Computer simulations suggest that a collision with another planetary object early in Earth’s history may have provided the heat to set off plate tectonics. By Lucas Joel Some 4.5 billion years ago, ...

The plate tectonics that determine the shape of our continents may have originated from a huge impact billions of years ago. This huge collision with the Earth, thought to have occurred around 4.5 ...

WASHINGTON — Puerto Rico has felt hundreds of aftershocks after the Jan. 7 magnitude 6.4 earthquake. And throughout history, earthquakes are not an unheard-of occurrence on the island. This is because ...

The closest technological species to us in the Milky Way galaxy could be 33,000 light years away and their civilization would ...

Modern plate tectonics may have gotten under way as early as 3.2 billion years ago, about 400 million years earlier than scientists thought. That, in turn, suggests that the movement of large pieces ...

Some great ideas shake up the world. For centuries, the outermost layer of Earth was thought to be static, rigid, locked in place. But the theory of plate tectonics has rocked this picture of the ...

There is a need for research-informed instructional approaches that promote school students’ deep conceptual understanding of abstract geological concepts. Given that a type of learner-constructed ...

If plate tectonics, oceans and continents are rare on worlds throughout the universe, that is. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. Video showing the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates over the ...