The secret of the Earth's core was revealed by Australian scientists

Australian scientists reveal the secrets of the Earth's inner core thanks to the bounce of seismic waves

According to a new study from the Australian National University (ANU), There will be a solid “metal ball” in the innermost layer of the Earth's core. The results, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that it is an iron sphere with a radius of 650 kilometers, and would form a previously unknown fifth layer of the Earth's depths. About 20 years ago, it was hypothesized that there was an inner metal sphere in the Earth's core, separate from the outer core. Previously, it was thought that the structure of our planet consists of four layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core.

Study details

“Thanks to a technique we used to enhance seismic signals, we have observed, for the first time, seismic waves bouncing back and forth up to five times across the diameter of the Earth,” the researchers say. The study's authors analyzed how seismic waves travel through the center of the planet It then bounces back toward the surface. This effect is similar to what you get when you bounce a ping pong ball back and forth.

Earthquake studies

The research was based on data from approx 200 earthquakes with a magnitude of 6 or more that occurred in the past decade. The researchers concluded that the difference in travel times of seismic waves is the reason With crystalline structure Within the innermost region of the Earth's inner core, it may have been different from its outer layer.

These results provide a better understanding of how the Earth formed and evolved over time. They also suggest that a major global event during the planet's evolution could have caused the change in the structure of our planet's inner core.

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