Origin of the Low Rigidity of the Earth's Inner Core

The solid iron Earth's inner core has a low rigidity which manifests itself in the anomalously low velocities of shear waves as compared to those in iron alloys. Normally, when estimating elastic properties of a polycrystal one calculates an average over different orientations of a single crystal. This approach does not take into account the grain boundaries and defects likely to be abundant at high temperatures relevant for the inner core conditions. We show, by molecular dynamics simulations that if defects are considered, the calculated shear modulus and shear wave velocity decrease dramatically compared to the averaged single crystal values. Thus, the low shear wave velocity in the inner core receives its explanation (Science 316, 1603 (2007)).