For decades, climate science has treated Earth’s shifting crust as a slow, distant backdrop to the drama of global warming. New research is rewriting that script, showing that the way continents drift ...

A study of the East African Rift reveals that ancient heating and dehydration can strengthen continental crust, reshaping how and where continents break apart.

New research reveals that Earth’s continents owe their stability to searing heat deep in the planet’s crust. At more than 900°C, radioactive elements shifted upward, cooling and strengthening the ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. The chemistry of crystals in some of Earth’s oldest rocks may ...

Modern continental rocks carry chemical signatures from the very start of our planet's history, challenging current theories about plate tectonics. Researchers have made a new discovery that changes ...

Billions of years ago, Earth was an uninhabitable rock covered in magma. Scientists are still working to decipher the tale of how it transformed into a blue and green orb teeming with life. However, ...