Some unanswered questions [This Dynamic Earth, USGS]

USGS ^ | Last updated: May 5, 1999 | jmwatson@usgs.gov

[SunkenCiv]

The tectonic plates do not randomly drift or wander about the Earth's surface; they are driven by definite yet unseen forces. Although scientists can neither precisely describe nor fully understand the forces, most believe that the relatively shallow forces driving the lithospheric plates are coupled with forces originating much deeper in the Earth... Just as a solid metal like steel, when exposed to heat and pressure, can be softened and take different shapes, so too can solid rock in the mantle when subjected to heat and pressure in the Earth's interior over millions of years.

[Fred Nerks]

Five spacecraft from two ESA missions unexpectedly found themselves engulfed by waves of electrical and magnetic energy...

unexptectedly!

[SunkenCiv]

That’ll teach ‘em to mess around!