14 DAY TRIAL // A new investigation infirms theories that have been in circulation for years, claiming that our planet' outer core contains substantial amounts of oxygen. The recent study indicates that to be false, and proposes that only traces of the element can be found at that location.
Granted, uncovering the chemical nature of Earth's interior is a tremendously complex scientific endeavor, and one that may never be undertaken to the fullest extent. However, there are certain signs that researchers can use to draw an informed conclusion as to how the planet may look like within.
Originally, the theories holding that the planetary outer core contains a lot of oxygen were derived from the fact that the chemical is so widespread on Earth. It makes up more than 20 percent of the atmosphere, and can be found in vast amounts in water.
As such, it was not without merit to suggest that similarly-large amounts of the element could have made their way to the outer core, as the planet formed. Earth is made up of an inner and outer core, a mantle, the crust and its atmosphere.
The international group of investigators that conducted the new research discovered that the amount of oxygen within the outer core is minute at best. The team included Carnegie Institution for Science's (CIS) expert Yingwei Fei.
In a paper detailing the findings, which was published in the November 24 issue of the top journal Nature, the team reveals how these findings could have significant repercussions on our understanding of how the planet formed in the early solar system.
In addition to CIS Geophysical Laboratory experts, the team also included scientists from the Wuhan University of Technology, in China, who were coordinated by lead study author Haijun Huang.
“We can't sample the core directly, so we have to learn about it through improved laboratory experiments combined with modeling and seismic data,” Fei argues. He adds that his team carried out a series of experiments using shock waves.
Similar waves affect the mantle and the outer core as well, when they are generated by tectonic movements of earthquakes. These shock waves travel through the mantle over significant distances, and influence the chemical composition of the material within.
Whatever experiments the team conducted allowing for an oxygen-rich outer core yielded results that were inconclusive to data collected on the field. This led the team to conclude that the possibility of large amounts of the chemical existing underground is very remote, SpaceRef reports.