Exactly when and how plate tectonics started, however, is a matter of debate. Now, in a study published March 19 in the ...

Recent scientific investigations have revealed that a significant portion of Earth’s crust has disappeared over millions of years, primarily due to extensive erosion. This discovery has shed light on ...

The Earth's crust is doing something pretty intense—it’s slowly breaking apart! Scientists say tectonic plates, those massive puzzle pieces that make up our planet’s surface, are shifting and cracking ...

The researchers studied the East Pilbara Craton formation in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, seen here. - Roger Norman/Alamy Stock Photo The puzzle pieces of Earth’s rocky crust are slowly and ...

Geoscientists have long relied on different forms of lead to understand Earth’s geological history and how it was created ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. The chemistry of crystals in some of Earth’s oldest rocks may ...

A new model of Yellowstone’s magma system suggests it is fueled by melts from the shallow mantle, guided by tectonic forces, ...

When most of us think about what shaped our planet, we probably picture volcanoes, earthquakes, and huge continents slowly drifting apart (or back together again) over millions or billions of years.

The arid hills of Western Australia’s Pilbara region contain the earliest evidence yet of tectonic plates sliding across Earth’s surface. Tiny magnetic crystals locked in the bedrock recorded the ...

(Left) Schematic illustration of a kink structure. (Center) Kink bands observed in mudstone near Fort Island, Rhode Island. (Right) Large-scale kink structure in Southern California, USA. Your first ...

MADISON — Parts of the ancient Earth may have formed continents and recycled crust through subduction far earlier than previously thought. New research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin ...