Future missions to Venus could also supply additional data on the density and temperature of the planet's crust, which could be used to test the researchers' hypothesis. If crustal convection is ...

Seismic waves from earthquakes have always offered a window into Earth’s hidden interior. For decades, researchers believed they had a firm grasp on how these waves revealed the rocky mantle’s secrets ...

These plates move on the semi-fluid mantle beneath. Convection currents in the mantle (with the hot mantle floating to the surface and the cooler, denser mantle going downwards) are what push ...

The land bridge created by mantle-driven uplift gave early primates and other animals opportunities to branch out.

are where tectonic plates pull apart due to convection currents in the mantle. Most constructive plate boundaries are found on ocean floors. Some of these undersea volcanoes become so large that ...

On Earth, convection deep in the mantle provides the energy that drives ... These polygons are formed by slow convection currents in a 4 km-thick layer of solid nitrogen ice.

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

and it drives plate tectonics through slow-moving convection currents. Scientists have long known that different materials in the mantle affect the speed of seismic waves. Faster wave speeds ...