The formation of Earth’s earliest continental crust during the Archean eon (4.0–2.5 Ga) reflects a complex interplay of mantle melting, magmatic differentiation and crustal recycling. Partial melting ...

Earth’s continental crust may have begun forming hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought, Yale scientists say — and the reason will be obvious to anyone who has ever baked a cake ...

A team of geochemists has found new evidence that Earth has been consistently churning out crust since its formation 4.5 billion years ago and that some crust is made of ancient, resurfaced chunks.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland. This area is the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, which move apart ~ 2.5 cm/year. Subduction and the formation of continents, a ...

Earth’s journey through the Milky Way might have helped create the planet’s first continents. Comets may have bombarded Earth every time the early solar system traveled through our galaxy’s spiral ...