The magnetic record stored in rocks documents the liquid core’s behavior and possibly when the inner core formed. Whether it formed half a billion or more than a billion years ago, however, is up for debate.
unsolved mysteries
Posted inFeatures
How an Unlikely Friendship Upended Permafrost Myths
“Beautifully long arguments” between an American scientist and a Russian researcher helped clarify several fundamental assumptions about permafrost thaw.
Posted inNews
Pulsar Planets Are Exceedingly Rare
A new survey of hundreds of pulsars could help solve the mystery of why planets exist around these dead stars.
Posted inNews
Earth’s Lower Mantle Is Drier Than Previously Thought
Scientists have long known that the two layers of Earth’s mantle have different chemical compositions. Now, modeling shows that different water concentrations may keep them from mixing.
Posted inNews
Evidence of Drought Provides Clues to a Viking Mystery
A persistent drying trend, not plunging temperatures, may have played a role in the unexplained disappearance of Norse settlers from Greenland, according to researchers.
Posted inNews
Martian Glaciers May Have Carved Its Valleys
Networks of valleys provide puzzling hints of running water on the surface of the Red Planet. New research suggests that some tributaries could have formed from icy sheets thousands of meters thick.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Unified Atmospheric Model for Uranus and Neptune
In a new model, three substantial atmospheric layers appear consistent between the ice giants.
Posted inNews
Earth’s Wobbly Inner Core Illuminated by Nuclear Explosions
Shock waves from Cold War era nuclear tests gave seismologists a glimpse of the inner core. Its wobbly rotation could explain phenomena such as the periodic change in the length of a day.
Posted inNews
Flipping the Sequence of Martian Formation
Analysis of the Chassigny meteorite suggests the planet acquired most of its interior volatiles from meteorites, not from the solar nebula.
Posted inNews
Holey Eclogite!
Scientists have found holes filled with minerals that indicate fluid-filled pores exist many tens of kilometers below Earth’s surface. But no, The Core fans, you still can’t get amethyst-laden geodes in the mantle.