A new study suggests melting gabbros may have helped form Earth’s first continents, riling a long-standing debate.
Earth’s crust
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Strong Pacific Plate Bends Under the Hawaiian Volcanic Chain
Two seismic studies reveal the volcanic loads and resulting flexure of the Pacific plate at the Hawaiian Ridge and, surprisingly, show no magmatic underplating.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Illuminating the Complex Structural Fabric Beneath the European Alps
A new study investigates the dynamics of the complex continental collision that formed the European Alps and reveals how structural alignments change with depth.
Posted inNews
Flowing Crust Pushes Faults on Their Backs
Puzzlingly shallow faults in western Türkiye are likely getting a boost from below.
Posted inFeatures
The 2023 Türkiye-Syria Earthquakes Shifted Stress in the Crust
In February, a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the eastern Mediterranean, triggering a second major jolt and a cascade of aftershocks.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Digging Deep into Interactions Between the Core and Mantle
A new book presents major advances in our understanding of core-mantle interaction and co-evolution, and showcases technological developments improving our insights into deep Earth processes.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Machine Learning Helps Constrain the Thickness of Ancient Crust
A machine learning model trained using data on the chemical composition of magmatic rocks yields comparable, if not better, results to previously developed geochemical proxies.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
GPS Observations Sense Groundwater Change in Australia
By exploiting the fact that changes in groundwater cause deformations of the Earth’s surface, GPS receivers are used to detect groundwater changes related to extreme events and to seasonal oscillations.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Depleted Mantle Merry-Go-Round
Abyssal peridotites show through their isotopic composition a complex history. From differences we can infer the existence of ultra depleted mantle and an uneven contribution to ridge magmatism.
Posted inNews
The Western Great Basin Has an Arsenic Problem—Blame Its Geology
A new study links geological factors such as faulting and geothermal activity to an elevated risk of arsenic contamination in private wells across the Great Basin.