Surprising heart of Earth’s inner core

Scientists from China and the U.S. say that new research indicates the innermost core of our planet has another, distinct region at its centre
-----------------------------------------------
EARTH ANATOMY

Earth 12,742km in diameter

Crust 5-50km thick

Upper mantle 360-405km

Transition zone 250km

Lower mantle 2,230km

Outer core 2,260km

Inner core 1,220km

Moon 3,474km in diameter

Equator
-------------------------------------------------
INNER CORE

NEW THEORY

Outer inner core: Iron crystals aligned north-to-south

Inner inner core: Iron crystals aligned east-to-west

As it is not possible to drill into core, scientists collected data from echoes generated by earthquakes

Seismic wave data implies significant event could have flipped orientation of core, switching magnetic field from equatorial to polar axis
--------------------------------------------------------
Sources: Nature Geoscience, The Deep Carbon Observatory

words 145