Water from both volcanic rocks and deep mantle melted Earth's crust 1.6 billion years ago. This long-lasting melting formed ...

Scientists have long thought that tectonic plates needed to dive beneath each other to create the chemical fingerprint we see in continents.

A study published in Nature on 2 April reveals that Earth's first crust, formed about 4.5 billion years ago, probably had chemical features remarkably like today’s continental crust. This suggests the ...

New research suggests melting ice sheets are warming global temperatures which may speed up continental drift, creating ...

In the latter case, high temperatures and pressures lead to the reworking of the crust, affecting its composition, as well as that of the underlying mantle. Furthermore, when two continental ...

Earth's crust today has a surprisingly similar composition to the planet's first outer shell, or "protocrust," new research ...

Learn how a computer simulation demonstrates that tectonic activity may be less slow and steady than previously thought.

A hidden continent existed under Greenland's ice. Scientists found this lost continental fragment. It is called the Davis ...

The study also provides a new approach to solving one of the biggest enduring scientific mysteries: when did plate tectonics begin?

New crust is continually being pushed away from divergent boundaries (where sea-floor spreading occurs), increasing Earth's surface. But the Earth isn't getting any bigger. What happens ...

Get Instant Summarized Text (Gist) Earth's first crust, formed around 4.5 billion years ago, likely had chemical features similar to today's continental crust, suggesting that the distinctive ...