Earth’s iron core under Indonesia's Banda sea is growing ‘lopsided’, claims study

Seismologists in California have discovered that the earth’s core is growing lopsided, but they are yet to find the reason behind it. According to The Independent, the researchers discovered that the planet’s solid iron core has been expanding at faster rates under Indonesia’s Banda Sea as compared to the rest of the world. Such a discrepancy in growth, according to experts, has significant implications for Earth’s magnetic field and convection currents.

Increased crystallization

The growth on one side of the molten metal is the product of iron crystals that form as molten iron cools. However, scientists are still clueless as to why the cooling under the Southeast Asian Nation is faster as compared to the opposite side that is under Brazil. The faster the cooling, the faster that iron crystallization occurs – and the faster the growth increases.

The earth’s core is surrounded by a liquid Mantle and thin crust, which sustains all the life on the planet. The core is found about 2,900 kilometres (1,802 miles) below Earth’s surface and has a radius of about 3,485 kilometres (2,165 miles). While the core was formed only between 1 to 1.5 billion years ago, researchers are yet to discover how was the planet’s magnetic field generated before its existence.  

This comes as scientists have detected signs of a hidden structure inside the core of the Earth having the potential to change the long-standing narrative of what’s in the centre of the planet. Terming it the ‘fifth layer’ apart from the previously known four layers - the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core, scientists reportedly spotted changes to the structure of iron within the inner core that suggested a new ‘boundary line’ stretching about 650 kilometres from the centre of the Earth. 

As per the Daily Mail report, the fifth layer has been suspected by the researchers for more than a decade but proved near to impossible to detect. The lead author of the study and Australian National University geophysicist, Joanne Stephenson is quoted by the media outlet saying that “it’s very exciting” and noted that textbooks might have to be rewritten now following the discovery of another layer. 

Image: Florida State University