WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earth’s inner core, a solid metal ball gyrating within the molten outer core, may be both slowing down and changing shape.
Recent analyses of earthquake waves have suggested that around 15 years ago, the inner core’s rotation may have slowed so much that it appeared to pause or reverse direction relative to the surface. But a new analysis suggests something more must be changing at Earth’s center.
The most probable explanation is that the inner core is not only rotating differently — its surface is probably also morphing, geophysicist John Vidale of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles reported December 9 at a meeting
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