Continental plates more unstable than previously thought

Continental plates more unstable than previously thought

A revolutionary research study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign disputes the decades-old conventional understanding of the Earth’s continental plates. The study posits that the Earth’s ‘stable cratons’—previously thought to be immovable regions of continental plates—have experienced repeated deformations beneath their crust since their formation.

Antarctica and North America were connected more than a billion years ago

Antarctica and North America were connected more than a billion years ago

An international team of scientists found that the combination of lead isotopes in rocks peeking out of the Antarctic ice is the same as in rocks from a rift that cuts across the United States. Remote Antarctic rocks hold strong new evidence that parts of Antarctica