The ocean floor covers nearly three-quarters of the planet. Almost three-quarters of that surface has never been mapped to modern scientific standards. The map that first made any of it visible — a ...

Map of the Earth showing tectonic plates. Early Earth likely had no plate tectonics, but a solid outer crust with no tectonic activity covered the entire planet. After being broken up by convection ...

A study on tectonic plates that converge on the Tibetan Plateau has shown that Earth's fault lines are far weaker and the continents are less rigid than scientists previously thought. This finding is ...

Using information from inside the rocks on Earth’s surface, my colleagues and I have reconstructed the plate tectonics of the planet over the last 1.8 billion years. It is the first time Earth’s ...

The map highlights in yellow the zones of the Pacific Plate that are being pulled apart by the sinking tectonic plate along the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Researchers have spent decades hunting for clues about the origins of the process that moves the continents around. Its deep history is finally starting to come into focus. Earth’s outer shell ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. Are we alone, and if so, why? So far, the search for ...

Schematic tectonic evolution model for the Wutai Complex during Late Archean (a) Subduction setting (~2543 Ma); shows subduction-related metasomatic agents which influenced the lithological and ...

The ocean floor covers nearly three-quarters of the planet. Almost three-quarters of that surface has never been mapped to modern scientific standards. The map that first made any of it visible — a ...

Using information from inside the rocks on Earth's surface, we have reconstructed the plate tectonics of the planet over the last 1.8 billion years. It is the first time Earth's geological record has ...