ETH Zurich, a public research university located in Switzerland, discovered that the Earth's interior part is cooling faster than it should be.
The planet's temperature has evolved for billions of years. Scientists and other researchers claimed that 4.5 billion years ago, Earth was covered in magma, making it inhabitable.
The ocean of magma then subsided over millions of years ago. This geographical change cooled the surface of the planet, which led to its brittle crust.
But, thanks to Earth's thermal energy emanating in the planet's interior creates dynamic processes in motion: plate tectonics, volcanisms, mantle convection. All these geographical activities are quite essential for life.
ETH Zurich's New Earth Study
ETH Zurich's researchers did not clarify if the fast cooling activity on Earth's interior will affect the mentioned dynamic processes in motion.
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Their new study titled "Radiative thermal conductivity of single-crystal bridgmanite at the core-mantle boundary with implications for the thermal evolution of the Earth" was published in ScienceDirect journal on Saturday, Jan. 15.
Professor Motohiko Murakami, one of the experts at ETH Zurich, worked with other scientists from Carnegie Institution for Science to conduct the new Earth study.
They also developed a new sophisticated measuring system, which allowed them to identify the thermal conductivity of the so-called bridgmanite.
Effects of Earth Interior Cooling
According to SciTechDaily's latest report, the sudden cooling of Earth's interior can lead to some changes in the boundary between the Earth's mantle and core.
Murakami and other involved researchers claimed that the rapid cooling of the Earth's interior mantle could change the stable mineral phases found in the core-mantle boundary.
"Our results could give us a new perspective on the evolution of the Earth's dynamics. They suggest that Earth, like the other rocky planets Mercury and Mars, is cooling and becoming inactive much faster than expected," said Murakami.
In other news, seven satellites were launched by Virgin Orbit. On the other hand, water vapor was discovered on an exoplanet called Super Neptune, thanks to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and TESS spacecraft.
For more news updates on the Earth's interior and other similar topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
