Emerging evidence suggests that plate tectonics, or the recycling of Earth's crust, may have begun much earlier than ...

From time to time, when Earth's tectonic plates shift, the planet emits a long, slow belch of carbon dioxide. In a new ...

Earth surface is covered with rigid plates that move, crash into each other and dive into the planet's interior. But when did ...

All of these processes result from plate tectonics, the movement of enormous chunks of Earth's crust. This movement may be why life exists here. Earth is the only known planet with plate tectonics ...

Massive crustal plates shift, creating mountains, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. This process, known as plate tectonics, ...

And when did those plates start moving? It's an important question because plate tectonics seems to fuel the evolution and complexity of life. Surprisingly, geologists don't have a good answer for ...

Scientists have often estimated the volume of such carbon emissions solely on the basis of the gas released by plate tectonics. But plate tectonics can also capture carbon by incorporating it into ...

But to find that complexity, we must take the lessons of the boring billion to heart. Planets are not just a stage on which ...

John Sclater, a geophysicist at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a member of the first wave of ...