The plates make up Earth's outer shell, called the lithosphere. (This includes the crust and uppermost part of the mantle.) Churning currents in the molten rocks below propel them along like a ...

Even the oldest and most stable of lithospheric structures can’t withstand geologic machinations deep within the Earth.

New research reveals a surprising link between the ancient tectonic history of oceanic plates and their fate as they subduct ...

Lithospheric dripping occurs when the underside of Earth's rocky crust is heated to a certain temperature. As the rock melts, ...

When the lithosphere is broken into a number of plates is called the Lithospheric plates. The plates are moving because they are floating on the molten magma inside the earth. The movement of ...

Earth's lithosphere — its crust and rigid upper mantle — is split into roughly 15 constantly-moving plates. These plates are perpetually shifting, colliding and pulling apart from one another.