The core from a seismologist’s perspective

Thousands of kilometres beneath our feet, Earth's iron-rich core was first seismically observed more than a century ago, but still hides many secrets. The outer core is slowly being consumed by the growing inner core as Earth ages and cools. Though the fluid comprising the outer core is vigorously convecting, generating Earth’s geodynamo, there may be a compositional difference at the top of the outer core which has implications for our understanding of its nature. The solid inner core, grown over hundreds of millions of years or more, exhibits seismic anisotropy which varies laterally and with depth below the inner core boundary. In this seminar I will present high-frequency body wave and low-frequency normal mode investigations of the core, and link seismological findings to our understanding of the composition and evolution of our planet’s deep interior.