The Mendocino Triple Junction off the coast of Northern California is the point where three tectonic plates meet. A new study reveals at least five moving pieces deep below the Earth's surface make up ...

The tectonic plates are among the most powerful forces on Earth, exerting tremendous influence over every single life that unfolds on this planet. They are both creators and destroyers, capable of ...

Plate tectonics is a highly complex phenomenon that underpins almost every geological process and our understanding of Earth. Increasingly sophisticated computers and statistical approaches, including ...

The Gulf of California occupies a young oblique-divergent plate boundary where the Pacific and North American plates diverge and slide past one another. Beginning in the mid-Miocene, rifting ...

An enduring question in geology is when Earth’s tectonic plates began pushing and pulling in a process that helped the planet evolve and shaped its continents into the ones that exist today. Some ...

Scientists have uncovered the oldest direct evidence yet that Earth’s tectonic plates were on the move 3.5 billion years ago. By analyzing magnetic fingerprints in ancient rocks, they reconstructed ...

The Mendocino Triple Junction is the meeting point of three tectonic plates. Using data from tiny earthquakes, researchers at USGS, UC Davis and CU Boulder propose a new model for this seismic zone.