Scientists discover Earth's 'fifth layer' as they detect signs of a hidden structure

In a breakthrough discovery, 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 changed 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. 

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How did researchers detect it?

The researchers used travel time data for seismic waves travelling inside the Earth and captured by the International Seismological Centre. Following this, they used their new algorithm to search through the data to discover evidence of changes in the structure of Earth’s inner core. Despite it being ‘particularly difficult’ to detect the minute changes, the researchers were able to demonstrate that two separate cooling events in the history of the planet. 

It also implies that in the earliest years of Earth’s evolution, at least 4.56 billion years ago, the planet went through a dramatic and previously unknown event at some point. Stephenson explained that the details of this particular “big event are still a bit of mystery” but the researchers were able to add another “piece of puzzle” when it comes to the knowledge about Earth’s core. Even though the observations were indirect, geologists were able to determine that the inner core of Earth reaches temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees Celcius and is relatively smaller in area, that is, it makes up only 1% of the total volume of Earth. 

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