Latest about plate tectonics
How old is planet Earth?
How old is Earth? Our planet's age is known from a variety of sources, from rocks on our own planet to ones from the moon.
Earth's crust may be building mountains by dripping into the mantle
An odd phenomenon called lithospheric dripping might occur wherever mountains form.
Ancient relative of 'living fossil' fish reveals that geological activity supercharges evolution
The ancient coelacanth, which has existed for some 419 million years, never stopped evolving despite its reputation as a "living fossil." A new discovery reveals that it evolved faster when plate tectonics were most active.
When was the last time Antarctica was ice-free?
Antarctica is covered by a miles-thick ice sheet, but was that always the case? And when was the coldest continent ice-free?
Mesmerizing animation shows Earth's tectonic plates moving from 1.8 billion years ago to today
It's the first time Earth's geologic record — information found inside rocks — has been used to create an animation of this kind.
'Failed' microcontinent found hiding beneath Greenland and Canada
The Davis Strait, west of Greenland, holds a long-lost chunk of an almost-continent that didn't quite form about 58 million years ago.
Earth's plate tectonics fired up hundreds of millions of years earlier than we thought, ancient crystals reveal
New research hints that plate tectonics began earlier than 4 billion years ago — not long after Earth had formed.
Argyle mine: Earth's treasure trove of pink diamonds born during a supercontinent's break up
During 37 years of operations, the now-closed Argyle mine produced more than 865 million carats (191 tons) of rough diamonds and 90% of the world's pink diamonds.
