Tectonic plates are massive slabs of Earth's lithosphere that float atop the semi-fluid mantle, constantly shifting and ...

Due to the radiative thermal conductivity of the mineral olivine, only oceanic plates over 60 million years old and ...

New research reveals that only the oldest and fastest-sinking oceanic plates can transport water deep into Earth’s mantle, ...

Far beneath the ocean's surface, where mountain belts rise and ancient oceanic crust lies hidden, a long-lost tectonic plate ...

Scientists have detected deep pulses in the Earth beneath Africa – and it could tear the continent apart. The pulses are made up of molten mantle rock surging in rhythm, the researchers say. The plume ...

Subduction zones, where one tectonic plate dives underneath another, drive the world’s most devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. How do these danger zones come to be? A study in Geology presents ...

Scientists found a rhythmic mantle plume beneath Ethiopia is slowly tearing Africa apart - hinting at the birth of a new ...

A spot in eastern Africa called the Afar Triangle marks the meeting point of three rift zones—lines where Earth’s crust is being rent apart. Researchers haven’t been sure exactly what drives this ...

New research from HKU geologists suggests that Earth's first continents were born not from plate tectonics, but from deep ...

In the Afar region of Ethiopia, the ground beneath our feet is stretching and tearing at a rate of 16 millimeters per year ...

A ‘ghost plume’ identified deep in the mantle beneath Oman suggests there may be more heat flowing out of Earth’s core than previously thought ...

Scientists have identified what could be the oldest rocks on Earth from a rock formation in Canada. The Nuvvuagittuq ...