The Earth’s core, which is made up of iron and nickel, developed disproportionately for unknown reasons. The solid iron core grows faster on one side than the other, baffling scientists. The new revelations came after scientists analyzed seismic waves passing through the nucleus.
Waves, also known as underground tremors produced by earthquakes, move faster through the core as they travel between the north and south poles than when they cross the equator. Called seismic anisotropy, this difference has not been explained due to the lack of available data.
Report published in Nature Geoscience states that development has been going on for billions of years, since the solidification of molten iron began. The researchers used computer simulations to come to the conclusion that the inner core grew unbalanced, with new iron crystals forming more rapidly on the east side than on the west.
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“The movement of molten iron through the outer core removes heat from the inner core, causing it to freeze,” study lead author Daniel Frost told LiveScience. The researchers found that heat is dissipated at a faster rate under Indonesia than in Brazil in the West, and that faster cooling on one side is likely to accelerate iron crystal formation and nuclear growth on this side.
Asymmetrical growth and movement from the equator to the poles causes lateral and vertical advection of the strongest strains. (Photo: Nature)
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Meanwhile, gravity plays a role in balancing the situation by distributing newly formed iron crystals towards the western part of the core to maintain a spherical nature, whose radius increases by an average of 1 millimeter per year.
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While scientists are still investigating the reasons for this uneven growth, it is difficult to predict it without examining other parts of Earth’s structure, including the mantle and crust. “Each layer of the Earth is controlled by what is above it and affects what is below it,” Frost told Lie Science.
Scientists are also concerned about the impact of this unbalanced growth on Earth’s magnetic field, which is powered by the movement of molten iron in the outer core. The researchers are now collaborating with a team of geomagnetic experts to study the new changes.
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