{"id":358662,"date":"2019-01-29T15:30:39","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T20:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=358662"},"modified":"2020-04-13T17:10:30","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T21:10:30","slug":"earths-inner-core-much-younger-than-thought-358662","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/earths-inner-core-much-younger-than-thought-358662\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth\u2019s inner core is much younger than we thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

One enduring mystery about Earth is the age of its solid inner core.<\/p>\n

Researchers have long recognized that Earth\u2019s core plays a vital role in generating the magnetic shield that protects our planet from harmful solar wind\u2014streams of radiation from the Sun\u2014and makes Earth habitable. They differ, however, on estimates of when the inner core actually formed. Now, research from the University of Rochester indicates that Earth\u2019s inner core is younger than scientists previously thought, offering new insight into the history of Earth\u2019s magnetic shielding and planetary habitability.<\/p>\n

In a paper published in Nature Geosciences<\/em>,<\/a> the researchers report that the inner core is only about 565 million years old\u2014relatively young compared to the age of our 4.5-billion-year-old planet. \u201cUntil this data, the age of the inner core was uncertain,\u201d says John Tarduno, a professor and chair of earth and environmental sciences<\/a> at Rochester. \u201cThere\u2019s this huge range of 2 billion years where scientists think the inner core could\u2019ve formed. These are the first field-strength data from the younger part of the range of possibilities suggesting that the inner core is really young.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"two
INNER CORE, THEN AND NOW:<\/strong> Earth\u2019s magnetic field is generated in its liquid iron core via a geodynamo. Researchers believe a weak geodynamo\u2014and a weak magnetic shield\u2014formed early in Earth\u2019s history, but decreased for the next several billion years until a critical point 565 million years ago (left image). The researchers conjecture it was at this point in the geological time scale that the inner core began to form, increasing the strength of the geodynamo and the magnetic field (right image). (University of Rochester illustration \/ Michael Osadciw)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The geodynamo<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Earth\u2019s magnetic field is generated in its liquid iron core via a geodynamo\u2014a process during which the kinetic energy of conducting moving fluids is converted to magnetic energy. Researchers believe a weak geodynamo\u2014and a magnetic shield\u2014formed fairly early in Earth\u2019s history, shortly after the event that created Earth\u2019s moon. For the next several billion years, the energy to drive the dynamo decreased until a critical point 565 million years ago, when \u201cthe dynamo was on the point of collapse,\u201d Tarduno says. Despite its drastically weakened state, however, the dynamo did not go away. The researchers conjecture it was at this point in the geological time scale\u2014or sometime shortly after\u2014that the inner core began to form, giving strength to the geodynamo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a critical point in the evolution of the planet,\u201d Tarduno says. \u201cThe field did not collapse because the inner core started to grow and provided a new energy source for the formation of the geodynamo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlocking the ancient magnetic field<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In order to learn about the evolution of the geodynamo, the researchers measured the strength of the ancient magnetic field locked within single crystals of the mineral feldspar. The samples were collected from the Sept-\u00celes Complex in northern Quebec and contain tiny magnetic needles with \u201cideal recording properties,\u201d Tarduno says. \u201cThe feldspar protects those needles from later alteration on geological time scales, so we get a much higher resolution record of the ancient strains in the magnetic field by measuring these single crystals.\u201d<\/p>\n

By studying the magnetism locked in ancient crystals\u2014a field known as paleomagnetism\u2014the researchers found that the intensity of the magnetic field was extremely low 565 million years ago, \u201clower than anything we\u2019ve ever seen before,\u201d Tarduno says. This indicates that the inner core may have formed around this time to restore strength to the dynamo and, in turn, to the magnetic field.<\/p>\n

The inner core and planet habitability<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Today, the geodynamo is powered by the growth of the inner core and is essential to the habitability of our planet, says Richard Bono, a former post-doctoral research associate in Tarduno\u2019s lab, and now a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Liverpool. \u201cOur magnetic field is part of what makes Earth a special planet, and, so far, the only one that has life. The evolution of Earth\u2019s interior and the resulting geodynamo generated within plays a critical role in the preservation of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

An improved understanding of this evolution of Earth\u2019s interior may provide researchers key clues, not only for planet formation and habitability on Earth, but in the search for life on exoplanets that resemble Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same factors that drive dynamos on Earth might affect the magnetic shielding on exoplanets,\u201d Tarduno says. \u201cIt could be the case that some planets don\u2019t have long-lived dynamos and those planets would not have the magnetic shielding we have, meaning that their atmosphere and water might be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides being a critical point in the evolution of Earth, 565 million years ago was also a critical time for the major diversification of life on Earth, Tarduno says. \u201cThis is a time of Ediacaran fauna<\/a>, the first large complex organisms we see in the geologic record. These are a fundamental change from the microbial life preserved in older rocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there then some type of causal link between a stronger dynamo and a burst of life?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true that if we have lower magnetic shielding, we\u2019d have more harmful radiation coming in to Earth,\u201d Tarduno says. \u201cThat radiation might be harmful for DNA, for example, and there has been speculation that this could stimulate mutations.\u201d Tarduno cautions, however, that there isn\u2019t strong evidence of this correlation in the geological record, although the new data \u201cwill certainly stimulate more thought on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rochester researchers have gathered the first field data that show the Earth\u2019s inner core is only about 565 million years old\u2014relatively young compared to the age of our 4.5-billion-year-old planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":360902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[18852,29502,2056,23252,18572,16072],"class_list":["post-358662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-department-of-earth-and-environmental-sciences","tag-featured-post-side","tag-john-tarduno","tag-planets","tag-research-finding","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEarth\u2019s inner core is much younger than we thought<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researchers have gathered the first field data that show the inner core is 565 million years 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