Open AccessThe crystal structure of iron in the Earth's inner core
Author(s) -
Sayers Colin M.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
geophysical journal international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0956-540X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1990.tb01770.x
Subject(s) - inner core , core (optical fiber) , earth (classical element) , anisotropy , rotation (mathematics) , geophysics , phase (matter) , symmetry (geometry) , structure of the earth , geology , outer core , crystal (programming language) , interpretation (philosophy) , geometry , condensed matter physics , physics , optics , mathematics , crust , mathematical physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
SUMMARY Seismic P ‐waves travelling in a N–S direction through the inner core of the Earth are slightly faster than those travelling in the equatorial plane, and these results have been interpreted in terms of an anisotropic inner core with cylindrical symmetry aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation. In this letter it is shown that this interpretation places an important constraint on the crystal structure of the inner core, and in particular is inconsistent with a cubic crystal structure (BCC or FCC). These results therefore provide further evidence for the stability of the HCP phase of iron under the Earth's core conditions.