A new study reveals that the inner core of the earth may have started moving the other way. Read to know more about the new information.
Earth’s inner core: A change of direction?
As per a new study, the inner core of the planet may have begun moving the other way around. The core is an extremely hot ball of iron, about the size of Pluto. It stopped spinning in the same direction as the rest of the planet and maybe rotating the other way. Present 3,100 miles below the planet’s surface, the “planet within the planet” can spin independently. This is because it floats in the liquid metal making the outer core.
The exact rotation of the inner core is a matter of debate among scientists and the later research is controversial. The litter information on the region is obtained by measuring the differences in seismic waves. The waves are generated by earthquakes and nuclear explosions as they are passing through the middle of the Earth.
More on the study
As per Xiaodong Song and Yi Yang, the study found the rotation “came to a near halt around 2009 and then turned in an opposite direction”. Xiaodong Song and Yi Yang are the authors of the study from Peking University. “We believe the inner core rotates, relative to the Earth’s surface, back and forth, like a swing. One cycle of the swing is about seven decades,” explained the authors. Additionally, they added. As per the study, they previously changed directions in the early 1970s. However, the next change was predicted to be in the mid-2040s.
“We hope our study can motivate some researchers to build and test models which treat the whole Earth as an integrated dynamic system,” stated the researchers. However, researchers not involved in the study are expressing caution about the new findings. “This is a very careful study by excellent scientists putting in a lot of data. But, none of the models explain all the data very well in my opinion,” stated John Vidale. Vidale is a seismologist at the University of Southern California.