Is Earth's core rusting?

Deep below Earth’s surface 2,900 kilometers deep, to be precise is a mass of mostly molten iron forming the planet’s outer core. Could it rust as well?

Iron on Earth’s surface—whether in simple nails or mighty girders—reacts gradually when exposed to moist air or oxygenated water through a chemical reaction known as oxidation. The reddish-brown product of this reaction is rust.

A new study claims that the earth's core is rusting. rusting happens when the iron is exposed to moist air and oxygenated water leading to a chemical reaction leaving a reddish residue behind and making the iron weak.

Since the core is situated 2900kms below the earth's surface it was assumed that the high pressure environment and lack of water-bearing minerals have protected the iron in the core from rusting. But recent experiments suggested that rust can form at high pressures and could possibly be formed at locations where water from the earth's crust has sunk to the core-mantle boundry.

In the experiment, scientists conducted experiments in conditions that exist in the earth's core. they introduced water to iron through a hydroxyl-bearing mineral and at a pressure of 1Million atm scientists noted that it produced iron peroxide having the structure same as pyrite. In other words, the oxidation reactions in these experiments do, indeed, form high-pressure rust.

If rust is actually present where the outer core meets the mantle (the core-mantle boundary, or CMB), scientists may need to update their view of Earth’s interior and its history. This rust could shed light on the deep-water cycle in the lower mantle and the enigmatic origins of ultralow-velocity zones (ULVZs)—small, thin regions atop Earth’s fluid core that slow seismic waves significantly.

It could also help answer questions about the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), which marked the beginning of Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere some 2.5 billion to 2.3 billion years ago, and the Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event 1 billion to 540 million years ago, which brought atmospheric free oxygen to its present levels.

References:-

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/may/25/terrawatch-earth-core-rusty-atmosphere

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/core

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220121145420.htm

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Blog Credits:  Ojas Tumbde (TY Metallurgy)           

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