Researchers make important discovery in the inner core of the earth

Apparently there is another layer inside the inner core of the earth: a "ball" made of metal.

That shows a new earthquake study.

Canberra – Although a Chinese research team recently found that the inner core of the earth appears to have stopped rotating relative to the mantle, the interior of the earth has not yet been fully explored.

To learn more about what's going on in the depths of our planet, researchers are using seismic waves that are created during earthquakes and travel through the different layers of the earth, as reported

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They keep coming across surprises, such as a new layer of earth.

A research group from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra has now succeeded in finding evidence of a phenomenon deep inside the Earth that scientists have suspected there for years.

"The existence of a metal ball inside the Earth's inner core was suspected about 20 years ago," explains Thanh-Son Pham.

"We are now providing another line of evidence to support the hypothesis," the seismologist said in a statement.

Important find: In the inner core of the earth there is a "ball" made of metal

Not long ago, researchers assumed that the earth consists of four different large layers: the crust, the mantle, the liquid outer core and the solid inner core.

The new study from Australia, published in the journal

, provides evidence, according to the research team, that there is a fifth layer -- deep inside the Earth.

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Using earthquakes, a research team from Australia has discovered that there is a "ball" of metal in the Earth's inner core.

© Drew Whitehouse, Son Pham, Hrvoje Tkalcic

To arrive at these findings, the research team examined about 200 earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 6 that had occurred in the past decade.

They looked in particular at how the seismic waves moved through the Earth's interior and found that the innermost part of the Earth's inner core changed the speed of the seismic waves differently than the layer above it.

Newly discovered innermost core is about 650 kilometers across

In fact, the newly discovered innermost part of the Earth resembles the previously known inner core that surrounds it, says researcher Pham.

In the study, the newly discovered innermost core of the Earth is described as a "ball" about 400 miles across.

According to the research team, both this inner core and the layer that envelops it consist of an iron-nickel alloy with traces of other elements.

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The earth is made up of different layers.

From outside to inside: Earth's crust, (upper and lower) mantle, outer core and inner core.

The researchers have now discovered a "ball" made of metal within the inner core of the earth.

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© IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Cigdem Simsek

"The transition from the innermost (solid) sphere to the outer shell of the inner core (also a solid shell) appears to be gradual rather than sharp," Pham told

.

"Therefore we cannot observe it via direct reflections of seismic waves."

Inner core allows a glimpse into the planet's past

Exploring the interior of the Earth's inner core can help scientists learn more about Earth's past and evolution.

"This inner core is like a time capsule of Earth's evolutionary history - it's a fossilized record of our planet's past," explains Hrvoje Tkalčić, who worked with Pham on the study.

The two researchers know that the interior of the earth has not yet been fully explored.

"There are still many unanswered questions about the innermost core of the earth, which could solve the mystery of the formation of our planet," emphasizes Tkalčić.

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Rubric list image: © Drew Whitehouse, Son Pham, Hrvoje Tkalčic