Earth is the only planet in our solar system with both plate tectonics and life. Is there a connection?
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Articles on Plate tectonics
Displaying 41 - 60 of 62 articles
When two major earthquakes occur within days of each other thousands of kilometres apart, it can look like they’re connected. But are they? Here’s what the science says.
The earth around you might seem static but it’s constantly in motion. We need to track this motion in fine detail if we’re to keep our GPS networks up to date.
A fall in vital trace elements in our oceans could be one of the driving forces behind a number of mass extinction events during Earth’s history.
What happens beneath the surface before a volcano erupts? Can we predict when one will blow? And how can typhoons and melting glaciers contribute to big eruptions?
The rise and fall of the essential elements for life could have influenced the way life evolved over many millions of years.
For seismologists, there’s much to be learned after a major earthquake, as aftershocks help them map out the fault with high precision. More data now can prepare a region for its next big one.
How is it that Earth developed an atmosphere that made the development of life possible? A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience links the origins of Earth’s nitrogen-rich atmosphere to the…
From the 1950s until recently, we thought we had a clear idea of how continents form. Most people will have heard of plate tectonics: moving pieces on the surface of the planet that collide, pull away…
Plate tectonics – the large-scale movement of Earth’s lithosphere or outer layers – started around three billion years ago, but how those movements started was a bit of a mystery – until today. With colleagues…
New research into early plate tectonics suggests the conditions for life on Earth may have existed up to a billion years…
A global map of subduction zones has been developed, which will allow researchers to more accurately pinpoint areas capable…
New evidence is shedding light on the processes that formed Earth’s oldest rock and mineral record – processes that influenced the early evolution of life. Over the past 30 years our knowledge of the earliest…
It should not be a surprise that East Africa was a hotbed of evolution, because over the last five million years everything about the landscape has changed. The extraordinary forces of plate tectonics…
Scientists have discovered the elixir to the world’s most renown mountains’ exceedingly long health: landslides and erosion…
Earthquakes, volcanoes and movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates influence coral diversity patterns more than short-term environmental changes, a new study by Australian researchers has found. The study…
Exactly 100 years ago, German geophysicist Alfred Wegener presented his theory of continental drift – the idea that the continents of Earth are gradually drifting apart. And now we have some compelling…
Significant changes in the motion of Earth’s tectonic plates has been found to occur less frequently than was previously…
On an exploratory mission to discover more about the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, underwater volcanoes and mineral-laden…
Zircon crystals from ancient rocks in Greenland suggest the movement of plate tectonics to have occurred 3.2 billion years…
Top contributors
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Associate Professor of Earthquake Science, The University of Melbourne
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Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor Emeritus, The University of Melbourne
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Director of the Macquarie Planetary Research Centre/Associate Professor in Geodynamics, Macquarie University
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John Long is a Friend of The Conversation.
Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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Distinguished Professor of Geology, University of Tasmania
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Professor of Geology, University of Adelaide
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Research Fellow, Northwest University, Xi'an
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Honorary Fellow in Structural Geology and Tectonics, The University of Melbourne
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ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Sydney
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Lecturer in Geoscience, Queensland University of Technology
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Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Science, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
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Honorary researcher, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Geophysics, University of Sydney
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Senior Lecturer, University of Wollongong
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Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University
