Today, the upheavals of plate tectonics continually reshape Earth. When this began is much disputed - and we can’t fully understand how life began to thrive on our planet until we figure it out ...

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 ...

The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries: convergent, where plates move into one another; divergent, where plates move apart; and transform, where plates move sideways ...

It has vast water oceans and abundant life. But Earth is also unique because it is the only planet with plate tectonics, which shaped its geology, climate and possibly influenced the evolution of ...

For millions of years, Earth’s shifting plates have shaped continents, formed oceans, and built towering mountain ranges. But ...

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer layer is made up of plates, which have moved throughout Earth's history. The theory explains the how and why behind mountains, volcanoes ...

Plate tectonics is geology’s Theory of Everything. The realisation in the 1960s that Earth’s crust is made of fragments called plates—and that these plates can grow, shrink and move around ...

Four types of plate tectonic activity are demonstrated in this feature. Keep an eye on the map to see where in the world the activity takes place. Also known as spreading boundary, a divergent ...

Oceans are not necessarily a permanent fixture on Earth, as they are able to appear and close due to the work of plate tectonics. More specifically, subduction zones — where tectonic plates slip ...

Research in structural geology and tectonics seeks to define how and why deformation occurs within the earth at scales from mineral fabrics to lithospheric plates, and at time frames ranging from ...