Unraveling Inner Core Structure and Its Origins with Dr. Tarduno

Science Society by Catarina Cunha

Episode notes

In this captivating episode, Dr. Tarduno delves into the mysteries of Earth's inner core, its structure, and how it began to crystallize. Through the lens of paleomagnetism, we explore the evolution of Earth's magnetic field, deciphering changes in its strength and understanding how these shifts provide clues about the core's history. Dr. Tarduno presents intriguing findings from single crystal paleointensity studies of early Cambrian anorthosites, which reveal a rapid resurgence of the magnetic field following a period of ultralow field strength in the Ediacaran Era. This dramatic shift pinpoints the inner core nucleation to around 550 million years ago. Further thermal modeling based on this age suggests the inner core had grown to half its present size by approximately 450 million years ago. Delving deeper, we discuss how seismic anisotropy wi ... 

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Keywords
early cambriangeodynamoinner corepaleomagnetismearths magnetic fieldcore crystallizationanorthositesinner core nucleationseismic anisotropyearths geodynamo