Subduction zones, where one tectonic plate dives underneath another, drive the world’s most devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. How do these danger zones come to be? A study in Geology presents ...

A subduction zone is a collision between two of Earth's tectonic plates, where one plate sinks into the mantle underneath the other plate.

Geologists from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have made a breakthrough in understanding how Earth's early continents ...

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth’s outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over Earth's mantle.

Subduction is a feature of plate tectonics, so these widespread rocks show with certainty that plates were crashing into and sliding under one another.

Subduction initiation and lithospheric rifting are the two key processes for the onset of plate tectonics.

This means that subduction-driven plate tectonics has been operating since the Hadean.

Due to the radiative thermal conductivity of the mineral olivine, only oceanic plates over 60 million years old and ...

Constructive plate margin Constructive plate margins are where tectonic plates pull apart due to convection currents in the mantle. Most constructive plate boundaries are found on ocean floors.

Geophysicists can use a new model to explain the behavior of a tectonic plate sinking into a subduction zone in the Earth's mantle: the plate becomes weak and thus more deformable when mineral ...

These convergent boundaries also occur where a plate of ocean dives, in a process called subduction, under a landmass. As the overlying plate lifts up, it also forms mountain ranges.