Stand on a quiet Pacific shoreline at night and the ocean sounds calm, almost sleepy. Yet miles offshore, the seafloor is flexing, faults are creeping, and hot water is breathing through volcanic vents as if the planet itself were alive. The Pacific basin hides the world’s most potent tectonic engine, a restless ring where plates ...
The San Andreas Fault isn’t just a crack in California’s crust; it’s a bomb that is going off. This tectonic boundary between the Pacific and North American plates runs for more than 800 miles (1,300 km) from the Salton Sea to Cape Mendocino. It has changed the shape of California’s land and its future in ...
An ancient geological force has been quietly shaping the planet for millions of years deep beneath Oman’s rough terrain. Scientists have found a “ghost” plume, a column of hot rock rising from the Earth’s core. This plume may have been very important in changing the direction of the Indian tectonic plate when it crashed into ...
