Mantle plumes—areas of unusually hot rock that can punch through the Earth’s crust to create volcanoes like the Hawaiian islands—have been thought to affect the motion of tectonic plates, but teasing ...

Scientists have discovered a long hidden plate boundary near the east coast of Africa that dates back about 180 million years ...

Plates at subduction zones typically move just a few centimeters per year. But when accumulated stress at these convergent plate boundaries releases suddenly, the plates can slip several meters and ...

Plates at subduction zones typically move just a few centimeters per year. But when accumulated stress at these convergent plate boundaries releases suddenly, the plates can slip several meters and ...

Have tectonic plates changed speed over the last 3 billion years? The answer has far-reaching implications, as plate tectonics affected everything from the supply of vital nutrients for early life to ...

The first direct evidence of how and when tectonic plates move into the deepest reaches of the Earth is published in Nature today. Scientists hope their description of how plates collide with one ...

Computational scientists and geophysicists have developed new computer algorithms that for the first time allow for the simultaneous modeling of Earth's mantle flow, large-scale tectonic plate motions ...

Plate tectonics is the surface expression of mantle convection. Seismic observations at the Cascadia subduction zone show that coupling between tectonic plate motion and mantle flow may depend on the ...