What is the E prime layer?

About E prime layer

• It was believed that a material exchange between the core and mantle is small.
• But the experiments revealed that when water reaches the core-mantle boundary, it reacts with silicon in the core, forming silica.

How did this layer develop?

• This latest research suggests that tectonic plates carrying surface water have transported it deep into the Earth over billions of years.
• Upon reaching the core-mantle boundary about 1,800 miles below the surface, this water initiates significant chemical changes, influencing the core’s structure.
• Scientists have observed that subducted water reacts chemically with core materials under high pressure.
• This reaction leads to the formation of a hydrogen-rich, silicon-depleted layer at the outer core, resembling a film-like structure.
• Silica crystals generated by this process ascend and blend into the mantle, impacting the overall composition.
• These modifications in the liquid metallic layer could potentially result in reduced density and altered seismic characteristics, aligning with anomalies detected by seismologists.

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Significance

• This discovery enhances researchers comprehension of Earth’s internal mechanisms, indicating a broader and more intricate global water cycle than previously acknowledged.
• The transformed layer in the core holds significant implications for the interconnected geochemical processes linking surface water cycles with the deep metallic core.

Q1) What is a tectonic plate?

A tectonic plate (also called lithospheric plate) is a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, generally composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere.

Source: Earth core’s mysterious new layer formed due to surface water diving deep: Study