Earth swallowing up carbon
Scientists from Cambridge University and NTU Singapore have discovered that slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates drag more carbon into Earth’s interior than previously thought.
Subduction zone initiation
Subduction is the main driver of plate tectonics on Earth. However, the mechanisms of subduction zone initiation remain highly controversial.
Mantle keels
Plate tectonics determines how the surface of the Earth is shaped over geological time; however, we do not know how this process started. New research by a group of geoscientists demonstrates that diamonds can be used to reveal how a buoyant section of mantle beneath some of the continents became thick enough to provide long …
Deep-earth recycling
Diamonds that formed deep in the Earth’s mantle contain clues of chemical reactions that occurred on the seafloor and can help geoscientists understand how material is exchanged between the planet’s surface and its depths.
Plate tectonic onset
Scientists led by Michael Ackerson at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History found new evidence that plate tectonics started roughly 3.6 billion years ago. Plate tectonics is essential to the Earth’s ability to support life.
Microcontinent deformation
Geoscientists at the University of Toronto and Istanbul Technical University have made a new discovery in plate tectonics which shows that a large amount of damage occurs to areas of Earth’s crust long before it should be geologically altered by known plate-boundary processes.
Rio Grande rift study
Rocks from the Rio Grande continental rift have revealed new evidence for how continents remain stable over billions of years. A Continental rift is the belt or zone of the continental lithosphere where the extensional deformation (rifting) is occurring. These zones have important consequences and geological features, and can lead to the formation of new …
Cratons fused below
Billions of years of plate tectonics have destroyed much of what was the earliest continents. The parts of the continents that remain have survived because their composition makes them buoyant and strong. These blocks known as cratons were thought to be indefinitely stable are now thought to not only break up but can also be …