Earth's first continents, known as the cratons, emerged from the ocean between 3.3 billion and 3.2 billion years ago, a new study hints. This pushes back previous estimates of when the cratons first ...

Deep beneath the Central African Plateau, something vast is stirring. In Zambia's remote Kafue Rift, hot springs are ...

Scientists recently published new ideas about why Earth’s toughest, oldest continents persist. These continents, known as cratons, have been on earth for more than two billion years. Andrew Zuza, an ...

The first continents on Earth formed between 3 and 2.5 billion years ago. Geologists studying the oldest rocks found on Earth believe that partial melting, fueled by the heat released during the decay ...

Ancient, expansive tracts of continental crust called cratons have helped keep Earth's continents stable for billions of years, even as landmasses shift, mountains rise and oceans form. A new ...

Stable parts of the Earth's crust may not be as immovable as previously thought. While much of the crust is affected by plate tectonic activity, certain more stable portions have remained unchanged ...

Geologists from Harvard University, Geoscience Australia and the Australian National Univer­sity are drawing up a map to show where mining companies should focus their search for the ores of metals ...

The continent of North America is not a single, thick, rigid slab, but is instead more similar to a layer cake, with a section of 3-billion-year-old rock sitting atop much newer material, a new study ...