The super-hot, rotating iron core of our planet may now be spinning slower than the surface of our planet, a new study has suggested.
The authors of the new research, Yi Yang and Xiaodong Song from China's Peking University, postulated that the “inner-core rotation has recently paused,” even though the inner core previously started rotating faster than the rest of the Earth during the 1970s.
"We believe the inner core rotates, relative to the Earth's surface, back and forth, like a swing," the researchers said as quoted by media. "One cycle of the swing is about seven decades."
The study’s authors arrived at these conclusions after studying seismic waves from repeated earthquakes that occurred over the past six decades. These waves pass through the planet’s core and may help track its movements.
The researchers further suggested that the inner core’s rotation came into sync with the rotation of our planet around 2009, and that the next change in this rotation cycle is supposed to occur during the 2040s.