Some of Earth’s Surface Water Might Be Traveling Down to the Outer Core

Researchers behind the paper published in November used high pressure experiments at the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Lab in Illinois and Germany’s PETRA III of Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron to replicate the extreme conditions around Earth’s core. In their experiments, they tested how surface water at the mantle-core boundary would react to the extreme heat and pressure around the core. What they found was that the water chemically reacted with core materials, forming a hydrogen-rich, silicon-depleted layer that acted like a film surrounding the outer core. The reaction also forms silica rich crystals that rise into the mantle. This results in a dense, silica rich area at the bottom of the mantle. The findings of the experiments gave geologists answers about a mysterious layer of Earth’s interior known as the E-prime layer. <a href="https://beccajean.medium.com/some-of-earths-surface-water-might-be-traveling-down-to-the-outer-core-f8e2d94827cf">Read More</a>