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Articles on Tectonics

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When Pangea Ultima forms, conditions on Earth will be too inhospitable for most mammals to survive. Maurus Spescha/Shutterstock

How the age of mammals could end

A supercontinent could raise global temperatures to such a degree that it could wipe out mammals.
The greenhouse effect and plate tectonics are essential for maintaining water on the Earth’s surface. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Reto Stöckli

Why is the Earth blue?

The presence of water on the Earth’s surface is the result of a subtle balance between different mechanisms in the atmosphere and below the surface.
Some explosive volcanoes can send ash high up into the sky and it can travel around the world over different countries. Shutterstock

Curious Kids: Why do volcanoes erupt?

When magma rises towards the surface gas bubbles start to form. Whether or not they can escape as the magma is rising affects how explosive the eruption will be.
The Joides Resolution. Tim Fulton

Explorers probe hidden continent of Zealandia

We have better maps of the moon than Earth’s newest continent, Zealandia. That’s about to change as an international expedition probes the vast undersea plateau of continental crust.

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