inner core tagged posts

This is an illustration of how the diamond anvil cell is used to mimic and study planetary core conditions. Credit: Stewart McWilliams

Earth’s magnetic field shields us from deadly cosmic radiation, and without it, life as we know it could not exist here. The motion of liquid iron in the planet’s outer core, a”geodynamo,” generates the field. But how it was first created and then sustained throughout Earth’s history has remained a mystery to scientists. New work sheds light on the history of this incredibly important geologic occurrence.

Earth accreted from rocky material that surrounded our Sun in its youth, and over time the most-dense stuff, iron, sank inward, creating the layers that we know exist today–core, mantle, and crust...