Liquid iron may be trapped inside Earth's solid core: New study

Earth's inner core grew rapidly resulting in liquid iron being trapped inside, says seismologist from University of Utah

By Burak Dag

ANKARA (AA) - Recent research shows there may be swirls of liquid iron trapped inside the Earth’s solid core, reported the journal Nature on Wednesday.

According to Live Science, scientists from the University of Utah conducted research by observing seismic waves and reached new findings on the structure of the planet’s core.

The research focused on waves triggered by earthquakes of 5.7 and above magnitude. Scientists measured the waves by placing 20 seismic meters in different parts of the world to measure earthquake waves and monitor nuclear weapons tests.

The dataset showed 2,455 such earthquakes were measured.

“A long time ago, the inner core grew really fast,” said Keith Koper, a seismologist from the University of Utah.

“It reached an equilibrium, and then it started to grow much more slowly. Not all of the iron became solid, so some liquid iron could be trapped inside,” Koper added.

The research also showed that the core’s composition was “inhomogeneous” or varied.

“For the first time, we confirmed that this kind of inhomogeneity is everywhere inside the inner core,” said GuanningPang, who conducted the research as a doctoral student at the University of Utah.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar

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