A new study suggests that Earth’s inner core is experiencing structural changes. The research analyzed data from 121 repeating earthquakes recorded between 1991 and 2024 near the South Sandwich Islands, off Antarctica, to reach this conclusion.
Key Findings:
- The near-surface layer of the Earth's inner core is not as rigid as previously thought.
- The changes in the solid inner core are driven by interactions with the turbulent, molten outer core.
- These interactions may be influencing the core's rotation and potentially altering the length of a day.
- The independent spin of the inner core appears to be slowing down, contrary to earlier beliefs that it rotated independently due to interactions with the mantle.
Significance:
This finding challenges the previous assumption that structural changes in the inner core occur only over geological timescales.
About Earth’s Inner Core:
- Nature: The innermost solid layer of Earth, formed under immense pressure from the overlying layers.
- Composition: Primarily made of iron and nickel.
- Radius: Approximately 1,220 kilometers.
- Temperature: About 5,200°C.
- Properties: High thermal and electrical conductivity, crucial for generating Earth's magnetic field, among other functions.
Layers of the Earth:
- By Chemical Composition:
- Crust: The outermost solid layer made mainly of basalt and granite.
- Mantle: The layer between the crust and core, consisting of hot, dense rock rich in iron and magnesium.
- Core: The innermost layer, divided into a liquid outer core and solid inner core.
- By Physical/Mechanical Properties:
- Lithosphere: The outermost physical layer of Earth.
- Asthenosphere: A part of the mantle that behaves like molten plastic, even though it is solid.
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