Is Earth's core lopsided? Strange goings-on in our planet's interior

Phys.org ^ | June 3. 2021

[BenLurkin]

The faster growth under Indonesia's Banda Sea hasn't left the core lopsided. Gravity evenly distributes the new growth—iron crystals that form as the molten iron cools—to maintain a spherical inner core that grows in radius by an average of 1 millimeter per year.

But the enhanced growth on one side suggests that something in Earth's outer core or mantle under Indonesia is removing heat from the inner core at a faster rate than on the opposite side, under Brazil. Quicker cooling on one side would accelerate iron crystallization and inner core growth on that side.

This has implications for Earth's magnetic field and its history, because convection in the outer core driven by release of heat from the inner core is what today drives the dynamo that generates the magnetic field that protects us from dangerous particles from the sun.

Asymmetric growth of the inner core explains a three-decade-old mystery—that the crystallized iron in the core seems to be preferentially aligned along the rotation axis of the earth, more so in the west than in the east, whereas one would expect the crystals to be randomly oriented.

Evidence for this alignment comes from measurements of the travel time of seismic waves from earthquakes through the inner core. Seismic waves travel faster in the direction of the north-south rotation axis than along the equator, an asymmetry that geologists attribute to iron crystals—which are asymmetric—having their long axes preferentially aligned along Earth's axis.

[entropy12]

Yes earth is flat and the covid vaccines will kill you.

[DoodleBob]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin. Another coveted Potsdam Gravity Potato topic, excellent.

---

join or quit view topics view or post blog bookmark post new topic subscribe

---

• Astronomy Picture Of The Day : A Gravity Map of Earth [11/13/2001]
• 'Potato' Earth's Deep Secrets (Gravity Map) [07/24/2003]
• Gravity variations predict earthquake behavior [08/04/2003]
• Exploring The Ocean Basins With Satellite Altimeter Data [03/28/2005]
• Does a giant crater lie beneath the Antarctic ice? [06/05/2006]
• The Moon reveals its weirder side - SELENE mission reports on gravity anomalies. [02/16/2009]
• Potato Earth: Gravity satellite reveals what our planet REALLY looks like [03/31/2011]
• Astronomy Picture of the Day -- The Potsdam Gravity Potato [12/15/2014]
• AirAsia QZ8501: Plane tail lifted from seabed [01/10/2015]
• Seafloor volcano pulses may alter climate: [02/05/2015]
• Inconvenient study: Methane seepage from the Arctic seabed has been occurring for millions of years [02/07/2015]
• Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Gravitational Anomalies of Mercury [05/05/2015]
• MH370 search discovers a shipwreck not the missing plane [05/13/2015]
• Seabed Gives Up Spanish Armada Wreck Cannons [06/18/2015]
• Ocean Search for Malaysian Airliner Finds 2nd Shipwreck [MH370] [01/14/2016]
• Seabed Scanning for East Anglian windfarm reveals Uncharted WWI German Submarine [01/25/2016]
• Vast asteroid created 'Man in Moon's eye' crater [07/20/2016]
• Scientists find 500 U.S. seabed vents of powerful greenhouse gas [10/21/2016]
• The Search for MH370 Revealed Secrets of the Deep Ocean [03/12/2017]
• New Seafloor Map Reveals How Strange the Gulf of Mexico Is [05/27/2017]
• US Navy locates crashed plane deep on Pacific seabed [01/06/2018]
• Earth’s Second Magnetic Field: Satellite Image Reveals Invisible Force From Ocean Currents [04/12/2018]
• Scientists model Mercury's glaciers [12/28/2018]
• The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project [12/30/2018]
• How Earth's mantle is like a Jackson Pollock painting [05/21/2019]
• [11/30/2019]
• Rapid Drift of Magnetic North Explained [05/19/2020]
• Scientists detect unexpected widespread structures near Earth's core [06/12/2020]
• Search for MH370 Revealed Ocean Crust Waves [06/12/2020]
• The Herky-Jerky Weirdness of Earth’s Magnetic Field [12/23/2020]
• The spacecraft-killing anomaly over the South Atlantic [02/20/2021]
• Scientists Detect Signs of a Hidden Structure Inside Earth's Core [03/04/2021]
• Vast Fragments of an Alien World Could Be Buried Deep Within Earth Itself [03/25/2021]
• How long is a day on Venus? It's always changing, new study reveals [05/11/2021]

[dayglored]

Where is that image of the Earth from?

[wildcard_redneck]

"Yes earth is flat and the covid vaccines will kill you."

You condescend like a liberal. All I know is that too many in the government talk about how evil we are, that enjoy fantasizing about our deaths, and that have proven themselves amoral that it is foolish to trust them to put anything in our bodies under color of law.

And yes, the Earth is round and it is infested with condescending pricks.

[jerod]

[Clutch Martin]

That’s a great gif, back when it first appeared the disclaimer stated that it was based on incomplete sonar mapping. Also that the shape was way off.

[Clutch Martin]

“Let me guess. You think the Earth is flat.”

I heard our universe is stray particles located somewhere within the toenail of a galactic cow in a much larger universe.

[Clutch Martin]

“Let me guess. You think the Earth is flat.”

I heard our universe is stray particles located somewhere within the toenail of a galactic cow in a much larger universe.

[BenLurkin]

I remember Galactic Cow. they had one hit record.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Globull warming.

[Bloodandgravy]

Not sure, that pic does seem exaggerated. I think the earth does have uneven distribution of mass.

[gundog]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandler_wobble

[minnesota_bound]

If you had a planet smash into you then you would be lopsided too.

[BubbaBasher]

It's part of the moon that was torn off when a Mars size protoplanet collided with earth. Part went into the earth's core and the remainder formed the moon.

[Springman]

No, the Earth is a donut!!!!

[steve86]

Why do you put ‘science’ in quotes?

[ecomcon]

Because all that is called “science” isn’t necessarily so.