Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42418491›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

Regional variability but global flux balance in the deep sulfur cycle.

Ji-Lei Li, Jay J Ague, Timm John, Botao Li, Peter D Clift, Esther M Schwarzenbach, Jun Gao

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Ji-Lei LiState Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.ORCID 0000-0002-5847-4642
Jay J AgueDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511.
Timm JohnInstitut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin D-12449, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-0686-5585
Botao LiState Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.ORCID 0000-0003-4851-8928
Peter D CliftDepartment of Earth Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BS, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-6660-6388
Esther M SchwarzenbachDepartment of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg 1700, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-4549-4660
Jun GaoState Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.

Funding

MOST | National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 92479201
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sulfur is a key volatile that influences Earth's redox state, climate, and deep geochemical cycles. Subduction zones are the primary pathways carrying sulfur from the surface into the mantle, yet the global sulfur budget and recycling efficiency remain uncertain. Here, we compile a trench-by-trench inventory of subducting sulfur using sediment compositions from ocean drilling programs collected near major trenches, integrated with spatially resolved estimates of oceanic crustal and serpentinite thicknesses derived from seismic data. Our results reveal pronounced spatial heterogeneity in sulfur fluxes, driven by large variations in sedimentary sulfur contents and fundamental tectonic differences between erosive and accretionary margins. Slab-to-arc sulfur recycling efficiency averages 37% globally but varies markedly among individual subduction systems. Despite this heterogeneity, the global sulfur cycle appears balanced on the modern Earth: Sulfur input into the mantle via slab subduction (57 ± 3 Mt y

Indexed as

flux estimationsedimentssubduction zonesulfur cycle

Identifiers

PMID42418491
PMCPMC13367793

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.