The Earth’s core at the dead centre of the planet burns at an incredible 7,952F to 11,012F (4,400C to 6,100C). This nightmarish hellscape of molten iron and nickel is located more than 3,728miles (6,000km) down. Because of the core’s metal composition, the core is the primary driving force behind the planet’s natural magnetic field. But the core has been leaking into the Earth’s various layers for almost half the age of the planet a study has found, and some of the material could even breach to the surface.
The incredible finding was presented by a team of geologists in the journal Geochemical Perspectives Letters.
The study found a “core-mantle exchange” is occurring between the molten core and the planet’s mantle.
The mantle is the inner, bulky layer of material inside of the Earth just above the core and below the crust.
According to the new research, the exchange of material between the core and mantle has been happening for at least 2.5 billion years.
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Earth’s core is leaking: Material from the scorching core is moving into the mantle (Image: GETTY)
Earth’s core is leaking: The core is made from molten rock swirling around (Image: GETTY)
The study’s authors Hanika Rizo from Carlton University, David Murphy from Queensland University of Technology and Denis Andrault from Université Clermont Auvergne, discussed their findings in an article for The Conversation.
They wrote: “Volcanic activity is the planet’s main cooling mechanism.
“Certain volcanism, such as that which is still forming volcanic islands of Hawaii and Iceland, might be linked to the core by mantle plumes that transfer heat from the core to Earth’s surface.
“Yet whether there is any exchange of physical material between the core and the mantle has been a subject of debate for decades.”
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Based on the new study, molten material from the core leaks into the base of the mantle.
Volcanic activity is the planet’s main cooling mechanism
This leakage has been happening since around 2.5 billion years ago, where geologists noted the chemical composition of the mantle has drastically changed.
The researchers looked for “chemical tracers” of core material in the Earth’s mantle.
They found these tracers in volcanic rock samples taken from deep in the mantle.
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These tracers were isotopes of the chemical tungsten, which is abundant in the planet’s core.
The researchers analysed rocks for the isotopes tungsten-182 (W-182) and tungsten-184 (W-184).
They wrote: “Interestingly, in Earth’s oldest volcanic rock over a time frame of 1.8 billion years there is no significant change in the mantle’s tungsten isotopes.
“This indicates that from 4.3 billion to 2.7 billion years ago, little or no material from the core was transferred into the upper mantle.
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“But in the subsequent 2.5 billion years, the tungsten isotope composition of the mantle has significantly changed.
“We infer that a change in plate tectonics, towards the end of the Archean Eon from about 2.6 billion years ago triggered large enough convective currents in the mantle to change the tungsten isotopes of all modern rocks.”
The Earth is estimated to only be about 4.543 billion years old.
When the planet’s core first took shape, geologists believed it was entirely composed of molten liquid.
Earth’s core is leaking: Tungsten from the core was found in volcanic rock from the mantle (Image: NEIL BENNETT)
Earth’s core is leaking: The Earth’s metal core creates the magnetic field (Image: GETTY)
Over billions of years, however, the core has begun to cool down and settle.
The spin of the liquid metal deep inside of our planet is what gives the Earth its magnetic field.
One reason why the core could be leaking upwards to the surface is the trickling down of material from the surface down to the core.
According to the study, the subduction of oxygen-rich surface material could be triggering the exchange of tungsten into the mantle.
