Earth's inner core
Thermodynamic evidence

One of the ways to estimate the age of the inner core is by modeling the cooling of the Earth, constrained by a minimum value for the heat flux at the core–mantle boundary (CMB). That estimate is based on the prevailing theory that the Earth's magnetic field is primarily triggered by convection currents in the liquid part of the core, and the fact that a minimum heat flux is required to sustain those currents. The heat flux at the CMB at present time can be reliably estimated because it is related to the measured heat flux at Earth's surface and to the measured rate of mantle convection.

In 2001, S. Labrosse and others, assuming that there were no radioactive elements in the core, gave an estimate of 1±0.5 billion years for the age of the inner core — considerably less than the estimated age of the Earth and of its liquid core (about 4.5 billion years) In 2003, the same group concluded that, if the core contained a reasonable amount of radioactive elements, the inner core's age could be a few hundred million years older.

In 2012, theoretical computations by M. Pozzo and others indicated that the electrical conductivity of iron and other hypothetical core materials, at the high pressures and temperatures expected there, were two or three times higher than assumed in previous research. These predictions were confirmed in 2013 by measurements by Gomi and others. The higher values for electrical conductivity led to increased estimates of the thermal conductivity, to 90 W/m·K; which, in turn, lowered estimates of its age to less than 700 million years old.

However, in 2016 Konôpková and others directly measured the thermal conductivity of solid iron at inner core conditions, and obtained a much lower value, 18–44 W/m·K. With those values, they obtained an upper bound of 4.2 billion years for the age of the inner core, compatible with the paleomagnetic evidence.

In 2014, Driscoll and Bercovici published a thermal history of the Earth that avoided the so-called mantle thermal catastrophe and new core paradox by invoking 3 TW of radiogenic heating by the decay of K in the core. Such high abundances of K in the core are not supported by experimental partitioning studies, so such a thermal history remains highly debatable.
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