Earth’s inner core may have begun forming earlier than thought
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029271
BBC : Earth’s magnetic field is driven by the motion of the molten iron in the outer core, and that motion is itself partly driven by the solidification of the inner core. When that solidification began is an important ingredient for accurate models of Earth’s internal behavior and geological history. To determine that information, researchers study the magnetism of ancient rocks, which was set when those rocks formed, but can become jumbled or lost over time. Now Andy Biggin of the University of Liverpool in the UK and his colleagues have reevaluated all the data collected by other researchers and determined which measurements were most reliable. Their analysis of the data that weren’t eliminated suggests that the inner core began solidifying 1.3 billion years ago.
