Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer layer is made up of plates, which have moved throughout Earth's history. The theory explains the how and why behind mountains, volcanoes ...

Today, the upheavals of plate tectonics continually reshape Earth. When this began is much disputed - and we can’t fully understand how life began to thrive on our planet until we figure it out ...

Despite all the deep-sea expeditions and samples taken from the seabed over the past 100 years, humans still know very little ...

According to plate tectonics theory, Earth's outer shell is divided into multiple plates that slowly glide over the mantle. This slowly changes Earth's surface over time by merging, or separating ...

The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries: convergent, where plates move into one another; divergent, where plates move apart; and transform, where plates move sideways ...

For millions of years, Earth’s shifting plates have shaped continents, formed oceans, and built towering mountain ranges. But ...

Iceland’s volcanic activity is generally tame compared with explosive eruptions along the Pacific’s Ring of Fire. This time, it’s shaking up a town.

It has vast water oceans and abundant life. But Earth is also unique because it is the only planet with plate tectonics, which shaped its geology, climate and possibly influenced the evolution of ...

Geysers or hot springs of some kind were predicted at the Rift based on the relatively new plate tectonic theory. Remote sensors showed temperature changes and the presence of large clam shells ...

A team of researchers led by Dr. Frank Zwaan, a scientist in the Geodynamic Modeling section at GFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences, present an answer to this question: using plate tectonic ...

The Earth is made of different layers: the core, mantle and crust. Plate tectonic theory shows that the crust of the Earth is split into plates (pieces of the Earth’s crust). The movement of ...