A hidden chunk of an ancient tectonic plate is stuck to the Pacific Ocean floor and sliding under North America, complicating earthquake risk at the Cascadia subduction zone.

Far beneath the ocean's surface, where mountain belts rise and ancient oceanic crust lies hidden, a long-lost tectonic plate has been brought back into view. In one of Earth's most tectonically ...

Hawaii is known for its tropical beauty, extreme isolation, and for being a U.S. state with active volcanoes near cities, like Hilo, which is also a U.S. city that will be the most vulnerable to ...

A study led by Colorado State University suggests that the answers to how and why mountains form are buried deeper than once thought. "Mountain building is a fundamental process of how Earth behaves,” ...

Plate subduction traverses multiple Earth spheres, transporting surface and lithospheric materials to the deep interior and reaching the core-mantle boundary (CMB). Conversely, mantle plumes convey ...

The Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped seismic belt encircling the Pacific Ocean, is one of Earth’s most active geological regions. Home to hundreds of millions of people, it stretches across ...