Earth's crust ranges from 5 to 70 kilometers in thickness and serves as the planet's outermost layer. This thin shell represents less than one percent of Earth's total mass, yet it's the only layer we ...

The Earth with the upper mantle exposed. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a previously unknown layer of partly molten rock approximately 100 miles beneath the Earth's ...

The layer, located 100 miles below the Earth's surface, could help shed light on how the tectonic plates move. Reading time 2 minutes Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are a result of the movement of ...

The Earth’s crust is constantly changing. It’s currently made of many huge rock slabs called tectonic plates—seven major ones ...

Researchers have detected a previously unknown layer of partially molten rock beneath Earth’s crust. The discovery could help scientists learn more about the movements of Earth’s tectonic plates, ...

Hell, or something like it, may be a little closer than we thought. As a new study published in Nature Geoscience reveals, geologists at Cornell and the University of Texas have discovered a “hidden” ...

Earth's inner layers have just got a bit more complicated, with scientists discovering a whole new inner core within the center of the planet. Research released on February 21 in the journal Nature ...

One of geology’s basic principles is that the Earth is made up of four layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core. But this may be squashed in light of a new study that suggests ...

Geology runs in order, as sediments pile up over time, with older material buried deeper and younger layers added on top. The sequence allows scientists to read Earth’s past like a timeline. It ...

Rather than a single giant chamber, the Yellowstone Caldera is made up of a complex system that includes a shallow magma ...

Rocks from Australia have given scientists the oldest direct proof that Earth's surface was moving in separate pieces 3.5 billion years ago.

Like a moth in a cocoon, the metamorphosis of Earth's crust from molten goop to solid land is hidden from view, leaving scientists to guess at how the eons-long process unfolds. Using nearly four ...