Earth’s Magnetic Field: Hot Rocks the Size of Africa Drive It

Jakarta –

Geophysical scientists discovered that in the Earth’s mantle, deep beneath the surface, there are two giant, very hot rock masses, called hot blobs or large hot structures.

These two masses are at a depth of about 2,900 km below the surface, in the border area between the Earth’s core and the lower mantle, and are roughly the size of large continents such as Africa or the Pacific Ocean according to the latest scientific modeling.

This structure is not just a random formation. According to research published in the journal Nature Geoscience by a team from the University of Liverpool, these two hot blobs play an important role in the dynamics of the Earth’s interior, even influencing the movement of material in the mantle and the Earth’s own magnetic field.

“Without the large transfer of heat from the core to the mantle generated by these hot masses and finally to the surface, Earth would be like our closest neighbors Mars or Venus, magnetically dead, with no surviving magnetic field,” wrote Andrew Biggin, a geologist involved in the research, quoted by The Daily Galaxy.

These large hot structures have much higher temperatures than the surrounding rocks, creating large temperature gradients within the Earth’s mantle. These temperature variations affect the flow of liquid material in the Earth’s outer core which is the main source of the magnetic field through the geodynamo process.

According to the research, the most accurate magnetic field models in scientific simulations can only be created if hot blobs are included in the calculations. This phenomenon is important because the Earth’s magnetic field acts as a protector of the planet from harmful radiation from the Sun and other high-energy particles.

Magnetic fields also help keep the atmosphere and climate relatively stable over millions of years. The discovery that hot blobs influence the magnetic field suggests that Earth’s deep internal structure, which runs more than two-thirds of the distance from the surface to the core, is directly involved in processes that influence life on the surface.

The researchers stated that although humans cannot directly see or explore the deepest parts of the Earth, seismological techniques and computer modeling have opened a ‘window’ to map the structure beneath the surface.

Continued studies of hot blobs are expected to provide deeper insight into the origins of Earth’s magnetic field and how the movement of heat and material in the planet’s interior continues to shape the geological dynamics we observe at the surface.

(rns/agt)