The Earth’s inner core suddenly stopped spinning and then switched to an opposing spin orientation, according to a recent study.
According to the study, the globally consistent pattern points to a recent stop in inner-core rotation. In 2009, the rotation abruptly stopped, and then, surprise, it began to rotate again. Long held theory among scientists is that the inner core swings back and forth in relation to the Earth’s surface.
“One cycle of the swing is about seven decades, meaning it changes direction roughly every 35 years. It previously changed direction in the early 1970s, and predicted the next about-face would be in the mid-2040s.” Scientists from Peking University China told media.
The Earth’s Core:
When scientists were looking at seismic waves from worldwide earthquakes, they first found Earth’s inner core in 1936. The Earth’s core, is approximately 7000 kilometres wide. It is composing of a solid iron core encased in a liquid iron shell.
According to a 1996 Nature study, there has been a slow consistent change in the travel periods of seismic waves. As they pass through the inner core during the past three decades. The inner core’s rotation, which is approximately 1° per year quicker than the crust’s and mantle’s daily rotation, provides the best explanation for this fluctuation.
What will happen now?
Researchers have asserted that there are connections between the planet’s crust, mantle, and core. The rotation of the core is tied to fluctuations in day length and may result in minute variations in the precise amount of time it takes for Earth to rotate on its axis.
As a result of gravitational coupling and the transfer of angular momentum from the core and mantle to the surface, the scientists claimed that the data show evidence for dynamic interactions between the layers from its deepest interior to its surface.
For more news, click here.
