The discovery of a new layer in the Earth's core could allow us to understand more about the history of our planet. The team, led by researchers fromAustralian National University (ANU), confirmed the existence of an “Earth's innermost core” at the center of our planet.
It is still difficult to analyze and observe this newly discovered layer, he explains Joanne Stephenson, lead author of the study. The layers of the earth (as well as the core of the earth) still remain largely a mystery. But this layer could be indicative of an unknown event that occurred in the history of the our planet.
It is an exhilarating discovery, which could cause us to rewrite all the textbooks on this subject.
Joanne Stephenson
The team's study was published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Journal of Geophysical Research. The central core of the globe has been the subject of extensive scrutiny, and the effort has not failed to pay off the researchers.
The “new” central layer in the Earth's core
Further analysis of this newly discovered inner layer of Earth's core suggests that our planet may have undergone two distinct coolings over the course of its history. By studying these innermost layers of the Earth we can better understand the evolution and history of the entire planet. This new information offers an exciting window into our past and helps us piece together the puzzle of how we became the blue globe everyone envies us. (All who?)
What we knew about the core of the earth prior to this discovery
The core of the earth has been under study for some time. What we knew until this recent ANU study is that the Earth is composed of four main layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. While we obviously know more about the outer core (it is liquid, composed of Nife, nickel and iron, and has a temperature of around 3000 degrees), we know less about the internal components and the exact temperature at the center of the earth. The new layer discovered by the team is located within the Earth's central core.
Suspicions about the existence of another layer in the inner part of the earth had been around for a while, but the data in the possession of science was very unclear. Not only that: their structuring made a clear subdivision of the earth's layers more complicated.
“We got around this problem by using a very intelligent search algorithm to explore thousands of models of the Earth's inner core and layers,” Stephenson says.
A better understanding of the structure of our Earth, and therefore of history, allows us to understand the changes that occurred before humans could observe them and to relate them to modern geological changes.
