Thermal and magnetic evolution of the Earth’s core

The magnetic field of the Earth is generated by convection in the liquid-core and the energy necessary for this process comes from the cooling of the core which provide several buoyancy sources. The thermodynamics of this system is used to relate the Ohmic dissipation in the core to all energy sources and to model the thermal evolution of the core. If the same dissipation is maintained just before the onset of inner-core crystallization, and the associated compositional convection, as at present, a much larger heat flow at the core mantle boundary (CMB) is necessary which, if extrapolated backward, may require a very high initial temperature. Two solutions to that problem are studied: either the Ohmic dissipation was smaller then, which could be maintained with the same heat flow as at present or an important radioactivity is present in the core. The presence of radioactivity in the core makes the inner core only a few hundred million years (Ma) older than non-radioactive cases with the same dissipation, because the low efficiency of radioactive heating requires a much larger heat flow at the core mantle boundary. Although the age of the inner core is controlled by the heat flow at the CMB, the Ohmic dissipation to be maintained is the constraint that makes it low. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.