Articles on Earth's core

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May 15, 2017

A giant lava lamp inside the Earth might be flipping the planet’s magnetic field

Paula Koelemeijer, University of Oxford

Signals from violent earthquakes are helping reveal the landscape of the planet's insides.

February 6, 2017

Does an anomaly in the Earth’s magnetic field portend a coming pole reversal?

John Tarduno, University of Rochester and Vincent Hare, University of Rochester

Are we headed to a magnetic reversal and all the global disruption that would bring? Enter archaeomagnetism. A look at the archaeological record in southern Africa provides some clues.

Dating the Earth’s enigmatic inner core: a Pluto-sized ball of iron that is super hot and frozen at the same time. Kelvinsong/wikimedia

October 8, 2015

How we discovered that the Earth’s inner core is older than previously thought

Andrew John Biggin, University of Liverpool

The Earth's inner core is more than half a billion years older than previously thought, shows a study. The results could help us better understand the processes that shape the planet's surface.

No Earths were harmed in the making of this image. Johan Swanepoel/Shutterstock

March 25, 2015

Newly discovered layer in Earth’s mantle can affect surface dwellers too

Hauke Marquardt, Bayreuth University

The discovery of a thickly viscous layer which traps sinking plates below Earth's surface has wide implications, not least as a cause of earthquakes.

Magnetic traces suggest iron crystals in the innermost core are aligned east-west, rather than north-south. Lachina Publishing Services

February 9, 2015

Our view of Earth’s inner core is flipped on its side

Simon Redfern, University of Cambridge

The planet Earth’s inner core is not a single solid mass but comprised of two layers, and new evidence about the core’s composition from a team of US and Chinese geophysicists suggests that the innermost…

October 10, 2013

X-rays force a rethink on how Earth’s core formed

Simon Redfern, University of Cambridge

Our planet’s interior is complex and has many layers. Their formation and structure contain many unsolved mysteries. But new research is providing some clues about how Earth’s internal structure may have…

Top contributors

Simon Redfern
Professor in Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge
Hauke Marquardt
Researcher in Mineral Physics, Bayreuth University
John Tarduno
Professor of Geophysics, University of Rochester
Andrew John Biggin
Lecturer in Geophysics, University of Liverpool
Vincent Hare
Postdoctoral Associate in Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester
Paula Koelemeijer
Postdoctoral Fellow in Global Seismology, University of Oxford