A zircon crystal found in Australia, dating back 4.4 billion years, indicates that early Earth was likely to have been ...

Ancient rocks reveal water moved deep underground over three billion years ago. This process, called dripduction, occurred ...

Isotope mapping reveals millions of square kilometers of lost Gondwanan crust hidden beneath Asia, Europe and North America.

Continental clues: Modern continental rocks carry chemical signatures from the very start of our planet’s history, challenging current theories about plate tectonics. Researchers have made a new ...

Parts of ancient Earth may have formed continents and recycled crust through subduction far earlier than previously thought. New research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. What are now thought to be the oldest rocks on Earth have been confirmed to have an age of almost 4.2 billion years, almost as old ...

Earth's continents are slowly moving across the planet's surface due to plate tectonics, culminating in regions of crustal expansion and collision. In the latter case, high temperatures and pressures ...

The formation of Earth’s earliest continental crust during the Archean eon (4.0–2.5 Ga) reflects a complex interplay of mantle melting, magmatic differentiation and crustal recycling. Partial melting ...

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland. This area is the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, which move apart ~ 2.5 cm/year. Subduction and the formation of continents, a ...