Home plate tectonics

plate tectonics

Latest

Images of the numerical solution at the moment when a supercontinent (left, in purplish grey) begins to break up. In the image on the left, the modelled fictional planet looks much like the Earth: its surface and mantle move spontaneously, at speeds close to those observed on Earth. The distribution of the plates (some of which are large, while many are small) is also similar, as is the topography: red hues represent shallow regions of the ocean (ridges), while blue indicates the deep seafloor. The deepest blue areas correspond to subduction trenches (where a plate is sinking into the mantle). The continents are shown in translucent white (and therefore appear purplish grey).The image on the right shows warm currents (plumes) rising from the bottom of the mantle. Credit: Nicolas Coltice

plate tectonics

What makes the Earth’s surface move?

Geology Page - November 2, 2019

As part of MISTI-India, Megan Guenther, a junior in EAPS, records field notes about the landscape of the Kohistan-Ladakh region of the Himalayas in northern India. Credit: Craig Martin

plate tectonics

Collision course: A geological mystery in the Himalayas

A detail of the southern wall of the Las Cañadas caldera de . It is the best exposed sector of this volcanic structure. (Imagen: Joan Martí)

plate tectonics

Study provides new insight into the origin of Las Cañadas caldera (Tenerife, Canary Islands)

Fig. 1 Map of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake and surrounding area. (A) Transpressional tectonic setting of the northeastern South Island of New Zealand. (B) Map of surface ruptures from the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake, shown in bold black lines with the Papatea fault in red (8, 28). Dots represent scaled relative energy release from back-projection results (15) and are colored by time since rupture onset. Mapped active faults that did not rupture during the Kaikōura event are indicated by thin black lines (28). Credit: Science Advances 02 Oct 2019: Vol. 5, no. 10, eaax5703, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5703

plate tectonics

Unusual fault rupture during Kaikōura quake

A river flows between mountains at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. New research tests a 30-year-old theory on the relationship between erosion and mountain height. Photo credit: Seth Cottle/Unsplash

plate tectonics

Why are mountains so high?

Machu Pichu. Detailed mapping indicates the World Heritage Site’s location and layout were dictated by the underlying geological faults. Photo taken 5 Nov. 2010; credit: Rualdo Menegat.

plate tectonics

Machu Picchu: Ancient Incan sanctuary intentionally built on faults

Geology Page - September 27, 2019

Photographs of alkaline magmatic intrusions in Greenland. The region was volcanically and tectonically active around 1.2 billion years ago. Although no longer active, it is of major interest to geologists because the subsequent uplift and glacial erosion have cut deep into the rift and exposed the magma chambers that once lay well below the surface. Greenland’s magmas were sourced from a mantle that was enriched and contaminated by ancient crustal materials. Credit: University of St Andrews

plate tectonics

Ancient volcanoes reveal Earth’s recycled crust

Geology Page - September 19, 2019

Global paleomagnetic plate reconstructions a. 270 Ma, b. 180 Ma, and inset the Present Tethyan Realm. Credit: ©Science China Press

plate tectonics

What drives plate tectonics?

Geology Page - September 4, 2019

Continents breaking up and getting back together. Image credit: Naeblys / Getty Images

plate tectonics

Researchers uncover 2.5 billion years of Earth’s continents breaking up and...

Geology Page - August 8, 2019

Schematic diagram of water and chlorine transfer by the oceanic crust into the transitional zone of the mantle and the subsequent capture of the resulting material by an Archaean mantle plume. Credit: Evgeny Asafov

plate tectonics

Scientists discover how and when a subterranean ocean emerged

Geology Page - July 22, 2019

A fresh surface rupture of the Kekerengu fault, taken 4 days after the Kaikoura earthquake, with lead author Jesse Kearse leaning next to a curved slickenline (the subject of this article). Photo credit - Professor Tim Little (Victoria University of Wellington).

plate tectonics

Curved slickenlines preserve the direction of rupture propagation

Geology Page - July 14, 2019

continents

plate tectonics

New model suggests lost continents for early Earth

Geology Page - July 2, 2019

Deep earthquake swarms show the path of fluids released from the subducted Pacific Plate.

plate tectonics

Earthquake swarms reveal missing piece of tectonic plate-volcano puzzle

Geology Page - June 22, 2019

Plate Tectonics

plate tectonics

Plate tectonics may have driven ‘Cambrian Explosion’

Geology Page - June 21, 2019

Grand Canyon

plate tectonics

Glacial sediments greased the gears of plate tectonics

Geology Page - June 6, 2019

Contact Metamorphism Vs. Regional Metamorphism

plate tectonics

Contact Metamorphism Vs. Regional Metamorphism

Geology Page - May 28, 2019

Contact Metamorphism

plate tectonics

Contact Metamorphism : What is Contact Metamorphism? How it formed?

Geology Page - May 22, 2019

Regional Metamorphism

plate tectonics

Regional Metamorphism : What is regional metamorphism? How it formed?

Geology Page - May 22, 2019

Subsidence in Tuscany

plate tectonics

Monitoring Earth’s shifting land

Geology Page - May 16, 2019

Subduction Zone - Earth

plate tectonics

How life on Earth affected its inner workings

Geology Page - May 11, 2019

Diamond

plate tectonics

Diamonds reveal how continents are stabilized, key to Earth’s habitability

Geology Page - April 28, 2019

India , Asia

plate tectonics

When India Slammed Into Asia

Geology Page - April 28, 2019

plate boundaries

plate tectonics

What are the different types of plate tectonic boundaries?

Geology Page - March 30, 2019

K-T Boundary / K-Pg Boundary

plate tectonics

K-T Boundary “Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary”

Geology Page - March 30, 2019

Badlands near Drumheller, Alberta

plate tectonics

K-Pg Boundary “Cretaceous–Paleogene Boundary”

Geology Page - March 30, 2019

12 3...13 Page 1 of 13

MOST POPULAR

Study reshapes understanding of climate change’s impact on early societies

October 18, 2017

How fossil corals can shed light on the Earth’s past climate

September 25, 2015

25 years of fossil collecting yields clearest picture of extinct 12-foot...

May 8, 2018

New fossils push the origin of flowering plants back by 100...

October 2, 2013

MORE ARTICLES

$This moisture in the layer of weathered rock that is commonly located beneath soils is an important part of the water cycle on the local and global level. Tree roots tap into the rock moisture and release it back into the atmosphere as water vapor, and water flows through the fractures and becomes part of the seasonal groundwater storage (blue arrows).$

Hidden ‘rock moisture’ could be key to understanding forest response to...

Geology Software

Predict2D “Generate 2D vertical sections of sedimentary successions”

Secrets of dinosaur ecology found in fragile amber

Evidence of ice age at Martian north pole