The news never stops and neither do the investigations that bring out great news. In this case, it has been discovered that A until now little-known phenomenon is giving rise to a mysterious layer in the Earth’s core.
The investigationcarried out by scientists from South Korea, the United States and Germany, reveals how water on the Earth’s surface, over billions of years, has been penetrating to the boundary between the core and the mantle, approximately 2,900 kilometers below the surface.
This process has triggered a powerful chemical reaction that has generated a hydrogen-rich upper central layer and sends silica to the lower mantle.
Until now, it was believed that the exchange of materials between the core and the mantle was negligible, but new experiments say otherwise. Materials scientist Dan Shim of Arizona State University highlights that this finding is essential to understanding how the Earth’s interior works and its evolution over time.
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Water has played a key role in the formation of this new layer in the Earth’s core
“For years it has been believed that the exchange of materials between the Earth’s core and the mantle is small,” says materials scientist Dan Shim of Arizona State University. “However, our recent high-pressure experiments reveal a different story.”
In simpler words, thehe Earth’s crust, made up of constantly moving tectonic plates, has been transporting water to the lower mantle for millennia.
When this water reaches the boundary between the core and the mantle, it triggers a large-scale chemical reaction, forming a layer in the core. This discovery is very important because the Earth’s core plays a key role in generating the magnetic field that protects life on Earth from the winds and radiation of the Sun.
The newly discovered layer, known as E prime, has long been the subject of speculation, and it is now suggested that this communication between the core and the mantle, fueled by the action of water over a long time, may have contributed to its formation.