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The Earth’s magnetic poles have reversed dramatically on several occasions in the history of our planet. With another long overdue change, scientists have created the most detailed record to date of the most recent switcheroo.
It sounds incredible, but the Earth’s poles have regularly reversed every 200,000 to 300,000 years. However, there has been no change for around 750,000 years and experts have warned that it has long been on hold.
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The magnetic field is charged by the outer molten metal core of the Earth. It is essential for life on our planet, plays a key role in navigation systems and also provides protection against radiation from outer space.
About 40,000 years ago, it attempted to tip over before settling back into place. This NASA illustration captures the huge disturbance on the ground during an overturn:
We don’t know much about the effects of such a flip, except that when it’s done, a compass needle will tell us that north is south and south is north. New research has led to a better understanding of the geophysical events that led to the change and how our planet reacted thereafter.
The study was conducted by scientists from the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR). It reveals that the field became unstable at least 10,000 years before the last change of direction, and that the full reversal process took at least 20,000 years to complete.
The research team came to their conclusions after collecting a mine of samples and performing paleo and magnetic analyzes of the rocks. Yuki Haneda, project researcher at NIPR, said: “Our data is one of the most detailed paleomagnetic records of the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic inversion, providing in-depth insight into the mechanism of geomagnetic inversion.”
The boffins now plan to understand how the geomagnetic inversion influenced plankton and plants by studying marine microfossils and the pollen data they collected in their samples.
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