Scientists recently discovered that Earth’s inner core reversed the direction in which it spins. Now, they’re discovering Earth’s inner core is changing shape, twisting, and deforming, in ways researchers could never have imagined.
The Earth’s inner core is a solid sphere composed mostly of iron and nickel. A 2024 study took a look at seismic waves generated by earthquakes. Since 2010, the Earth’s inner core slowed and eventually reversed its spin relative to its outer layers.
The liquid outer core might be pushing against the inner core, leading to topographical changes to the inner core that closely resemble the landslides we see here on the surface of the earth.
Earth’s Inner Core Is Changing Shape. Scientists Don’t Know Why.
All of this means that there are forces deep within the earth that are changing the physical nature of the inner core, which in turn influences the planet’s magnetosphere, which protects the earth from solar radiation.
Why any of this is happening is anyone’s guess. It’s going take a lot more time, money, and research to figure that out. One thing the researchers are comfortable enough to speculate on is that these deformations of the inner core might be more widespread than their data currently suggests.
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