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 ...

Subduction eventually led to the breaks in the surface that today serve as borders for tectonic plates. The researchers suggest their models may explain why some of the oldest minerals on Earth ...

This volcanic arc delineates the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. A subduction zone ... stretching to the Canadian border, was produced when the Yakutat terrane ...

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 ...

Newly published research has revealed that compositional rock anomalies within oceanic plates caused by ancient tectonics influence the trajectory and speed of the plates as they plunge deep into ...

Plate tectonics then fell into a continuous, self-sustaining pattern. "This discovery completely changes our understanding of Earth's earliest geological processes," says Professor Turner.

New findings provide a greater understanding of plate subduction, or how tectonic plates slide beneath one another. This recycling of surface materials and volatile elements deep into the Earth's ...