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Earth’s interior cooling down faster than expected, study shows why

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A team of researchers has developed a measurement system that measures the thermal conductivity of Bridgman rocks in the laboratory under the pressure and temperature conditions that prevail in Earth’s interior.

The research has been published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The evolution of our planet is the story of its cooling: 4.5 billion years ago, extreme temperatures prevailed on the surface of the young Earth, which was covered by a deep ocean of magma.

Over millions of years, the planet’s surface cooled to form a brittle crust. However, the enormous thermal energy from the Earth’s interior has altered dynamic processes such as mantle convection, plate tectonics and volcanism.

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The question that remains unanswered, however, is how fast the Earth is cooling, and how long it will take for this continuous cooling to stop the aforementioned thermally driven processes. One possible answer might lie in the thermal conductivity of the minerals that form the boundary between the core and mantle.

This boundary layer is relevant because it is here that the sticky rock of the mantle comes into direct contact with the hot iron-nickel melt in the planet’s outer core. The temperature gradient between the two layers is very steep, so there can be a lot of heat flow here. The boundary layer is mainly formed by the mineral Brinell.

Complete News Source : DNA

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