Mechanistic models are used to show how different drivers, including sediment and water supply, uplift and subsidence, and sea-level variations, affect the shapes and formation of extensive terraces.
plate tectonics
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Rocky Shore Erosion Shaped by Multi-Scale Tectonics
Statistical analysis of western United States shore evolution provides hints of long-term tectonic and seismic cycle effects on modulating coastal erosion.
Posted inNews
A Mid-Ocean Ridge in the Norwegian Sea Pumps Out Hydrogen
Vent fluids collected from the Knipovich Ridge contain unexpectedly high concentrations of hydrogen, potentially produced by the degradation of organic matter.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Changes in Slab Dip Cause Rapid Changes in Plate Motion
Periods of slab shallowing in the South American subduction zone appear to cause decelerations in Nazca plate motion.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Language of the Crust: Investigating Fault-to-Fault Interactions
Faults don’t just form—they respond, resist, and reshape the crustal narrative.
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.