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Satellite image of the Great Escarpment in southern Africa from the Sentinel Hub Earth Observation Browser. Taken using the Sentinel-2 L1C dataset, in May 2020. Credit: Prof Tom Gernon, University of Southampton.

Scientists uncover hidden forces causing continents to rise

Continental plates around Greenland.

New model refutes leading theory on how Earth’s continents formed

A schematic cross section of the Cascadia Subduction Zone shows the ocean floor plate (light grey) moving under the North American continental plate, along with other features. (Courtesy USGS)

Cascadia Subduction Zone, one of Earth’s top hazards, comes into sharper...

These ancient metamorphic rocks called gneisses, found on the Arctic Coast, represent the roots of the continents now exposed at the surface. The scientists said sedimentary rocks interlayered in these types of rocks would provide a heat engine for stabilizing the continents. Credit: Jesse Reimink. All Rights Reserved.

Rock steady: Study reveals new mechanism to explain how continents stabilized

The opening and closing of the Rocas Verdes Basin, a back-arc basin in Patagonia, as described by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin in a study published in Geology. Panels B and C illustrate the basin-closure process, in which an underlying portion of the oceanic crust is thrust into a magma chamber (B) and breaks off ahead of continental crust (C). The last two panels (C and D) show the oceanic plate and continental plate colliding together – squeezing the basin together into the Andes Mountains of Patagonia that we see today. Credit: Fernando Rey et al

New step in tectonic squeeze that turns seafloor into mountains

The zircon crystals we found in river sand and rocks from Finland have signatures that point towards them being much older than anything ever found in Scandinavia, while matching the age of Greenlandic rock samples. Photo: Andreas Petersson.

New geological study: Scandinavia was born in Greenland

Maps showing the evolution of the Gibraltar subduction zone from 30 million years ago to 50 million years into the future. From Duarte et al., 2024.

Early-stage subduction invasion

A cut slice of altered mantle rock. (Photo by: Solvin Zankl)

Researchers studying ocean transform faults, describe a previously unknown part of...

The modern Seattle fault zone cuts directly through the densely populated Puget lowlands, including Seattle and its metro area. Fifty million years ago, the continent tore in two here, setting the geologic stage for the modern faults, according to a new Tectonics study. Credit: Washington Geological Survey.

A new origin story for deadly Seattle fault

Three types of granitoid rocks—tonalite, trondhjemite and granodiorite (TTG).

Researchers uncover source rocks of the first real continents

Shears — or breaks caused by strain — in rock outcrops like the one pictured here could shed new light on tectonics that occur between major earthquakes in the subduction zone, according to new research. A camera lens shows the scale of the features of the rock. Credit: Provided by Donald Fisher . All Rights Reserved.

Ancient rocks improve understanding of tectonic activity between earthquakes

Ancient plate tectonics in the Archean period differs from modern plate tectonics in the Phanerozoic period because of the higher mantle temperatures inside the early Earth, the thicker basaltic crust, and the non-depletion of melt-mobile incompatible trace elements in the mantle. Credit: Science China Press

Plate tectonics in the Archean: Observation versus interpretation

Venus Photo by NASA/JPL

Venus had Earth-like plate tectonics billions of years ago, study suggests

For the microscopic examination, a thin section of the whiteschist was glued to a glass slide (center of the picture). Photo: Sebastian Cionoiu, Heidelberg University

Alpine rock reveals dynamics of plate movements in Earth’s interior

Ca-silicate inclusion inside a diamond from Kankan, Guinea. Photo credit: Margo Regier.

Superdeep diamonds provide a window on supercontinent growth

Plots of mineral modal abundance and the weight percentage of mineral-bound water (blue lines) for (a) metabasaltic and (b) metasedimentary rocks from the modern Cocos plate at 1.3 GPa and over the range of temperatures along the flat slab top beneath Guerrero.

Metasomatism and Slow Slip: Talc may make Mexico’s subduction zone more...

Credit: Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh0150

New 3D images give never-seen-before views inside New Zealand’s largest fault

Mantle plumes, shown in red, have been identified around the world. (Ingo Wölbern, via Wikimedia Commons)

Scientists unearth 20 million years of ‘hot spot’ magmatism under Cocos...

A microscope image from an experiment conducted for this study. The image contains glass (brown), large garnets (pink) and other small mineral crystals. The field of view is 410 microns wide, about size of a sugar crystal. Credit: Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.ade3418

Study presents new clues about the rise of Earth’s continents

New lab work suggests that rock roughness affects earthquake aftershock dynamics along faults. Credit: Dextersinister/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Rougher faults may generate more earthquake aftershocks

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