In 1981, scientists discovered one of the thinnest portions of the Earth’s crust — a 1-mile (1.6 kilometers) thick, earthquake-prone spot under the Atlantic Ocean where the American and African ...

Microscopic zircon crystals discovered in Western Australia suggest that Earth may have had continental crust as early as 4.4 ...

Learn how seismic waves helped identify rare mantle earthquakes deep below Earth’s crust, offering new insight into the ...

The Earth with the upper mantle exposed. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a previously unknown layer of partly molten rock approximately 100 miles beneath the Earth's ...

Researchers have detected a previously unknown layer of partially molten rock beneath Earth's crust. The discovery could help scientists learn more about the movements of Earth's tectonic plates, ...

Stanford scientists have developed a new method for identifying rare earthquakes in the Earth’s upper mantle, under the ...

The crusty conundrum carries fundamental implications. The thickness of continental crust — the part of Earth’s crust that forms land masses and continents — plays an important role in everything from ...

The record-breaking mission offers an unprecedented opportunity to study the geology of our planet’s largest layer.

First global map of mantle earthquakes reveals seismic activity far beneath continents, challenging old ideas about Earth’s ...

Earth's inner layers have just got a bit more complicated, with scientists discovering a whole new inner core within the center of the planet. Research released on February 21 in the journal Nature ...