Phenomenon of plate tectonics explained

Transform faults subdivide the mid-ocean ridge into segments. Up until now, it was thought that these faults were ruptures that formed in less stable crust areas. Taras Gerya has recorded a model of the dynamics that lead ...

Remixed mantle suggests early start of plate tectonics

New Curtin University research on the remixing of Earth's stratified deep interior suggests that global plate tectonic processes, which played a pivotal role in the existence of life on Earth, started to operate at least ...

Does a planet need plate tectonics to develop life?

Plate tectonics may be a phase in the evolution of planets that has implications for the habitability of exoplanets, according to new research published this month in the journal Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors.

Which factors control the height of mountains?

Which forces and mechanisms determine the height of mountains? A group of researchers from Münster and Potsdam has now found a surprising answer: It is not erosion and weathering of rocks that determine the upper limit of ...

Research suggests some major changes to geology textbooks

Super-computer modelling of Earth's crust and upper-mantle suggests that ancient geologic events may have left deep 'scars' that can come to life to play a role in earthquakes, mountain formation, and other ongoing processes ...

The birth and death of a tectonic plate

Several hundred miles off the Pacific Northwest coast, a small tectonic plate called the Juan de Fuca is slowly sliding under the North American continent. This subduction has created a collision zone with the potential to ...

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