New research from HKU geologists suggests that Earth's first continents were born not from plate tectonics, but from deep ...

Is Earth's inner core solid or liquid? While the inner core is extremely hot, experts have known that it is solid for many ...

Our planet has been asteroid-smashed, melted and eroded, enough that most of its original armor has been long buried. Except ...

The prevalence and diversity of diatoms have made them highly successful, suggesting the evolutionary history of diatoms is worth understanding as an important piece of the larger puzzle of life on ...

These findings hint at the possibility of tapping a cleaner form of energy that has been locked away in Earth’s crust. Hidden supply of hydrogen Many experts are focusing on how naturally occurring ...

Ophiolites are chunks of Earth's crust and upper mantle that once sat beneath the ocean, but were later thrust onto land. In 2024, researchers discovered a massive hydrogen reservoir within an ...

Scientists have found a massive funnel-shaped region beneath the Midwest that is drawing rock from across North America toward it in a horizontal flow, before pulling it down into the Earth's mantle.

Earth's crust today has a surprisingly similar composition to the planet's first outer shell, or "protocrust," new research finds. This early rocky shell featured chemical signatures previously ...

We know of around 35 cratons lurking beneath our feet. Lithospheric dripping occurs when the underside of Earth's rocky crust is heated to a certain temperature.

In a new paper published in Nature today, colleagues and I reveal secrets of Earth’s crust 4.5 billion years ago.

When Earth was formed, it was a uniform ball of hot rock. Radioactive decay and leftover heat from the planet’s formation caused this ball to become even hotter. Eventually, after about 500 ...

Rare earth minerals, a blanket term for 17 metallic elements found in the earth's crust, possess unique properties such as magnetic capabilities, electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion.