© REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello
The Earth's molten core may be leaking iron, according to scientists at the University of California, Davis.
The study concluded that a huge drop in temperature from our planet's liquid iron core to the outer rocky mantle pulls heavier iron isotopes out towards the Earth's surface, while lighter iron isotopes remain within the core.
The discovery could serve as a breakthrough in how we understand the onion-like layers below the soil, and particularly core-mantle interaction.
© L. O'Dwyer Brown, Aarhus UniversityThe new study suggests heavier iron isotopes migrate toward lower temperatures -- and into the mantle -- while lighter iron isotopes circulate back down into the core.
"The results suggest iron from the core has been leaking into the mantle for billions of years," said lead author Charles Lesher.
For those not particularly interested in what's happening 1,800 miles (2,900 km) below the Earth's surface, the study has another intriguing finding: The leaky core is likely responsible for the high levels of iron deposits found in volcanic eruptions off the coast of Samoa and Hawaii.
Reader Comments
If it's been happening for millennia then, perhaps, it might be "natural" instead?
Maybe it's just a setup for the next "control mechanism" once they've modified the "climate" to their liking.
YOU MUST STAY IN YOUR HOMES UNTIL WE FIX THE EARTH'S CORE!!! (Also: try not to move around AT ALL. It's obviously YOU WIGGLING that has done all of the damage to our poor, helpless core.)
The sea salt they make is reddish-orange, too.
So why is there so much of the same colored brick red dirt all over N.C. & the south-east? Not much volcanic activity hereabouts.
Translation:
They don't have a red headed step child's chance of avoiding a beating when it comes to understanding what's under the soil.
Translation 2:
"See here in da turd grade and stuff my mammy said the Earth was made like an onion see. Why? Well shit son thunder lizards and woolly elephants and shit ain't you watching Discovery channel.
Anyways it's like a layered cake in a microwave getting all hot in the center but not so hot outside or the oceans they'd float off into space and moon sharks they'd eat the red heads. That's scary and funny see. Land is just the hard crust part you can't chew after the dinger goes off. Darwin was a big brained dude because he was a monkey like my mammy was-n-stuff.
Translation 3:
DURP!