Scientists believe they might have made a breakthrough on what lies at the very center of the earth’s core. Researchers from the U.S and China believe the innermost core of the earth has another distinct region at its center. The inner core is believed to be smaller than the moon and may reportedly shed more light on how the planet formed as well as its history and various dynamic process ever engulfed the planet.
The latest findings thwart earlier suggestions that the inner core, which is 3,100 miles beneath the surface was made of a solid ball of iron. The scientist now maintains there is a hidden nucleus half the diameter of the outer core, with iron core crystals in the inner core aligned in an east-west direction. Crystals in the outer core, on the other hand, are lined up north to south.
The whole revelations were made by scientists studying the earth’s core using seismic data by analyzing how the waves change as they pass through varying layers. The findings have been posted in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Xiaodong Song, a professor at the University of Illinois, states that waves are constantly bouncing back to and from the side of the earth surface. The data according to the professor suggests the earth’s inner core is made up of two parts. The fact that the data suggests there are two different parts could as well be an indication that the inner core has been evolving over the years according to Song.
University of Cambridge, Simon Redfern, on the other hand believes the findings could mean other big things, like essentially reading a tree’s rings. The researcher believes pealing deeper into the solid inner core could be like tracing back in time to the beginning of its formation
Redfern believes if Song’s research is true then the fact that the very heart of the earth is so different could mean something big happened to distort the orientation of the core.