Big success to scientists, new layer detected in Earth’s inner core

Sydney (Best Hindu News): A team of researchers has found evidence of a new layer on the planet, located within the inner core. Data collected from seismic waves caused by earthquakes has shed new light on the deepest parts of Earth’s inner core, according to seismologists at The Australian National University (ANU).

Researchers believe they have found evidence of a separate layer inside Earth known as the ‘innermost inner core’, a solid ‘metal ball’ that sits within the center of the inner core, by measuring various motions , at which these layers enter and pass into the Earth’s inner core. Previously, it was thought that the Earth’s structure consisted of four distinct layers, namely the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core, but the present findings confirm a fifth layer.

Than-Son Phim, ANU Research School of Earth Sciences, said, “The existence of an inner metallic ball within the inner core, the innermost inner core, was hypothesized about 20 years ago. We now provide another line of evidence to support the hypothesis.”

Scientists observed seismic cores that travel straight through the Earth’s core and ‘spit out’ on the opposite side of the globe from where the earthquake occurred, also known as the antipode. The waves then return to the epicenter of the earthquake. The ANU researchers are comparing this process to a ping pong ball bouncing back and forth.

“By developing a technique to boost the signals recorded by a densely populated seismograph network, we observed, for the first time, seismic waves that bounce back and forth five times the Earth’s diameter,” said Fimm. Previous studies have only documented an antipodal bounce.” “The findings are exciting because they provide a new way to probe Earth’s inner core and its center-most region,” he said.