Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Earth’s core may have slowed its rotation before completely switching directions around more than a decade ago, scientists suggested in a new study.
In a report published inNature Geosciencethis week, seismologists Xiaodong Song and Yi Yang of Peking University in China said that the Earth’s iron core slowed its rotation in 2009. It briefly fell in sync with the planet’s overall rotation during this time.
Then, the seismologists say, the core “turned in an opposite direction,” perCBS News.
“We believe the inner core rotates, relative to the Earth’s surface, back and forth, like a swing,” they toldAFP.
“One cycle of the swing is about seven decades,” the team explained, meaning that the core would switch direction about every 35 years.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
The researchers estimated that the core also changed directions sometime in the 1970s and could switch again in the 2040s, AFP reported.
They also believe all of Earth’s layers are physically linked to each other.
“We hope our study can motivate some researchers to build and test models which treat the whole Earth as an integrated dynamic system,” they said, according to CBS News.
During their study, the team analyzed seismic waves from earthquakes over the last six decades, perPhys.org.
RELATED VIDEO: The Year’s Most Historic Moments in Space Exploration
John Vidale, a University of Southern California seismologist, told AFP that there’s doubt around the team’s findings. He explained that other research suggests the inner core changes direction every six years.
source: people.com
