Silicon ‘snow’ discovered at core and mantle boundary
Geologists have found that the recently discovered seismic anomalies at the boundary between the mantle and the Earth’s core can be explained by the fact that in this zone there are constantly peculiar silicon ‘snows’ covering the boundary between these layers of the lithosphere with a thin layer of solid crystals from a combination of iron and silicon – as reported by Arizona State University press office, TASS writes
“If there is enough hydrogen and silicon in the outer layers of the Earth’s core, strange particles of silicon ‘snow’ can appear inside. Our calculations show that such exotic silicon ‘snows’ begin to fall at the boundary between the core and the mantle, and may also play an important role in cooling the Earth’s interior at great depths,” explained scientist Fu Suyu.
The bowels of the Earth consist of several layers: a solid earth’s crust, a semi-liquid mantle and a molten outer and solid inner metal core. In recent years, geologists have been interested in how the boundary between the core and mantle is arranged and what processes take place in this zone of the lithosphere. The interest of scientists in this part of the Earth’s interior is due to the large number of seismic anomalies discovered in recent years.
