Continental drift is the geophysical phenomenon describing the gradual horizontal movement of Earth’s continental lithospheric plates relative to one another over geological time. Driven primarily by mantle convection, slab pull, and ridge push forces, this process results in the reconfiguration of ocean basins and continents, influencing orogenesis, basin formation, and large-scale patterns of volcanism and seismicity. Continental drift operates on timescales of millions of years, with typical plate velocities of a few centimeters per year, and is quantitatively constrained by paleomagnetic data, marine magnetic anomalies, hotspot tracks, GPS geodesy, and stratigraphic and fossil correlation across now-separated continental margins.
Magnetic data collected in the late 1960s has been brought back to life by a research team including a Keele scientist, who have used it to learn more about how the continent of Africa is stretching and splitting apart.
Earth Sciences
Nov 20, 2025
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The tectonic plates under Africa and Asia are slowly drifting apart, as the Gulf of Suez that separates these two land masses continues to widen at a rate of about 0.26–0.55 millimeters per year.
A study led by researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Adelaide has revealed how the breakup of an ancient supercontinent 1.5 billion years ago transformed Earth's surface environments, paving the ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 28, 2025
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Madagascar's landscape tells a story of deep time: ancient rifting and geological tilting sculpted the island's dramatic topography and steered its rivers, setting the stage for the evolution of its extraordinary biodiversity.
Earth Sciences
Oct 23, 2025
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Greenland is being twisted, compressed, and stretched. This happens due to plate tectonics and movements in the bedrock, caused by the large ice sheets on top melting and reducing pressure on the subsurface.
Earth Sciences
Oct 14, 2025
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The iron-rich core at the center of our planet has been a crucial part of Earth's evolution. The core not only powers the magnetic field which shields our atmosphere and oceans from solar radiation, it also influences plate ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 17, 2025
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188
About 1.1 billion years ago, the oldest and most tectonically stable part of North America—called Laurentia—was rapidly heading south toward the equator. Laurentia eventually slammed into Earth's other landmasses during the ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 18, 2025
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Around 800 million years ago, during the Tonian period, the Yangtze Block in South China experienced significant tectonic activity, in which the ancient supercontinent Rodinia broke off from the area that is now South China. ...
Earth's continents may look fixed on a globe, but they've been drifting, splitting and reforming over billions of years—and they still are. Our new study reveals fresh evidence of rhythmic pulses of molten rock rising beneath ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 20, 2025
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We are going back 55 million years. That was when Greenland and Norway began to drift apart, causing the Atlantic Ocean to open up. The Earth's crust between them became thinner and thinner, and enormous amounts of lava poured ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 7, 2025
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