No instrument has the capacity to physically explore the Earth’s core. Therefore, experts study this through analysis of seismic waves from earthquakes.
Scientists have discovered that some earthquakes that occur in the same place at different times produce different waveforms. This is true for earthquakes in the South Sandwich Islands, which create distinct seismic waves in Alaska. This means that something changed in the Earth’s inner core between these two events.
To conduct the new study, the team analyzed nearly 200 pairs of earthquakes that occurred from 1991 to 2024. The experts studied matching pairs of waveforms before and after inversion, recorded by separate receiver setups.
The 10 pairs (pairs of earthquakes that occurred in the same location but at different times) showed subtle differences in the Yellowknife waveforms that were not present in the Fairbanks waveforms. The simplest explanation for this is deformation of the shallow inner core.
Scientists believe the inner core may deform like a football. Alternatively, areas on the surface of the nucleus may shrink or swell. It is also possible for both of these processes to occur simultaneously.
Source: Ferra
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