About

Bradford Foley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2014. His research interests include mantle dynamics, plate tectonics, the evolution of terrestrial planets, climate-tectonic interactions, and related geoscience topics. His work focuses on understanding the processes that shape Earth's interior and surface, contributing to the broader knowledge of planetary evolution and geodynamics.

Research topics

• Physics
• Astrobiology
• Computer Science
• Computer Security
• Sociology
• Social Science
• Astronomy
• Geology
• Nuclear physics
• Materials science
• Meteorology
• Metallurgy
• Astrophysics
• Geophysics
• Earth science
• Geochemistry
• Biology
• Data science
• Seismology

Selected publications

• Paleomagnetic detection of relative plate motions and an infrequently reversing core dynamo at 3.5 Ga (Dataset)

  UC San Diego · 2026-01-01

  datasetOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Little to no active faulting likely at Europa’s seafloor today

  Nature Communications · 2026-01-06

  articleOpen access

  Many of the outer Solar System's icy satellites feature known or suspected subsurface oceans, at least some of which are likely situated atop rocky interiors. Water-rock interactions at and beneath these seafloors might support active chemoautotrophic habitats, with subseafloor fluid flow facilitated by active faulting and hydrothermal systems. Absent such phenomena, however, any attainment of chemical equilibrium between the seafloor and ocean might limit the availability of chemical energy for life. Here, we characterise the stress state of the seafloor of Jupiter's moon Europa, and thus the prospect for fracturing and associated sub-seafloor fluid flow there. We consider stresses from tidal forcing, global contraction, mantle convection, and serpentinisation. We find that none of these mechanisms is likely able to drive slip along even weak, pre-existing fractures in the present. Ocean water-rock reactions taking place today are therefore probably restricted to fluid flow through only the upper few hundred metres of the seafloor. Any processes able to sustain habitable conditions at the Europan seafloor today must therefore be independent of ongoing tectonic activity.

  PublisherDOI

• The role of the mantle decompaction layer in Hadean volcanism

  2026-03-13

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  How the very early Earth lost its internal heat remains a subject of debate. Early Earth may have been characterized by extensive magmatism due to a hot mantle, which then acted as the primary heat loss mechanism, or been more volcanically quiescent, where heat conduction through the lithosphere served as the primary heat loss mechanism. The primary mode of early Earth heat loss would then strongly influence tectonics and crust formation, the long-term thermal evolution of the interior, and surface environments where life could originate in the Hadean or Eoarchean.Our recent crustal evolution model suggests that mantle melt production and mafic extrusive volcanism must have been limited prior to 3.6 Ga to remain consistent with Hf isotope data. We hypothesized that these geochemical constraints require a 'quiescent Earth' with a low melt production rate (

  PublisherDOI

• Hafnium isotopes suggest a volcanically quiescent Hadean Earth

  Research Square · 2026-03-18

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Establishment of subduction at early Earth continent margins by migration: Implications for interpreting geochemical observations

  Earth and Planetary Science Letters · 2026-03-21

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Paleomagnetic detection of relative plate motions and an infrequently reversing core dynamo at 3.5 Ga

  Science · 2026-03-19 · 2 citations

  article

  Whether early Earth had a mobile lithosphere and plate tectonics is debated. We present paleomagnetic data quantifying differential motion between lithospheric blocks at ~3.48 billion years ago (Ga). This manifested as [Formula: see text]centimeters per year latitudinal motion of the East Pilbara Craton (Western Australia) across high latitudes, whereas the Barberton Greenstone Belt (South Africa) was stationary at low latitudes. Comparison of this plate motion with candidate analogs suggests either rapid collisional plate tectonics (i.e., an "active-lid") or an episodically mobile lithosphere. We also document the oldest known geomagnetic reversal at ~3.46 Ga, consistent with an axial dipolar dynamo that reversed less frequently than today's. The existence and rates of these surface and core geophysical phenomena provide geodynamic context to Earth's early geophysical and biological evolution.

  PublisherDOI

• The Effect of Composition Variation on Mantle Solidus and Thermal Evolution of Rocky Planets

  2025-01-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Seafloor Weathering as a Source of Phosphorus on Ocean-Covered Exoplanets

  2025-01-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• DEEP LEARNING-BASED TRACKING OF SUBDUCTION ZONES IN MANTLE CONVECTION MODELS

  Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2025-01-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Mantle composition control on the likelihood of plate tectonics on rocky exoplanets

  2025-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: Testing models of early Earth crust formation and tectonics

  NSF · $672k · 2021–2027

• A new hypothesis for the initiation of plate tectonics on Earth: Feedback between subduction and continental crust growth

  NSF · $341k · 2017–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Cayman T. Unterborn

  Southwest Research Institute

  12 shared

• David Bercovici

  Planetary Science Institute

  11 shared

• Stephen R. Kane

  9 shared

• P. K. Byrne

  Washington University in St. Louis

  6 shared

• Michael J. Heap

  Université de Strasbourg

  5 shared

• Laura Kreidberg

  Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

  5 shared

• Jesse Reimink

  Pennsylvania State University

  5 shared

• M. J. Way

  5 shared