A new analysis of seismic data from the Middle America Trench suggests that previous calculations have vastly overestimated the total amount of water transported to the mantle worldwide.
plate tectonics
Posted inScience Updates
Using Earthquake Forensics to Study Subduction from Space
Researchers combined satellite geodetic measurements of surface motion with a new geophysical data inversion method to probe the Chilean subduction zone in the wake of the 2010 Maule earthquake.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
What Happened When the Lithosphere of Venus Broke?
Although Venus does not have plate tectonics today, previous episodes of intense tectonic activity could have resulted in a distribution of crustal thickness and age resembling the plate we see today.
Posted inNews
Increased Plate Tectonic Activity May Have Warmed the Miocene Climate
Changes in rates of tectonic degassing may have been responsible for rapid, extreme warming during the Miocene Climatic Optimum and the long cooling period that followed.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Researchers Produce First Artificial Icequakes
Laboratory experiments show similarities between glacier beds and tectonic faults.
Posted inNews
The Resurrection Plate Is Dead, Long Live the Resurrection Plate
Using a technique similar to taking a CT scan of Earth, researchers found the possible remnants of a long-debated “missing” tectonic plate.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Frequency Dependent Plates
Rocks stretch, break, and flow, depending on how and under which conditions they are loaded. A new formulation to better capture Earth’s rheology is explored in the context of plate thickness.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Southern California’s Crustal Motion Tells of Earthquake Hazards
Precise measurements of the Earth’s vertical surface motion help to elucidate the hazards of faults in an earthquake-prone region.
Posted inFeatures
The Bay of Bengal and the Curious Case of the Missing Rift
In a classic detective story, clues from data new and old helped researchers reveal the puzzling chain of tectonic events that followed the Early Cretaceous split between India and Antarctica.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Steadying Mid-Ocean Ridge Spreading Rates
Researchers used an up-to-date global magnetic anomaly data set to track the history of magnetic field reversals and obtain more accurate estimates of tectonic spreading rates.