Researchers describe zircons from the Andes mountains of Patagonia. Although the zircons formed when tectonic plates were colliding, they have a chemical signature associated with when the plates were ...

The world's longest mountain chain stretches along the entire west coast of South America, but scientists have been struggling to explain how it formed. Published Dec. 1 in Nature, research led by ...

Mount Everest is astoundingly tall at 29,032 feet above sea level, besting its Himalayan neighbors by hundreds of feet. But the world’s tallest peak is still growing, scientists say, thanks in part to ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. Based on a series of models considering how the continents were ...

Intense glacial erosion has not only carved the surface of the highest coastal mountain range on earth, the spectacular St. Elias range in Alaska, but has elicited a structural response from deep ...

For the first time in history, scientists have observed the rupture of a tectonic plate in a subduction zone in real time.

Mount Everest stands at 29,032 feet and is still growing. A river merger from 89,000 years ago is partly responsible for Everest’s continued height increase. The mountain gains up to 2 millimeters per ...

New seismic data reveals that the Indian tectonic plate is breaking apart deep beneath Tibet, in a phenomenon scientists call ...

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 ...

The opening and closing of the Rocas Verdes Basin, a back-arc basin in Patagonia, as described by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin in a study published in Geology. Panels B and C ...