An unexpected discovery has been made that changes the entire understanding of Earth

Imagine: water, which we are used to seeing in oceans, seeps through the Earth's crust and ends up in the very center of our planet - at the boundary between the core and mantle. What happens to it there, where pressure and temperature reach unimaginably high values?

Water in the deep layers of Earth

It is known that subduction zones - areas where tectonic plates collide and one plate goes under another - carry water into the deep layers of the mantle. This process has been continuing for billions of years. However, only recently has it become clear that at a depth of about two thousand nine hundred kilometers, water not only accumulates but enters into chemical reactions with substances that make up the core.

The result - chemical transformation of the core

Seismologists explain: "At this depth, intensive interaction of water with silicon occurs, resulting in the formation of silica, while the outer part of the core becomes enriched with hydrogen."

It is this thin hydrogen film that makes the upper layer of the core less dense. The formed silica rises back into the mantle.

Why this matters

Iron and nickel, located in the outer core, play a key role in the formation of Earth's magnetic field. Therefore, any changes in the chemical composition of the core directly affect the stability of the entire planet. Scientists have previously recorded the presence of a strange thin layer at the core boundary, and now it has become clear where it comes from.

The density puzzle

Seismic waves passing through this layer behave unusually: their speed decreases, and density decreases. For a long time, specialists could not understand how one light element could so significantly change the properties of the layer.

The answer came unexpectedly - an experiment using diamond pressure chambers heated by laser showed that two elements - hydrogen and silicon - can replace each other. This is what explains the anomalies observed earlier.

The complexity of the water cycle in Earth's interior

It turns out that the path of water in Earth's interior is much more complex than previously thought. Water doesn't just go deep, but actively participates in restructuring the planet's internal structure.

Clarification

The interior is the part of the Earth's crust located below the soil layer, and in its absence - below the Earth's surface, the bottom of water bodies and watercourses, extending to depths accessible for geological study and development.

Source: Pravda.ru