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Areas of the seafloor enriched with seeping fluids host unique chemosynthetic communities, and their interactions not only linked to the presence of oil and gas resources, but directly impact global geochemical cycles. These ecosystems can be found in diverse geological settings, spanning from passive to active continental margins, and encompass environments such as mid-ocean ridges, seamounts, cold brine lakes, mud volcanoes, and carbonate pinnacles. This review aims to examine seep environments in the Western Atlantic, the Caribbean, and Colombia, with a focus on understanding: I) their nature and origin, Itheir associated seabed characteristics, III) the biological communities directly connected to them, and IV) the chemistry and flow of the emitted fluids. The review identifies the close relationship of cold seeps to various geomorphological features, including linear diapir systems, salt diapirs resulting from salt tectonics, regions of mud volcanism, and compact seafloor mounds likely associated with buried mud diapirs. However, existing data on the fauna within these environments predominantly focus on megafauna, such as vestimentiferan tubeworms (Annelida), mussels, and vesicomyid bivalves (Mollusca), overlooking the crucial role of communities of small organisms, including fungi or macrofauna. This review highlights the absence of a consistent consensus among researchers regarding the factors controlling fauna distribution and presence in seep environments. Various authors have put forth divergent factors that influence seep community structures, with some emphasizing water depth, others the geological environment, and some the relationship with geomorphological conditions and fluid emissions. These findings underscore the need for further research into environmental factors and their roles in the observed distribution, presenting a promising avenue for future investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widespread volcanism has been known in the Sicilian Channel for a long time, even if some submarine volcanoes have only recently been discovered. Most of this volcanism formed along the NNE-trending transfer zone known as the Capo Granitola–Sciacca Fault Zone, while others, such as the islands of Pantelleria and Linosa, are associated with the continental rift zone that has developed since the early Pliocene in the central part of the Sicilian Channel through the formation of three deep tectonic troughs (Pantelleria, Linosa and Malta). However, the origin of a group of five volcanoes (here called "Tetide volcanic cluster") that form a NW-SE alignment on the eastern edge of the Adventure Plateau is not yet known. In this work, we hypothesize that this volcanic alignment may represent the remnants of a failed rift attempt that was unable to generate another tectonic trough in the Sicilian Channel. Based on seismic sections and gravimetric data, three phases in the formation of this volcanic alignment can be identified: (i) a major magmatic intrusion in the early Pliocene associated with a NW-SE normal fault that formed during the opening of the Pantelleria graben, leading to the uplift and deformation of the host sedimentary rocks; (ii) a late Pliocene-Quaternary tectono-magmatic quiescent phase; and (iii) a renewed magma intrusion through fissures or cracks that led to the formation of the volcanoes in the late Quaternary. This process was not able to cause significant extension and only limited volcanism, which is why the "Tetide volcanic cluster" is interpreted as the morphological expression of a failed rift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we introduce chalcogen squares via selenadiazole motifs as a new class of dynamic supramolecular bonding interactions for the modification and control of soft matter materials. We showcase selenadiazole motifs in supramolecular networks of varying primary chain length prepared through polymerization using tandem step‐growth/Passerini multicomponent reactions (MCRs). Compared to controls lacking the selenadiazole motif, these networks display increased glass transition temperatures and moduli due to the chalcogen bonding linkages formed between chains. These elastomeric networks were shown to autonomously heal at room temperature, retaining up to 83 % of the ultimate tensile strength. Lastly, we use post‐polymerization modification via the Biginelli MCR to add selenadiazole motifs to narrowly dispersed polymers for controlled topology in solution. Chalcogen squares via selenadiazoles introduce an exciting exchange mechanism to the realm of dynamic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein functions are enabled by their perfectly arranged 3D structure, which is the result of a hierarchical intramolecular folding process. Sequence‐defined polypeptide chains form locally ordered secondary structures (i.e., α‐helix and β‐sheet) through hydrogen bonding between the backbone amides, shaping the overall tertiary structure. To generate similarly complex macromolecular architectures based on synthetic materials, a plethora of strategies have been developed to induce and control the folding of synthetic polymers. However, the degree of complexity of the structure‐driving ensemble of interactions demonstrated by natural polymers is unreached, as synthesizing long sequence‐defined polymers with functional backbones remains a challenge. Herein, we report the synthesis of hybrid peptide‐N,N‐Dimethylacrylamide copolymers via radical Ring‐Opening Polymerization (rROP) of peptide containing macrocycles. The resulting synthetic polymers contain sequence‐defined regions of β‐sheet encoding amino acid sequences. Exploiting the pH responsiveness of the embedded sequences, protonation or deprotonation in water induces self‐assembly of the peptide strands at an intramacromolecular level, driving polymer chain folding via formation of β‐sheet secondary structures. We demonstrate that the folding behavior is sequence dependent and reversible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tectonics play a significant role in shaping the morphology of submarine canyons, which form essential links in source-to-sink (S2S) systems. It is difficult, however, to investigate the resulting morphodynamics over the long term. For this purpose, we propose a novel experimental approach that can generate submarine canyons and hanging-wall fans on continuously evolving active faults. We utilize morphometric analysis and morphodynamic models to understand the response of these systems to fault slip rate (Vr) and inflow discharge (Q). Our research reveals several key findings. Firstly, the fault slip rate controls the merging speed of submarine canyons and hanging-wall fans, which in turn affects their quantity and spacing. Additionally, the long profile shapes of submarine canyons and hanging-wall fans can be decoupled into a gravity-dominated breaching process and an underflow-dominated diffusion process, which can be described using a constant-slope relationship and a morphodynamic diffusion model, respectively. Furthermore, both experimental and simulated submarine canyon–hanging-wall fan long profiles exhibit strong self-similarity, indicating that the long profiles are scale independent. The Hack's scaling relationship established through morphometric analyses serves as an important link between different scales in S2S systems, bridging laboratory-scale data to field-scale data and submarine-to-terrestrial relationships. Lastly, for deep-water sedimentary systems, we propose an empirical formula to estimate fan volume using canyon length, and the data from 26 worldwide S2S systems utilized for comparison show a strong agreement. Our geomorphic experiments provide a novel perspective for better understanding of the influence of tectonics on deep-water sedimentary processes. The scaling relationships and empirical formulas we have established aim to assist in estimating volume information that is difficult to obtain during long-term landscape evolution processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]