What Lies In The Center Of Earth: Unique Iron Crystals

Research scientists from the US and China have gained new insight as to what the core of the Earth looks like, as BBC reports. According to the team, the iron crystals that make the center of the earth is different from those found in the outer core. Nature Geoscience reports the findings in their journal that can tell something about the history of the Earth. The scientists use earthquake echoes to study the core as they pass through the different layers of our planet. The research team at China believes that the Earth's inner core is about the size of the Moon and the data from seismic waves suggest that the crystals in the center lie in an east-to-west direction.

As Science Daily reports, even if the inner core of the earth is small, the interesting features of the core can tell a lot on how earth was formed, the history and other dynamic processes that shed light on what goes on deep inside the Earth. Researchers make use of seismic waves to learn what goes on under the planet's surface, and these waves bounce back and forth from one side of the Earth to the other. When looking at the core of the earth, it is like tracing back the beginnings of the formation of the earth and how it all began. The core and its different regions are going to tell something about the history of the earth.

The inner core of the earth was once believed to be made of complex structural properties as reported by eurekalert. These studies will also shed light as to how planet has evolved and right from the center of the Earth. The iron crystals lying in the inner-inner core behave differently from their counterparts. The core that lies about 5,000km down continues to grow about 0.5mm each year.