Weathering of the earliest continents could have set in motion the formation of cratons, the immutable roots of continents.
lithosphere
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Mantle Movements Shape Earth’s Surface
Two new data sets help researchers tease apart the influences of plate tectonics and mantle movement on surface topography.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mantle Heat May Have Boosted Earth’s Crust 3 Billion Years Ago
Information from igneous zircon molecules gives researchers new insight into the workings of inner Earth.
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 inResearch Spotlights
The Nature of Mantle Flow May Depend on the Type of Slab Subducting
Researchers tease apart the links between slabs and mantle flow near subduction zones, upending some traditional views of subduction-induced mantle flow.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Law and Order for Friction and Faults: One Law to Rule Them All
Faults are made of complex materials with complex behaviors, and having a single model that can predict these behaviors is an advance in understanding deformation and the earthquake cycle.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Do Some Cratons Have Soggy Bottoms?
Long-persistent stable cratons bear much of the deep-time geologic record, and a new study combines seismic and petrological data to reveal how interactions with mantle fluids can shape their evolution.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Piecing Together the Roots of the Ancient Australian Continent
Mineral compositions from numerous volcanic rocks that sample the mantle keel beneath Western Australia’s Kimberley Craton reveal the temperature and mineralogy that explain its long-lived stability.
Posted inNews
Shifts in Tectonic Plates Change Biodiversity
A 36-million-year cycle of marine biodiversity booms and busts matches the movements of plate tectonics, linking what happens deep below the ocean to what’s happening in it.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Uncovering Mantle Heterogeneities Beneath Drifting Continents
Computational models of the composition and volumes of magmas during continental rifting evolution provide clues on the heterogeneities of the deep melting mantle.