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

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 ...

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

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 ...

Lithospheric dripping occurs when the underside of Earth's rocky crust is heated to a certain temperature. As the rock melts, a drop starts to form, eventually becoming weighty enough to break off and ...

The researchers used a full-waveform tomographic model of the North American plate that showed "extensive drip-like features, ...