Scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) announced that they have found yet another evidence of the existence of a new core layer in the Earth’s interior. The hypothesis about its existence appeared 20 years ago. The results of the research were published in the pages of the journal Nature.

During their study, the study’s authors studied the “echo” of seismic waves (reflections from the Earth’s core) produced by earthquakes. The “weak” P waves, moving at an angle of 50° to the planet’s rotation axis, forced scientists to make an assumption about the existence of an additional mini-core with a radius of 650 km (diameter – 1300 km). It consists of a core of iron and nickel with a small amount of impurities.

So far, the Earth’s structure looked like this: crust (5-75 km thick), mantle (about 2,800 km thick), molten outer core (about 2,300 km thick) and solid inner core (radius about 1,200 km).

The yet unconfirmed discovery by Australian scientists is extremely important not only for the study of Earth, but also for understanding the structure and evolution of other planets. For example, studying Earth’s core will help scientists refine their understanding of seismic activity on Mars. Recently, similar studies were conducted there, and the result was quite unexpected – the “red” planet does not have a geologically active core. Source