Faults don’t just form—they respond, resist, and reshape the crustal narrative.
plate tectonics
Posted inNews
When Cascadia Gives Way, the San Andreas Sometimes Follows
Roughly half of the earthquakes that occurred along the southern Cascadia subduction zone over the past 3,000 years were temporally associated with earthquakes along the northern San Andreas fault.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Earthquake Model Goes Against the Grain
Subducting plates are stronger in certain directions than others, which may be a factor in how earthquakes occur and how seismic waves propagate.
Posted inNews
To Find Critical Minerals, Look to Plate Tectonics
A study of “weird” Australian rocks suggests stores of niobium rose to the surface during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.
Posted inNews
Spiky Sand Features Can Reveal the Timing of Ancient Earthquakes
Icicle-shaped features known as sand dikes form during ground shaking. New work reveals how these features can be used to date long-ago earthquakes.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lakeside Sandstones Hold Key to Ancient Continent’s Movement
Using paleomagnetic samples collected along the shores of Lake Superior, a new study illuminates the movement of a billion-year-old paleocontinent as it crept south toward a tectonic collision.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Trapped Charge Techniques Pinpoint Past Fault Slip
Scientists combine two novel dating techniques on fault gouge to better pinpoint the timing and nature of past fault activity in the Eastern Alps.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Finding the Gap: Seismology Offers Slab Window Insights
Studying slow tremors has helped researchers home in on the youngest part of the Chile Triple Junction’s gap between subducting plates, which offers a window to the mantle.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Three Magmatic Pulses Helped Rifting Transform into Seafloor Spreading
A new geochronology of Mesozoic magmatism along the eastern margin of North America shows that continental breakup involved three distinct pulses of magmatism that localized extensional deformation.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Mapping the Whereabouts of Continents
A new method integrates Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) with conventional ground geodetic networks, taking us closer to high-resolution mapping of plate motions.