A study published Tuesday suggests that Earth has an additional inner core that may tell the tale of a “significant global event from the past.”
The highly specialized study published in Nature found that there is a giant metal ball sitting within the Earth’s inner core, known as the innermost inner core (IMIC). The ball is roughly 800 miles, and has been part of geological theory for quite some time, but the results from the study almost conclusively prove its existence (since we can’t get down there and check with our own eyes).
The study was conducted by a team from The Australian National University, which used data from seismic observations to determine that previous theories on the existence of the IMIC were correct.
There’s Another Core Within Earth’s Core, Scientists Discover https://t.co/YtXdqtnGWo | @motherboard #Earth #OIC #TwoCores #IMIC #motherboard pic.twitter.com/TyovxcWtyi
— Bradley Jon Eaglefeather (@bjeaglefeather) February 21, 2023
“Earth’s inner core (IC), which accounts for less than 1% of the Earth’s volume, is a time capsule of our planet’s history,” authors Thanh-Son Phạm and Hrvoje Tkalčić said in the published study. “As the IC grows, the latent heat and light elements released by the solidification process drive the convection of the liquid outer core, which, in turn, maintains the geodynamo,” referring to the mechanism that generates Earth’s magnetic field. (RELATED: Mayan ‘Superhighways’ Suggest We Need To Rethink How Advanced Our Ancestors Really Were)
The discovery is helping to explain how our planet developed to sustain life, and offers new insights into how researchers can identify other planets that may host aliens, Vice argued. It’s one of a slew of new studies that seek to determine more about our geological history, and how our planet and moon were formed within our cosmos and led to our creation as a species from a scientific perspective.