Earth and Environmental Sciences

Despite growing concern over per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), evidence for packaging-driven dietary exposure under hot-contact scenarios remains limited, especially in China’s rapidly expanding takeout market. Here, we conducted a survey of fast foods ( n = 150) and corresponding food-contact materials (FCMs, n = 150) across Chinese markets, quantifying 32 legacy and emerging PFAS. PFAS were detected in all foods (range: 0.01–79.4 ng/g; median: 3.45 ng/g) and FCMs (0.01–205 ng/g; 3.88 ng/g). Paper-FCMs showed the highest PFAS levels among different FCM categories and exhibited industry-specific patterns. Food PFAS profiles mirrored those of paired FCMs, with significant correlations for several dominant congeners ( p < 0.05), indicating migration contributions. Moreover, migration patterns were jointly influenced by PFAS physicochemical properties (e.g., log K OW, functional moieties), FCM texture, and food composition. Clear differences between leading and smaller brands were observed, with smaller brands exhibiting higher PFAS burdens in fast foods ( p < 0.05). Notably higher PFAS concentrations were identified in soup-based instant foods. A controlled experiment demonstrated 3.1–26-fold higher PFAS concentrations in instant foods prepared in original paper packaging than in glass containers, largely driven by 6:2 FTS, which accounted for 88.3% of the total ∑ 32 PFAS increment. Integrated multifactor prioritization revealed several emerging PFAS of particular concern, especially given their expanding use in FCMs. These findings highlight hot-contact packaging as a non-negligible exposure source and call for enhanced surveillance of emerging PFAS in fast-food supply chains.

Trihalomethanes (THMs) are suspected neurotoxicants, yet their relationships with depression remain unclear. This study examined the associations between blood THM concentrations and depressive symptoms, assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), in 2,130 postmenopausal U.S. women. Blood concentrations of bromodichloromethane (BDCM), dibromochloromethane (DBCM), and brominated trihalomethanes (Br-THMs) showed positive dose–response associations with depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 5; all P for trend <0.05). Compared with the lowest exposure category, participants in the highest category of BDCM (T3), DBCM (≥75th percentile), and Br-THMs (Q4) had increased odds ratios (ORs) for depressive symptoms of 1.38 (95% confidence interval: 1.04–1.82), 1.62 (1.25–2.09), and 1.46 (1.02–2.09), respectively. Further mechanistic experiments in a human neuroimmune organ-on-a-chip model (SH-SY5Y cells cocultured with THP-1 cells) showed that environmentally relevant exposure (0.001 mM BDCM and 0.0005 mM DBCM) increased interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) levels and reduced 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels. Low-dose BDCM exposure (0.001 mM) also induced neuronal cytoskeletal changes in SH-SY5Y cells, as reflected by changes in mean fluorescence intensity and skeletonized area. Together, our findings suggest that exposure to Br-THMs may be associated with depressive symptoms in postmenopausal women, potentially via IL-1β-mediated neuroinflammation and neurotransmitter imbalance.

Ultra-shallow and confined water environments are challenging to survey with conventional towed side-scan sonar (SSS) due to limited access and positioning uncertainties. This study introduces a portable, battery-powered acoustic survey system that integrates a pole-mounted dual-frequency side-scan sonar (600/1600 kHz) with RTK GNSS (Real-Time Kinematic Global Navigation Satellite System), deployable from a small inflatable boat. The system was validated in two settings: an inland lake and a marina. Field trials demonstrated reliable acquisition of high-resolution sonar imagery and effective detection of both natural and anthropogenic seabed features, including small and low-reflectivity objects. The high-frequency channel (1600 kHz) produced superior image quality and interpretability compared to the lower frequency. While there are limitations associated with fixed sonar mounting and limited altitude control, the system offers high mobility, rapid deployment, and operational safety. This approach represents a practical, cost-effective solution for high-resolution acoustic remote sensing in ultra-shallow water settings where traditional survey methods are ineffective or impractical.

Abstract The Gaggiano High, buried beneath the sediments of the Western Po Plain (northern Italy), represents one of the few examples of Mesozoic structural highs largely preserved within a foreland–foredeep system. Unlike the adjacent Lacchiarella Basin, which underwent strong positive inversion during the Neogene, the Gaggiano High experienced only mild contractional reactivation, allowing its original extensional framework to be preserved. By integrating 3D seismic interpretation, isochore maps, and well data, we reconstruct the tectono‐stratigraphic evolution of the Gaggiano High from Middle Triassic rifting to Neogene burial. Isochore maps and stratigraphic geometries reveal major thickness variations and westward tilting along N‐S faults during Early to Middle Jurassic extension, followed by long‐lasting structural uplift and reduced sedimentation during Jurassic‐Cretaceous times. In the Paleogene, renewed extension along NW–SE faults produced local depocentres within the Scaglia Fm., while subsequent Oligo‐Miocene compression resulted in gentle folding, minor inversion of inherited normal faults, and regional tilting. Comparison with the exhumed Lugano Swell highlights the long‐term persistence of rift‐related highs as mechanically rigid domains within evolving foreland basins. The Gaggiano High thus provides a well‐preserved subsurface analogue illustrating how inherited normal faults and long‐lived structural highs may constrain, modulate, or even inhibit subsequent deformation, stratigraphic architecture and basin evolution across the Alpine‐Apennine system.

Abstract In the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, gravity‐driven contractional deformation is recorded across the Salina del Bravo, the Perdido and Peripheral fold belts, and the Mexican Cordilleras. Integrating seismic interpretation, structural mapping, and analysis, we examine the spatial and temporal partitioning of shortening above three principal detachments: the Louann Salt, lower Paleocene shales, and middle Eocene to lower Oligocene shales. The Louann Salt is the master detachment in most of the area. Louann‐detached deformation transitions from fold‐dominated in the northern Perdido Fold Belt to thrust‐dominated southward and beneath the Salina del Bravo, becoming absent in the Mexican Cordilleras. The lower Paleocene detachment is locally restricted, acting as a minor intermediate flat above the Louann level. The mid‐Eocene to lower Oligocene shales serve varying structural roles: they underlie a proximal perched fold belt and provide distal decoupling in the Salina del Bravo, constitute the upper flat to deep thrusts in the Peripheral Fold Belt, and represent the primary detachment for gravity‐linked systems in the Mexican Cordilleras. Deformation propagated basinward and southward in three distinct phases: (a) pre–mid Eocene Louann‐detached shortening that generated salt‐cored folds, thrusts, and incipient salt sheets; (b) Oligocene strain partitioning between the Louann Salt and overpressured shale decoupling levels; and (c) Neogene reactivation of ramp‐flat configurations and development of the Mexican Cordilleras.

Abstract Reconstructing the deformation and topographic growth history of Southeast Tibet is critical for understanding continental lithospheric dynamics driving Tibetan Plateau development. However, the spatiotemporal pattern of plateau growth and underlying mechanisms remain debated. Here, we investigate the northern Jinsha River fold‐and‐thrust belt, an inherited structure of the Jinsha suture zone, using low‐temperature thermochronology and thermal‐history modeling. Our results reveal three episodes of accelerated exhumation: during the Late Cretaceous (ca. 80–68 Ma), Late Eocene (ca. 38–34 Ma), and since the Early Miocene (ca. 19 Ma). The Late‐Cretaceous phase is contemporaneous with syn‐tectonic sedimentation in the Gonjo Basin, suggesting a coupled tectono‐sedimentary system. A regional synthesis of thermochronology data reveals widespread Late‐Cretaceous to Early‐Cenozoic rapid exhumation in eastern and central Tibet, highlighting the role of Neo‐Tethyan subduction and initial India‐Asia collision in shaping early topographic relief. The Late‐Eocene pulse coincides with magmatism along the reactivated Jinsha suture zone and regional uplift, reflecting a major compressional deformation event. Post‐19 Ma exhumation at rates of 150–300 m/Myr is likely linked to Jinsha River incision, although age patterns across the Zigasi‐Deqin fault suggest that thrusting also contributed to Early–Middle Miocene exhumation. Integrating our results with published records of deformation, we identify southeastward propagation of compressional deformation since the Late Eocene in northern Southeast Tibet, supporting stepwise plateau growth through crustal shortening. We also infer a possible second phase of southeastward‐propagating deformation since the Early Miocene, although this interpretation remains uncertain. Our multi‐stage tectonic model provides new insights into the stepwise plateau growth of Southeast Tibet.

Abstract The NW‐SE‐oriented Eastern Talesh and Western Alborz Mountains of the Arabia‐Eurasia collision zone have constituted an efficient orographic barrier to northerly Caspian Sea moisture transport since the Early–Middle Miocene, resulting in pronounced rainfall and surface‐process gradients. Nevertheless, low‐temperature thermochronology indicates disparate orogen‐parallel and orogen‐perpendicular patterns of long‐term exhumation that do not follow the expected climatic gradients. West of the Lahijan lineament (LL), a suspected transverse NNE‐SSW‐striking, left‐lateral strike‐slip fault, south‐vergent thrusting dominates with &lt;4 km of exhumation across the wetter northern flanks and &gt;4 km across the arid southern flank. This reverse behavior with respect to the precipitation gradient, suggests that orographic precipitation alone cannot lead to the growth of new tectonic structures. Conversely, east of the LL, north‐vergent thrusting and superposed erosional processes resulted in &gt;4 km of exhumation along the wetter northern orogenic flank. There, the lack of outward orogenic growth, together with protracted Miocene thrusting, suggests a balance between erosion and uplift. This structural setting (north‐dipping faults to the west and inward‐dipping faults to the east) may be inherited from the opening of the South Caspian Basin. Importantly, the structural boundary between the two areas (LL) has been exploited by deep incision and headward erosion by the Sefid Rud river. Thermo‐kinematic Pecube modeling supports a causal link notion between the formation of the Sefid Rud valley and base‐level fall in the Caspian Sea (∼5.5–3.2 Ma). Sea‐level lowering promoted fluvial incision that breached the Alborz‐Talesh range and integrated upstream basins into the regional drainage network.

Pakistan has experienced several meteorological drought disasters in recent decades; their frequency and duration were more pronounced in the southern region. In the modulation of drought events, the significant contribution of regional and global climatic factors and large-scale ocean-atmospheric circulations was evident in this study.

Deep neural networks have substantially improved the performance of hyperspectral image classification, yet they remain vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Existing attack methods usually manipulate pixel spectra directly, ignoring the physical mixing mechanism of remote sensing imaging and potentially generating adversarial samples with limited physical consistency and interpretability. Moreover, balancing attack effectiveness and perturbation imperceptibility remains a challenging multi-objective optimization problem. To address these issues, this paper proposes an evolutionary multi-task multi-objective adversarial attack framework based on inter-task knowledge transfer. Instead of perturbing raw pixel spectra, the proposed method introduces perturbations into abundance maps obtained through spectral unmixing, thereby improving the physical plausibility of the generated adversarial samples. The generation of class-specific universal perturbations is formulated as a collaborative multi-task optimization problem. To solve this problem, we develop a Self-Adaptive Multi-Objective Multi-Factorial Evolutionary Algorithm for Adversarial Attacks (SAMO-MFEA-AA). By modeling the attack generation processes for different land-cover classes as distinct yet correlated optimization tasks, SAMO-MFEA-AA dynamically captures synergistic relationships among tasks. An asymmetric adaptive cooperation matrix is employed to regulate the intensity of knowledge transfer, allowing beneficial perturbation patterns to be shared across related classes while reducing the risk of negative transfer. Extensive experiments on the Indian Pines and Salinas datasets demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves competitive hypervolume performance and favorable solution diversity compared with existing multi-objective optimization algorithms. In adversarial attack scenarios, the proposed method achieves effective attack success rates against representative classification networks while maintaining the physical plausibility of abundance-space perturbations.

Abstract The Hangai Dome in central Mongolia represents one of the most prominent intracontinental uplifts, yet the relative contributions of crustal and mantle dynamics in sustaining its high topography remain unresolved. Here we jointly invert Rayleigh wave dispersion and receiver function data to constrain crustal and uppermost mantle structures, including Moho and lithosphere‐asthenosphere boundary (LAB) architecture, crustal Vp/Vs ratios and Vs. Our results reveal the significantly thickened crust (50–53 km) and thinned lithosphere (65–70 km) beneath the Hangai Dome, with pronounced lateral variations indicating presence of fluids and volatiles in the lower crust beneath the eastern Hangai Dome that generates low‐velocity zone and promotes rapid ascent of mantle‐derived melts. Furthermore, surface elevation exhibits strong linear correlations with crustal thickness and Bouguer gravity anomalies, consistent with near‐isostatic equilibrium. Our results indicate a leading role of inherited thickened crust in controlling topographic uplift of the Hangai Dome, whereas asthenospheric upwelling likely exerts a secondary influence.

Abstract Forested watersheds with limited human intervention are a vulnerable and diminishing feature in modern temperate latitudes landscapes. They are essential in terms of conserving biodiversity, as reference systems for forest management, restoration, stream ecosystem function, and associated ecosystem services. In Patagonia, some of the largest remaining intact watersheds are juxtaposed among areas heavily impacted from human‐caused fires and clearing, a pattern extending across several forested biomes. We measured in‐stream large wood storage and riparian forest structure across paired reference and impacted headwater watersheds (1–3 km 2 ) representing deciduous/dry and evergreen/humid biomes to evaluate baseline conditions and stream geomorphic response to wood storage. Deciduous forested watersheds had significantly higher LW volumes at impacted sites, relative to reference sites, together with higher variability across transects. Meanwhile, evergreen forested streams had significantly higher volumes of LW compared to deciduous sites, which were also consistently higher for impacted streams, although the relative divergence of stream LW volume between reference and impacted decreased in these evergreen sites. Compared to other regions, overall high LW volume may be a function of recent inputs, large amounts of legacy LW following an intense history of recent (50–70 years) wildfire, limited LW removal, low decay rates, and larger diameter species. The riparian forest structural variables that best explained the volumes of wood were live tree density and basal area; however, there was high uncertainty of our GLMM model given the limited number of replicates and high variability within streams. There was also a significant relationship between LW density and stream geomorphic features such as frequency of debris jams, step‐pools and bankfull width for reference condition sites, yet this relationship was not evident in the land‐use impacted sites. Despite clear evidence of land‐use impacts across stream pairs, our observations suggest a less intuitive relation between riparian forest structure, LW and stream geomorphology.

Marine ranching has emerged as an important governance instrument for marine ecosystem restoration and the sustainable enhancement of fisheries within the contemporary global ocean governance paradigm. Against this background, this study examines the evolution, institutional structure, and governance challenges of China’s marine ranching legal system. Methodologically, the study employs normative legal analysis, policy text analysis, and comparative institutional analysis. It systematically reviews national legislation, administrative regulations, departmental rules, technical standards, and local regulations concerning marine ranching, and further compares China’s institutional framework with relevant governance experiences in the United States, Japan, and Norway. The findings indicate that China has gradually developed a policy-driven governance framework for marine ranching, supported by national marine ranching demonstration zones, technical standards, and local legislative initiatives. However, the existing legal system continues to face several structural constraints, including a relatively low legislative hierarchy, fragmented regulatory authority, incomplete life-cycle supervision mechanisms, and insufficient institutionalization of ecological responsibilities. Comparative experience suggests that the sustainability of marine ranching depends not only on technological development but also on stable legal frameworks and well-coordinated regulatory mechanisms. Accordingly, this study argues that China should strengthen national-level legislation, improve cross-departmental coordination, and incorporate ecological accountability into legally binding governance structures, thereby enhancing both the ecological sustainability and institutional governance capacity of marine ranching.

Urbanisation is reshaping ecosystems and increasing human–wildlife interactions. Wild boar (Sus scrofa), a highly adaptable species, is increasingly common in European cities, where it exploits natural and anthropogenic resources, often leading to conflict. Predicting when and where wild boars enter urban areas remains challenging, particularly using scalable tools such as remote sensing. Here, we show that temporal and spatial drivers of urban presence are decoupled in Barcelona over a 14-year period. Seasonal vegetation dynamics influenced the timing of urban incursions, with peaks in spring and late summer associated with changes in vegetation moisture and likely reinforced by increased energetic demands during reproduction and early lactation. However, remotely sensed vegetation indices captured these dynamics only partially, limiting their predictive power when used alone. Spatial variation in urban green area use was primarily explained by landscape structure, with proximity to streams and habitat fragmentation contributing similarly. Green areas near natural corridors were concentrated higher and had more variable presence, while heterogeneous landscapes likely facilitated repeated use by increasing access to foraging and refuge. Integrating remote sensing with landscape metrics can improve the anticipation and management of human–wildlife conflicts.