Tag Archives: bruno abegg

How (and when) Earth got its plated shell

New Yale-led research suggests how and when Earth came to develop one of its most distinct features — rigid tectonic plates — and why Venus, Earth’s twin-like neighbor, never has.

“We think it all comes down to the behavior of tiny grains of minerals within rocks,” said Yale geophysicist David Bercovici, lead author of research published online April 6 in the journal Nature. (more…)

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