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Science 17 November 2000:
Vol. 290. no. 5495, pp. 1274 - 1275
DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5495.1274b
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News of the Week

GEOPHYSICS:
Core Takes a Page From the Sea Floor

Richard A. Kerr

On page 1338, a group of geophysicists suggests that the mysterious boundary between Earth's molten iron core and its rocky mantle most resembles an inverted sea floor, with liquid-iron-laced sediments collecting on the roof of the core. They argue that a slow, inverted rain of precipitates rising to the core-mantle boundary and settling into a kilometers-thick layer might explain a variety of observations, from a subtle nodding of Earth's axis to seismic speed zones at the boundary. Their story will be difficult to verify, however, because painting a portrait of the core-mantle boundary depends on very indirect geophysical evidence.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)