In fact, as new methods allow scientists to look ever-deeper into the past, some are now arguing that plate tectonics emerged very soon after Earth's formation — perhaps predating life itself. If this ...

With tectonic plates bumping and grinding against each other, Earth is a pretty active planet. But when did this activity begin? A new study from Yale University claims to have found evidence that ...

At the boundaries between tectonic plates, narrow rifts can form as Earth’s crust slowly pulls apart. But how, exactly, does this rifting happen? Does pressure from magma rising from belowground force ...

The current theory of continental drift provides a good model for understanding terrestrial processes through history. However, while plate tectonics is able to successfully shed light on processes up ...

Where Continents Pull Apart Iceland's unique position sits directly atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the Eurasian and North ...

A unique rock formation in China holds clues that tectonic plates subducted, or went underneath other plates, during the Archean eon (4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago), just as they do nowadays, a ...

It’s right there in the name: “plate tectonics.” Geology’s organizing theory hinges on plates—thin, interlocking pieces of Earth’s rocky skin. Plates’ movements explain earthquakes, volcanoes, ...

Plate tectonics might have gotten a fitful start on the early Earth. Today, the process of Earth’s crustal movement called plate tectonics dictates nearly everything about the planet’s appearance, ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — At the boundaries between tectonic plates, narrow rifts can form as Earth’s crust slowly pulls apart. But how, exactly, does this rifting happen? Does pressure from magma rising from ...