Deep below the Earth's surface, subduction causes partial melting of both the ocean crust and mantle as they slide past one another. This melting generates magma that makes its way to the surface ...

Currents within the mantle have broken the crust into blocks, called plates, which slowly move around, colliding to build mountains or rifting apart to form new seafloor. Continents are composed ...

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 ...

Extraction of the continental crust has left the Earth's mantle depleted in certain elements. Some rocks from the Arctic Ocean floor suggest that the extent of depletion and heterogeneity in the ...

A long-lost oceanic plate is diving deep into the mantle, dragging down the crust above, researchers say. However, the plate is also tearing apart below the Zagros Mountains in Iraq as it plunges ...

Two enormous continent-sized "islands" found buried deep inside the Earth's mantle are challenging our ... from the surrounding remains of subducted crust, as they are much hotter.

Scientists have discovered portions of the Earth's crust sinking into the mantle beneath California's Sierra Nevada mountains. This phenomenon, occurring over millions of years, helps explain ...