Image: Tiny crystals called zircons are used to date oceanic crust. A newly developed method that detects tiny bits of zircon in rock reliably predicts the age of ocean crust more than 99 percent of ...

A hidden shard of ancient crust has been detected where California’s San Andreas system collides with the Cascadia subduction ...

A hazardous fault line that runs south of downtown Seattle may have formed when the edge of the North American continent tore apart 55 million years ago, a new study suggests. Seattle sits atop the ...

Researchers describe zircons from the Andes mountains of Patagonia. Although the zircons formed when tectonic plates were colliding, they have a chemical signature associated with when the plates were ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. Jan 25, 2024, 11:36am EST Jan 29, 2024, 08:24am EST Map of the ...

The mid-ocean ridge runs through the oceans like a suture. Where Earth's plates move apart, new oceanic crust is continuously formed. This is often accompanied by magmatism and hydrothermal activity.

Memorizing seven continents feels settled, like learning the alphabet. A new study argues the ground rules are less tidy.

The formation and composition of oceanic crust remain central yet unresolved questions in plate tectonics. While seismic data suggest a globally uniform crustal thickness (~6 km), petrological ...