The way in which seismic waves pass through the core suggests alignment of iron crystals within the solid inner core. Experiments indicate that iron at inner-core conditions may be weaker than thought and easily allow deformation of iron crystals.
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Merkel, S. Earth's inner weakness. Nature Geosci 6, 514–515 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1861
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1861
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