The Earth's core, extending from the centre of the planet to a radius of 3485 km, is divided into a solid inner core and a liquid outer core. The core consists of mainly iron, with some light elements; both the exact composition and the crystal structure of the inner core are still debated. Additionally, details of the growth of the inner core by solidification of the liquid outer core remain elusive: the extent of the mushy layer in the outermost parts of the inner core is poorly constrained, and the inner core may exhibit different textures at different depths. Understanding the structure of the inner core – for example, differences in velocity structure between the Western and Eastern hemispheres – is crucial to our understanding of core formation and the geodynamo responsible for the Earth's magnetic field.

My current research is concerned with using both body waves and normal modes to study temporal variations in the Earth's inner core. I am hoping to build a detailed global picture of both small and large scale structures in the inner core.

This project is funded by an ERC studentship (grant number 204995). I am a member of the Deep Earth Structure and Global Seismology group in Cambridge, and also of the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics and of Trinity College, Cambridge.


Publications: 2006-Present

Last updated on 24-Apr-12 10:58