Core Graphic (IMAGE)

University of Texas at Austin

Core Graphic

Caption

A simplified graphic of the inner Earth as described by the new research. The white and black layers represent a slurry layer containing iron crystals. The iron crystals form in the slurry layer of the outer core (white). These crystals 'snow' down to the inner core, where they accumulate and compact into a layer on top of it (black). The compacted layer is thicker on the western hemisphere of the inner core (W) than on the eastern hemisphere (E).

Credit

University of Texas at Austin/Jackson School of Geosciences

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