The Earth's plates jostle about in fits and starts that are punctuated with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. 4 min read There are a few handfuls of major plates and dozens of smaller, or minor ...

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer layer is made up of plates, which have moved throughout Earth's history. The theory explains the how and why behind mountains, volcanoes, and ...

At divergent boundaries, plates move away from each other and form mid-ocean ridges or major rift zones, and at strike-slip boundaries plates slide past each other.

Plate boundaries are where the action is. A large fraction of all earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building occurs at plate boundaries. It is also where most of the people on Earth live.

Plate tectonics give Earth its mountains, earthquakes, continental drift and maybe even helped give rise to life itself. But ...

Build mountains. Trigger volcanoes. Create new sea floor. You now have the power to change the landscape with the slightest push of your mouse. Four types of plate tectonic activity are ...

The continents of America and Europe are slowly becoming further apart as the Atlantic Ocean gets wider due to forces deep ...

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Jamie Carter is an award-winning reporter who covers the night sky. Are we alone, and if so, why? So far, the search for extraterrestrial ...

Underwater, though, submarine mountains usually form as two plates drift apart at a so-called divergent boundary and magma spews out.

Along convergent boundaries, subduction carries plates into the mantle; the material lost is roughly balanced by the formation of new (oceanic) crust along divergent margins by seafloor spreading.

The Earth is made of different layers: the core, mantle and crust. Plate tectonic theory shows that the crust of the Earth is split into plates (pieces of the Earth’s crust). The movement of ...