Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. A new study, using a combination of old models, new geophysical ...

Earth’s crust looks solid from the surface, but it is broken into a shifting mosaic of slabs that slowly rearrange oceans and continents. Understanding how those tectonic plates first formed is one of ...

Tectonic map of the Earth. The first continental crust on Earth formed more than 3 billion years ago. Likely the first fragments formed by partial melting and re-crystallization of the primordial ...

It's one of many unique things about Earth: Unlike every other known planet in the universe, Earth's surface is made up of rigid plates that shift, crash into each other and dive into the planet's ...

The plate tectonics that cause earthquakes, build mountains and split continents may have started when Earth was in its infancy, new research finds — significantly earlier than many scientists ...

For the first time in history, scientists have observed the rupture of a tectonic plate in a subduction zone in real time. The study, published in the scientific journal Science Advances, was ...

Scientists have uncovered the oldest direct evidence yet that Earth’s tectonic plates were on the move 3.5 billion years ago. By analyzing magnetic fingerprints in ancient rocks, they reconstructed ...

Sub-Saharan Africa could split up in a few million years, and scientists believe they might be witnessing the early stages of this geological process. The split would occur along the Kafue Rift, which ...

Isotope analysis of gas from geothermal springs in Zambia could show that a new continental rift is forming, scientists say. Unexpectedly high helium isotope ratios indicate that a weakness in Earth's ...