As per new research, earth’s inner core is estimated to form earlier than previously thought i.e. about 1.3 billion years ago. It is believed that human life exists on earth because of the planet’s magnetic field which protects the atmosphere and surface from harmful solar radiations. Scientists said that the release of earth’s magnetic field is linked with the cooling of the planet’s inner core.

Till now, it was believed that earth started to cool between half a billion and a billion years ago, but the recent measurements indicate that the core started to form a half a billion years earlier than previously thought. According to the sources, cooling of the earth’s iron core causes impurities of lower mass to release into the liquid outer core layer. Though, it is clear that cooling of inner core of earth is linked with release of magnetic field, researchers have been looking for signs within Earth rocks of the first signatures linked with the formation of magnetic field. These signs will help them know the approximate time when the planet started to cool down.

Andy Biggin, of the University of Liverpool, said “The timing of the first appearance of solid iron or ‘nucleation’ of the inner core is highly controversial, but is crucial for determining the properties and history of the Earth’s interior”. According to the theoretical model, earth’s inner core is losing heat more slowly than at any point in the last 4.5 billion years.