New research reveals the source of this carbon – and the driving forces behind it – are far more complex than previously thought.

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Plate tectonics may have played a larger role in the evolution of life on Earth than we ...

Microscopic zircon crystals discovered in Western Australia suggest that Earth may have had continental crust as early as 4.4 ...

Earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old, but understanding when it evolved from a sizzling hot ball to a planet that could host life is a little more difficult. Earth is estimated to be 4.5 ...

It's the first time Earth's geologic record — information found inside rocks — has been used to create an animation of this kind. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

The Earth with the upper mantle revealed. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a previously unknown layer of partly molten rock in a key region just below the tectonic ...

The planet that appears so steady beneath our feet is, in reality, subtly reorienting itself in space. As ice melts, oceans swell and groundwater is pumped from deep aquifers, the balance of mass on ...

In the heart of Asia, deep underground, two huge tectonic plates are crashing into each other — a violent but slow-motion bout of geological bumper cars that over time has sculpted the soaring ...

Carbon released from Earth's spreading tectonic plates, not volcanoes, may have triggered major transitions between ancient ice ages and warm climates, new research finds. Published in Communications ...

The activity of the solid Earth – for example, volcanoes in Java, earthquakes in Japan, etc – is well understood within the context of the ~50-year-old theory of plate tectonics. This theory posits ...

Our planet has experienced dramatic climate shifts throughout its history, oscillating between freezing "icehouse" periods and warm "greenhouse" states. Scientists have long linked these climate ...