Emerging evidence suggests that plate tectonics, or the recycling of Earth's crust, may have begun much earlier than previously thought — and may be a big reason that our planet harbors life.

An unexpected find in tiny crystals hints that the Earth's mantle may not quite behave as has been believed for nearly a century.

Earth surface is covered with rigid plates that move, crash into each other and dive into the planet's interior. But when did this process begin?

Zircon crystals grow in many different types of rock and possess a range of optical and physical properties. Some zircons—usually green ones—display much lower values for these properties than others.

Jewelry brands are usually sorted by style and price. If you’re looking for versatile, everyday pieces that are easy on your budget, consider demi-fine or fashion jewelry to complement your ...

Tiny minerals are revolutionizing our understanding of geology. Easter Island consists of several extinct volcanoes. The ...

To do this, they turned to tiny, uranium-bearing crystals preserved in lava, called zircons, which are like natural little time capsules. The more time that passes after the crystals form from ...

A new study reconstructs how an ancient North American rift system was uplifted in space and time due to subsequent continent-continent collision.

How could that be? Earth's mantle Chemical analysis of the zircons showed that their composition was more or less the same in all cases. So, they all had to have come from magma of the same ...