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Scientists Uncover New Changes the Earth’s Inner Core

By James Seidel | CC News Network

Scientists who recently confirmed that Earth’s inner core reversed its spin have now made another groundbreaking discovery: the planet’s deepest layer is changing shape.

A team of researchers has identified deformations in the inner core, offering new insights into the forces shaping our planet from within. This revelation, published Monday in Nature Geoscience, builds on a previous study that found the inner core once spun faster than Earth itself, but began reversing direction around 2010.

The latest findings suggest that the inner core is not just rotating—it is also physically changing over time. Scientists made this discovery by analyzing seismic waves from earthquakes strong enough to reach Earth’s center.

Tracking Earth’s Inner Pulse Through Seismic Waves

Earth’s solid inner core, composed primarily of iron and nickel, is surrounded by a liquid outer core. While scientists have long theorized that the inner core deforms as it spins, this study provides the first direct evidence of those changes occurring over the past two decades.

📡 How Scientists Measured Core Deformation:

Researchers analyzed seismic data from 168 earthquakes recorded between 1991 and 2023.
They focused on PKIKP waves, a type of core-penetrating seismic wave that can detect subtle changes in the inner core’s structure.
By comparing these waves over time, the team identified changes in wave height, which they interpreted as evidence of the core’s changing shape.

“We can compare the signals that we see when the inner core is returned to the same position as it was in some other time and see if there are differences that can’t be explained by the rotation,” said Dr. John Vidale, lead author of the study and Dean’s Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California.

Earth's Inner Core — Earth’s Inner Core Photo: Magzster

Why This Matters: Earth’s Magnetosphere and Future Impacts

The inner core’s deformation could hold critical clues about the forces that power Earth’s magnetosphere, the invisible shield that protects the planet from harmful solar radiation.

🌍 Why Is This Important?

The interaction between Earth’s solid inner core and its molten outer core generates magnetic energy, which protects the planet from solar storms and cosmic radiation.
Changes in the inner core’s shape and movement could affect the strength and stability of Earth’s magnetic field over long timescales.

🔍 What Scientists Are Saying:
“Earth evolves on a geological timescale, so observing changes on an annual timescale is always intriguing, as it enhances our understanding of inner core dynamics,” said Dr. Yoshi Miyazaki, a planetary scientist at Rutgers University, who was not involved in the study.

The study also raises a new debate—previous research focused primarily on the inner core’s rotation, but this discovery suggests that shape changes may be equally important in understanding the Earth’s interior.

“Almost Science Fiction”: Visualizing the Inner Core’s Transformations

Of all Earth’s layers, the inner core remains the most mysterious. Measuring about 70% the size of the Moon, it exists under extreme pressure—more than 3 million times the atmospheric pressure at Earth’s surface—and temperatures that soar to 9,800 degrees Fahrenheit (5,400 degrees Celsius).

Because direct observation is impossible, scientists must rely on seismic waves to track changes deep within the planet.

“It’s almost science fiction to visualize what’s happening on the surface of the inner core,” Vidale said. “It’s a place so different from our day-to-day lives, with different timescales, different materials, and incredible forces. And yet, we can get down there and learn more about it by just sifting through some of the latest observations.”

Movement in the Inner Core: “Like Landslides”

The researchers tracked deformations in the core by comparing how paired seismic waves changed as the inner core rotated into the same position over time.

🌍 How the Inner Core Moves:

Some areas of the core’s surface appear to rise and fall, suggesting uneven topography.
Other sections may shift like landslides, as the solid inner core interacts with the surrounding molten metal of the outer core.
Scientists suspect that the outer core is pushing on the inner core, causing subtle yet measurable deformations.

“Maybe the topography is going up and down. Maybe it’s sloughing around like landslides,” Vidale explained. “The most likely thing is the outer core is just pushing on the inner core and moving it around a little bit.”

Between 2004 and 2008, researchers detected deformation in at least one location of the inner core—but they believe this may be more widespread than currently observed.

The Future of Earth’s Core and Magnetic Field

As the inner core continues to evolve, it is also slowly consuming the liquid metal of the outer core. This process, which has occurred over billions of years, will eventually result in the entire core becoming solid.

🌍 What Happens If the Inner Core Stops Spinning?

If Earth’s core fully solidifies, it will no longer generate a magnetic field.
Without the magnetosphere, Earth would lose its primary defense against solar radiation, which could make the planet uninhabitable.
However, this process is billions of years away—and likely irrelevant compared to the Sun’s eventual expansion into a red giant, which will engulf Earth long before the core solidifies.

“That’ll kill the magnetic field,” Vidale said. “There won’t be the moving iron down there anymore.”

However, for now, scientists have ample time to study Earth’s internal structure, and the latest research adds a new dimension to our understanding of the core’s activity.

“While a direct connection between life on Earth’s surface and the inner-outer core boundary remains distant, what happens at the ICB still has some implications for Earth’s long-term evolution,” Miyazaki said.

What’s Next? Unraveling Earth’s Deepest Secrets

🌎 Scientists hope to use future earthquakes and advanced seismic models to track the inner core’s changes more precisely.

🔍 New studies could help determine:

How frequently the inner core’s shape changes.
What forces drive these deformations.
How these movements influence Earth’s magnetic field over time.

As the study of Earth’s core continues, researchers are moving closer than ever to uncovering the planet’s deepest secrets—one seismic wave at a time.

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