Plate tectonics just a stage in Earth’s life cycle
Simulation shows crust to stop shifting in 5 billion years
![Earth tectonic diagram](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/052716_ts_plate-tectonics_free.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
TECTONIC TIMETABLE Plate tectonics will grind to a halt in a few billion years, researchers predict. A computer simulation calculated how heat flows through a planet’s interior, including this snapshot during a period of active plate tectonics.
C. O’Neill et al/Phys. Earth Plan. Int. 2016