The Earth can be composed of 5 layers, not 4 as previously understood

From data related to volcanoes and seismic waves, scientists have long thought that the structure of the Earth consists of four main layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core.

However, geophysicists from the Australian National University recently announced the discovery of evidence that the inner core of the Earth may be two separate layers. This means, Earth can have 5, not just 4 layers as previously understood.

The team reviewed and compared thousands of models of the inner core with data on the time seismic waves travel through the Earth collected and observed over the decades by the International Seismic Center.

The results showed that there is a change in the structure of iron, which affects the time the seismic waves travel through the core. This suggests that the Earth may have experienced two separate cooling events, said Joanne Stevenson, lead author of the study.

This new finding has helped explain the fact that certain experimental data is inconsistent with current models of planetary structure.

Based on some evidence that the iron crystals that make up the inner core of the planet have different structural bonds, the team believes that at the ends of the Earth there is the presence of another layer. 5th).