Fission track dating core samples from the Gulf of Alaska demonstrates that offshore sediments can be used to reconstruct a mountain range's changing exhumation patterns.
plate tectonics
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Why Do Great Earthquakes Follow Each Other at Subduction Zones?
A decade of continuous GPS measurements in South America indicates that enhanced strain accumulation following a great earthquake can initiate failure along adjacent fault segments.
Posted inScience Updates
Using Strain Rates to Forecast Seismic Hazards
Workshop on Geodetic Modeling for Seismic Hazard; Menlo Park, California, 19 September 2016
Posted inResearch Spotlights
On the Origin of Low-Angle Detachment Faults
Data from California's Whipple Mountains suggest this complex was formed by a succession of steep normal faults, challenging the paradigm that detachments are different types of faults.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Alteration Along the Alpine Fault Helps Build Seismic Strain
Detailed analysis of cores drilled through New Zealand's most dangerous on-land fault indicates that its permeability and strength are altered by mineral precipitation between seismic events.
Posted inScience Updates
Geological Insights from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Search
A rich trove of marine geophysical data acquired in the search for missing flight MH370 is yielding knowledge of ocean floor processes at a level of detail rare in the deep ocean.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Fingerprinting the Source of Fore-Arc Fluids
A new model tracks boron and other tracers in fluids expelled from subducting slabs to help identify the fluids' source regions and migration routes.
Posted inScience Updates
Tackling Unanswered Questions on What Shapes Earth
Origin and Evolution of Plate Tectonics; Ascona, Switzerland, 18–22 July 2016
Posted inFeatures
A Meeting That Helped Foster the Acceptance of Global Tectonics
Fifty years ago, in the United States added their heft to a theory with profound implications: Earth's ocean crust recycles itself on a global scale, and continents move across the face of the planet.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Understanding Tectonic Processes Following Great Earthquakes
Scientists parse out the processes underlying tectonic signals detected by GPS networks.