At https://phys.org/news/2023-03-earth-anisotropic-core-driven-dipole.html … a geomagnetic field is generated in Earth’s interior and extends into outer space to protect the Earth from cosmic radiation and the charged particles of the solar wind. The magnetic field is generated, we are told, by the convection of charged molten iron fluids in Earth’s outer core. Earth’s inner core is inhomogeneous and anisotropic. The seismic velocity in the polar direction is 2 to 3 per cent faster than that in the equatorial direction. Earth’s anisotropic inner core structure is driven by the dipole geomagnetic field, according ot Li Heping and He Yu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In the presence of an extended electric field the alignment of Fe-H lattice with the c-axis pointing in the field direction was energetically favourable. Due to this effect, the alignment of the Fe-H lattice could be driven by an electric field.
Considering the electro-magnetic field distribution in the inner core, an interaction between the inner core and geomagnetic field was established. The aligned texture driven by the geomagnetic field exhibited significant seismic anisotropy, which explains the anisotropic seismic velocities in the inner core.
It’s intriguing, they add. The mobile hydrogens inside the Earth’s inner core correlate with the geomagnetic field and thus form anisotropic texture, which should give us a new perspective to understand the mysteries of the Earth’s inner core and Earth’s magnetic field. Beyond the geoscience implications, unique physical properties of superionic effect are also vital for us to further understand the behaviours of superionic matter under extreme conditions of exoplanet interiors. See further at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37376-1 ….