Here's What'll Happen When Plate Tectonics Grinds to a Halt A new study says we may only have another 1.45 billion years to enjoy the dynamic action of Earth’s geologic engine. By Robin George ...

Scientists have been baffled to discover solid rock flowing 1,700 miles (2,700km) beneath the Earth's surface.

Tectonic plates move because of convection currents in the mantle. Heat from Earth’s core causes the semi-molten rock in the mantle to flow, dragging the plates above them.

Imagine discovering a set of footprints on a remote beach, only to later find an identical set thousands of miles away. This is exactly what happened to a team of paleontologists, who uncovered ...

This part of the planet plays a crucial role in shaping surface features like mountains and volcanoes, and it drives plate tectonics through slow-moving convection currents.

On Earth, convection deep in the mantle provides the energy that drives plate tectonics. Earth’s crust, about 40 kilometers thick in continents and 6 km in ocean basins, is too thin and cool to ...

Convection currents in the mantle (with the hot mantle floating to the surface and the cooler, denser mantle going downwards) are what push these tectonic plates.

Alfred Wagner proposed a theory in 1912 that paved the way for plate tectonics. Wagner’s concept of continental drift was used to explain what happened when the supercontinent of Pangaea broke ...

Early in the days of plate tectonic theory, geologists and geophysicists assumed plates move because of mantle convection. Currents of hot, molten material rising inside the Earth push the plates ...

Convection currents in Earth’s mantle drive the movement of tectonic plates. Tectonic plates interact at their boundaries in three primary ways: they move apart, collide, or slide past one another.

Convection currents in Earth's mantle drive the movement of tectonic plates. Tectonic plates interact at their boundaries in three primary ways: they move apart, collide, or slide past one another.