For years, textbooks taught that shallow faults—cracks in the Earth’s upper crust—were too stable to cause earthquakes. Once they began to slip, they supposedly resisted further movement, a property ...

After faults deep in the Earth get shaken up from a stress-relieving event, they can be patched right back up to continue the endless earthquake cycle. However, this self-healing ability doesn't apply ...

Three huge tectonic plates meet at the Mendocino triple junction off the coast of northern California, and a new study reveals that the underlying geology is significantly more complex than current ...

New studies show that rocks can cement themselves together under the conditions found on a subducting fault. Scanning electron microscope images of quartz powder before (top) and after six and 24 ...

In the Pacific Northwest, big faults like the Cascadian subduction zone located offshore, get a lot of attention. But big faults aren't the only ones that pose significant hazards, and a new study ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The San Andreas fault Three huge tectonic plates meet at the Mendocino triple junction off the coast of northern California, and a ...