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Forces deep underground seem to be deforming Earth's inner core

Seismic waves suggest the planet's solid inner core is being pulled out of shape – and it has undergone these changes over just a few decades

Those changes in rotation are mainly due to magnetic forces generated by convection in Earth’s liquid outer core, says John Vidale at the University of Southern California. Those magnetic forces, or related processes, could change the shape of the inner core as well as its rotation – in fact, some previous measurements of seismic waves passing through the planet’s centre seemed to indicate just that. Hrvoje Tkalčić at Australian National University, who wasn’t involved with the research, says this is a “step forward” towards resolving changes in the inner core beyond rotation.

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