Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
GS-1
EARTH’S HIDDEN LAYER
Scientists have recently detected the signs of a hidden structure inside the core of Planet Earth. This sign has the potential to change the long-standing narrative of what lies at centre of Earth. This layer is being termed as the ‘fifth layer’.
Highlights
- As per the long-standing narrative, there exists four layers namely; crust, mantle, outer core and inner core.
- The scientists have also spotted reportedly some changes in the structure of iron within the inner core.
- These changes suggests that a new ‘boundary line’ is stretching for about 650 kilometres from centre of the Earth.
About the fifth layer
- The Daily Mail reports that, the researchers are getting the sign of fifth layer for more than a decade.
- However, the detection was proved near to impossible.
- The researchers are suspecting about the fifth after they studies the travel time data of the seismic waves which are travelling inside the Earth.
- The data was captured by the International Seismological Centre.
- Following the data, the scientists and researchers used their new algorithm in order to search and discover the evidence of changes in structure of inner core of the Earth.
- Though it is difficult to detect the minute changes, the researchers somehow demonstrate that two separate cooling events occurred in the history of the planet.
What does the study imply?
- This research study also implies that in the earliest phase of the Earth’s evolution that is around 4.56 billion years ago, Earth underwent a dramatic and several unknown events.
- Though, these studies were indirect, the geologists determined that the Earth’s inner core reaches the temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees Celsius.
- This is also relatively smaller in area accounting only 1% of the total volume of Earth.
SOURCE: DTE
