southern Ocean biosphere, and Cenozoic ice sheet dynamics and ice sheet–ocean interactions on global climate as a whole. These constraints are critical for improving the accuracy and precision of future projections of Antarctic ice sheet behaviour and changes in Southern Ocean circulation. Many of the recent advances in this field can be attributed to the community-driven approach of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) research programme and its two key subcommittees: Paleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean (PRAMSO) and Palaeotopographic-Palaeobathymetric Reconstructions. Since 2012, these two PAIS subcommittees provided the forum to initiate, promote, coordinate and study scientific research drilling around the Antarctic margin and the Southern Ocean. Here we review the seismic stratigraphic margin architecture, climatic and glacial history of the Antarctic continent following the break-up of Gondwanaland in the Cretaceous, with a focus on records obtained since the implementation of PRAMSO. We also provide a forward-looking approach for future drilling proposals in frontier locations critically relevant for assessing future Antarctic ice sheet, climatic and oceanic change.We thank many people who collaborated, by sharing data and ideas, on geoscience research projects under the umbrella of the highly successful Paleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean (PRAMSO) and Palaeotopographic-Palaeobathymetric Reconstructions subcommittees of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Past Antarctic Ice Sheet scientific program. This synthesis, which reflects our views, would not have been possible without the efforts of these many investigators, most of whom continue their collaborative Antarctic studies, now under the successor SCAR INSTANT programme. Chris Sorlien is thanked for drafting Fig. 3.6. We thank John Anderson, Peter Barrett, Giuliano Brancolini and Alan Cooper for their useful comments and for their continuous dedication to the past Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution reconstructions. We thank Nigel Wardell, Frank Nitsche and Paolo Diviacco for maintaining the Seismic Data Library System and the National Antarctic funding agencies of many countries (Australia, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, the UK, the United States) for supporting geophysical and geological surveys essential for Paleotopographic and Paleobathymetric reconstructions. We thank the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) for its support of recent expeditions that arose out of PRAMSO discussions. R.M. was funded by the Royal Society Te Apārangi NZ Marsden Fund (grant 18-VUW-089). C.E. acknowledges funding by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity (grants CTM2017-89711-C2-1/2-P), cofunded by the European Union through FEDER funds. L.D.S. and F.D. were funded by the Programma Nazionale delle Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA16_00016 project and PNRA 14_00119). R.Larter and C.D.H. were funded by the BAS Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme and NERC UK IODP grant NE/J006548/1. S.K. was supported by the KOPRI Grant (PE21050). L.P. was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 792773 WAMSISE. A.S. and S.G. were funded by NSF Office of Polar Programs (Grants OPP-1744970 (A.S.), -1143836 (A.S.), and -1143843 (S.G.). This is University of Texas Institute for Geophysics Contribution #3784. B.D. acknowledges funding from a Rutherford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (RFT-VUW1804-PD). K.G. and G.K. were funded by AWI research programme Polar Regions and Coasts in the changing Earth System (PACES II) and the Sub-EIS-Obs programme by the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR). RL, RM, TN acknowledge support from MBIE Antarctic Science Platform contract ANTA1801

Ice loss from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during late Pleistocene interglacials

Understanding ice sheet behaviour in the geological past is essential for evaluating the role of the cryosphere in the climate system and for projecting rates and magnitudes of sea level rise in future warming scenarios1,2,3,4. Although both geological data5,6,7 and ice sheet models3,8 indicate that marine-based sectors of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet were unstable during Pliocene warm intervals, the ice sheet dynamics during late Pleistocene interglacial intervals are highly uncertain3,9,10. Here we provide evidence from marine sedimentological and geochemical records for ice margin retreat or thinning in the vicinity of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin of East Antarctica during warm late Pleistocene interglacial intervals. The most extreme changes in sediment provenance, recording changes in the locus of glacial erosion, occurred during marine isotope stages 5, 9, and 11, when Antarctic air temperatures11 were at least two degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial temperatures for 2,500 years or more. Hence, our study indicates a close link between extended Antarctic warmth and ice loss from the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, providing ice-proximal data to support a contribution to sea level from a reduced East Antarctic Ice Sheet during warm interglacial intervals. While the behaviour of other regions of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet remains to be assessed, it appears that modest future warming may be sufficient to cause ice loss from the Wilkes Subglacial Basin