Enigmatic Ancient Structure Surrounds Earth's Core, Scientists Discover

Scientists have created the most high-resolution map of the underlying geology beneath Earth's Southern Hemisphere, revealing an ancient ocean floor that may wrap around the core. This thin but dense layer sits around 2,900 kilometers below the surface, where the molten, metallic outer core meets the rocky mantle above it. The researchers used seismic waves from earthquakes in the southern hemisphere to sample the ULVZ structure along the Earth's core-mantle boundary. The ULVZs are most likely oceanic crust buried over millions of years, and the discovery can help geologists figure out how heat from the hotter and denser core escapes up into the mantle.