2023-11-26 02:16:00
According to Live Science, it is surrounded by a mysterious layer of crystals Earth’s core. It started appearing in a 1990 study, but no one could explain it.
Basic model of the Earth known to include the crust, upper mantle, lower mantle, outer core, and inner core. The E-Prime layer, also known as E’, lies between the lower mantle and the planet’s outer core, and is just over 100 km thick.
The internal structure of the Earth – Photo: ASU
Previously, scientists thought that the E’ layer was left by ancient iron-rich magma, there were also theories that it was due to material leaking from the inside, or the remains of a planet or protoplanet. planet once collided with Earth.
Research recently published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience, shows that layer E’ can be formed by both of the previously mentioned routes.
One is a leak, but it is a leak from the outside to the inside, because water on the surface gradually “creeps” down to the core border area over time, under the impact of plate tectonics.
This layer of water reacted with the existing metallic surface of the outer core, thereby creating a new layer for the Earth.
A series of experiments based on known properties of the Earth proved just that, recreating how water could react with the outer core under the extreme pressure of that deep region.
Hydrogen from the water replaced the silica in the liquid metal at the outer core surface, pushing the silica out in crystalline form, creating a distinctive hydrogen-rich, silicon-poor layer.
Scientists also estimate that this layer took 1 billion years to reach its current thickness.
“For many years, it was believed that the exchange of material between the mantle and the crust was very small, but these discoveries point to a more significant, more dynamic interaction” – Dr. Dan Shim, geologist from Arizona State University (ASU – USA), co-author, concludes.
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