Earth’s Core Has a Gas Leak

In the turbulent forging of the early Earth, density was destiny. Heat from asteroid impacts and radioactive decay turned a mass of primordial rubble, held together by gravity, into a seething, molten orb. In this feverish state, the matter that makes up the Earth separated into distinct layers; the densest materials sank, forming an iron-nickel core, while lighter silicate matter rose to form the rocky mantle.

Geologists have long assumed that these layers were permanent—and matter could cross the ancient boundary between Earth’s core and mantle. A published in challenges this view, providing evidence that the core may leak gasses stored there since the formation of the planet “up” into the mantle—and that these gasses can find their way, via volcanic rocks, to Earth’s surface.