The idea of having four layers of the earth has long been considered a basic religious concept of geology taught to university children. Think of it like an onion: first there is the crust, where we live and it contains different layers of water, soil and rocks. Next comes the mantle, the thickest layer, which makes up 67% of the Earth’s mass. Then there is a liquid outer core, consisting mostly of iron and nickel. Finally there is an inner core, which is believed to be solid and composed mainly of iron-nickel alloys.
Scientists were convinced that these four sensible layers cover the interior of our planet. But it is suddenly called into question thanks to a new study, which provides evidence that the Earth’s interior may actually have two distinct layers.
This paper, written by scientists at The Australian National University, describes how researchers analyzed thousands of models of the Earth’s interior using a special discovery algorithm. His goal was to study how long seismic waves take to travel across the planet, based on decades of data compiled by the International Seismological Center. By doing this, they will be able to learn more about the internal course Anasotropy, A term that refers to how differences in the formation of a given object alter the properties of seismic waves.
In the process, scholars found that the depth of the inner core did not vary much when it came to depth, slower seismic waves changed in degrees by degrees, and faster waves ran parallel to the Earth’s rotation axis.
“We have found evidence that suggests a change in the composition of iron, suggesting two different cooling events in Earth’s history,” said Joan Stephens, a PhD researcher and lead author of the study.
Stephenson added, “The details of this big event are still a bit too mysterious, but we’ve added another part of the puzzle when it comes to our knowledge of the inner core of Amethyst.”
Writing to Salon, Stephens explained that “our study confirms that the inner core has changed at a distance of about 650 km – adding another piece to the puzzle. Importantly, what makes this study unique is the enthusiastic measure of uncertainty and methods.” Used – We wanted to make sure that what we saw inside was definitely a change and not just noise in the data. “
She added that while it is “extremely difficult to know exactly what it looks like on the inside,” the scientists’ findings suggest that “perhaps one form of iron changes from one form to another at deeper depths.” [inner core]. Probably due to some kind of dramatic event in the history of the Earth which has become like the cooling of the Earth. “
Stephenson and the ANU team are not the first scholars to suggest that there may be layers in the Earth’s interior. Stephens himself admitted that it was “suggested a few decades ago, but the data has been very vague,” indicating that the team “used very clever search algorithms to get into thousands of models of the inner core.”
He added, “It’s very exciting – and that could mean we have to rewrite textbooks.”
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