Earth’s Core Appears To Be Leaking Up and Out of Earth’s Surface
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Summary
Scientists have suspected for decades that the boundary between the Earth’s liquid outer core and solid mantle is not as distinct as once thought.
Two new studies bolster that suspicion and offer possible explanations for what is happening at the boundary.
The research shows that the core is leaking material that works its way to the surface in a pair of enormous blobs situated on the core-mantle boundary.
The blobs, which sit beneath Africa and the Pacific, could be helping material from the core reach the surface.
What the blobs are made of and how they are facilitating this travel could help scientists better understand how material is moving from the core to the mantle.
The studies, which were published in Nature, also show that the core is not a homogenous mass and that the boundary between the core and the mantle is not as distinct as once thought.
