Dive into the world beneath your feet and discover what tectonic plates are, how they move, and why they're responsible for ...

The perpetual "slip 'n' slide" motion of the lithosphere on the asthenosphere caused it to fragment into several large sections called tectonic plates. Related: What makes Earth unique?

“The emergence of plate tectonics is arguably Earth’s defining ... The authors have created a mathematical model for the breaking of the lithosphere into pieces, and it involves the lava ...

It is common knowledge that the Earth's rigid upper layer called lithosphere is composed of moving plates. But just what mechanism first set plate tectonics into motion still remains a mystery.

Tectonic plates are made up of the outermost level, a thin layer of rock known as the crust, plus a sliver of the semi-molten upper mantle; together, this is called the lithosphere. It “floats ...

This particular section of our planet — comprised of two subsections known as the lithosphere and the asthenosphere — are where tectonic plates shift, causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, as ...

A mysterious layer lies beneath Earth's massive tectonic plates. Sandwiched between two rock layers — the rigid lithosphere and the more pliable asthenosphere— this thin boundary is like the ...

Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere — a viscous layer kept malleable by heat deep within the Earth. It lubricates the undersides of Earth's tectonic plates, allowing the lithosphere to move.

"Plate tectonics is a specific type of mobile lid regime, that is a mantle dynamics regime where the lid (lithosphere) takes part in the convection cell. As such, it is characterized by high ...

Although plate tectonics was originally defined by the kinematics of the Earth’s outer shell (lithosphere) on the underlying asthenosphere, a number of dynamic interpretations for its operation ...

This subduction process frequently occurs because of the two different types of lithosphere that make up tectonic plates: Continental and oceanic. Because oceanic material is denser than ...

“While Venus doesn’t have Earth-style tectonics, these regions of thin lithosphere appear to be allowing significant amounts of heat to escape, similar to areas where new tectonic plates form ...