There’s still a lot we don’t know about Earth’s interior, but scientists recently discovered that water is slowly leaking underground from the surface.
It’s not a simple journey. The liquid drips down the descending plates and eventually reaches the core after a 2,900 kilometer journey.
And, although the process is slow, over billions of years, a new surface has formed between the molten metal of Earth’s outer core and the Earth’s outer mantle.
Scientists at Arizona State University say in a new study that water triggers a chemical reaction that forms a new layer “hundreds of kilometers thick.” (When it comes to the Earth’s inner layer, it is “thin.”)
“For many years, it was thought that the mass exchange between Earth’s core and mantle was small. However, our recent high-pressure experiments revealed a different picture.
“We found that when water reaches the core-mantle boundary, it reacts with silicon in the core to form silica,” co-author Dr. Dan Sim wrote.
“This discovery, together with previous observations that diamonds form when water reacts with carbon in iron liquids under extreme pressures, points to a much more dynamic core-mantle interaction. , suggesting substantial material exchange.”
So what does that mean for all of us on earth?
“This discovery advances our understanding of Earth’s internal processes and suggests a more widespread global water cycle than previously recognized,” the ASU release said.
“The altered core ‘membrane’ has a significant impact on the geochemical cycles that connect the surface water cycle and the deep metal core.”
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