The Pacific tectonic plate is not as rigid as scientists believe, according to new calculations. Scientists have determined that cooling of the lithosphere -- the outermost layer of Earth -- makes ...

Researchers discovered new undersea faults on the Pacific plate, some of which are thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean and hundreds of kilometers long. Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project A ...

Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work covers anything from archaeology and the environment to technology and culture. Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work ...

Far beneath the ocean's surface, where mountain belts rise and ancient oceanic crust lies hidden, a long-lost tectonic plate has been brought back into view. In one of Earth's most tectonically ...

It seems that study of plate tectonics is a bit like solving a jigsaw puzzle, except that the picture changes with time, and we only have the picture corresponding to "now" to work with. Some recent ...

New Curtin University research has revealed that the Ninetyeast Ridge—the Earth's longest straight underwater mountain chain—formed through a different process than previously believed. A study led by ...

For more than 15 years, UB geologist Margarete Jadamec has studied the Alaskan subduction zone, where two huge pieces of the Earth’s rigid outer layer — the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate ...

Scientists drilling into the ocean floor have, for the first time, found out what happens when one tectonic plate first gets pushed under another. The international expedition drilled into the Pacific ...

With 6,000 kilograms of dynamite and an ear to the ground, a team of geologists shook the understanding of plate tectonics this year. Ricocheting vibrations from the dynamite blasts, intentionally set ...

HOUSTON – (Aug. 27, 2014) – The tectonic plate that dominates the Pacific "Ring of Fire" is not as rigid as many scientists assume, according to researchers at Rice University and the University of ...