New research has dramatically reshaped our understanding of Earth’s early geological history, overturning traditional beliefs about how the planet’s first continents came into being. Researchers from ...

Scientists have revealed that two continent-size regions in Earth's deep mantle have distinctive histories and resulting chemical composition, in contrast to the common assumption they are the same. A ...

Parts of ancient Earth may have formed continents and recycled crust through subduction far earlier than previously thought. New research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has ...

Geologists from St. Petersburg State University, as part of an international scientific team, have analyzed rock data from ...

Tiny zircon crystals are revealing that Earth’s earliest history may have included surprisingly complex tectonic activity.

Hadean was an inferno of fire and water that laid the foundations for life on Earth. Credit: Guillermo Carvajal / labrujulaverde.com Analyses of 4-billion-year-old minerals reveal active tectonics and ...

Earth’s Ediacaran Period, roughly 630 to 540 million years ago, has always been something of a magnetic minefield for scientists. During earlier and later time periods, tectonic plates kept a steady ...

Disregard what you learned in geography class—Earth may not have seven continents after all. From the earliest of grades, schoolchildren around the world have memorized the same lineup: Africa, ...

Recent earth science developments suggest that how we count our planet’s largest land masses is less clear than we learned in school. By Matt Kaplan The world is split up into continents, there are ...

Although everyone learns that the Earth is neatly divided into seven continents (at least for now), a scientist from the University of Derby recently suggested that things may not be so clear cut.

The map of Earth looks settled at first glance. Continents feel fixed, named, and counted. Yet over the past few decades, geologists have been quietly reshaping that picture. One large region in the ...