(NEXSTAR) – Deep in the center of the Earth is the inner core, which stretches for about 746 miles and consists mostly of pure solid iron (NASA) I will explainWe have long believed, and Research Shows – The inner core is rotating, new research suggests that it may have “paused” or even reversed its rotation.
The liquid outer core that surrounds the inner core gives rise to the Earth’s magnetic field.according to NASA, as the molten iron and nickel in the outer core move, an electric current is generated and a magnetic field is generated. The outer core allows the inner core to rotate on its own as well. Nature I will explain.
Scientists can’t trace the core directly, but they can analyze seismic waves (and Cold War-era nuclear weapons tests) caused by earthquakes.that is study Co-authors Yi Yang and Xiaodong Song, seismologists at Peking University in Beijing, did for their new study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Based on analyzes of seismic waves induced by similar earthquakes dating back to the 1960s, Yang and Song found that the rotation of the inner core appeared to “pause” between 2009 and 2020, and “slightly” He said he discovered that it could even be the other way around.
Makes you worry, right. please do not worry. This is probably not the first time our inner core has stopped. Instead, they believe the change is “related to the gradual return of the inner core as part of an approximately 70-year oscillation.”
According to Yang and Song, the results of their study also suggest “another overturn or slowdown of rotation around the early 1970s.”
Seismologists said changes in the speed at which seismic waves pass through the inner core are consistent with “several other geophysical observations, particularly changes in day length and magnetic field.” Both of these are areas affected by inner core movement. , studies show.
The changes are “working,” but what Yang and Song discovered may not exactly match what’s happening deep inside the Earth.John Vidale, a professor of geosciences at the University of Southern California who was not involved in the study, noted that there are “several competing ideas” about the Earth’s core. wall street journal.
This includes the theory that the inner core reversed rotation more frequently than the 70 years determined by Yang and Song and stopped rotating in the early 2000s.
“No matter which model you like, there are some data that don’t match it,” Vidale said. new york times.
Recent Vidare Research co-authorship It was shown that the rotation of the inner core changed between 1969 and 1974, appearing to oscillate “a few kilometers every six years.”
