Plate Tectonics
Latest about plate tectonics
When was the last time Antarctica was ice-free?
By Victoria Atkinson published
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
By Alan Collins published
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
By Stephanie Pappas published
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
By Stephanie Pappas published
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
By Sascha Pare published
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.
50 interesting facts about Earth
By Stephanie Pappas, Robert Roy Britt, Ailsa Harvey last updated
Reference We've collected some of the most interesting and amazing facts about Earth
Weird blobs lurking near Earth's core may have been dragged from the surface
By Stephanie Pappas published
A new study of seismic data from Antarctica finds that the mantle may be stranger and more variable than previously believed, with pieces of ancient crust that have been dragged down by tectonic forces.
Mass die-off half a billion years ago caused by shifting tectonic plates, ancient rocks reveal
By Stephanie Pappas published
A large extinction in the midst of the expansion of life during the Cambrian period was caused by the tectonics of a supercontinent, new research argues.
Sleeping subduction zone could awaken and form a new 'Ring of Fire' that swallows the Atlantic Ocean
By Sascha Pare published
A modeling study suggests a slumbering subduction zone below the Gibraltar Strait is active and could break into the Atlantic Ocean in 20 million years' time, giving birth to an Atlantic "Ring of Fire."
Seattle's massive fault may result from oceanic crust 'unzipping itself' 55 million years ago
By Sascha Pare published
Magnetic data suggest Seattle's fault line formed 55 million years ago, when the southern half of a subducting chain of volcanic islands piled onto the continent and tore apart from the northern half.
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