42,000 Year Old Tree Captured Evidence Of Earth’s Magnetic Field Flipping - India Times

The massive trunk which actually belongs to one of the largest tree species in the nation, is said to be around 42,000 years old and it was preserved in a wet muddy ground -- its rings spanned 1700 years that show a chaotic timeline when the world’s magnetic field was flipped upside down. .

The radiocarbon levels in this massive piece of the wood show a spike in the radiation from space as Earth’s magnetic field that protected it weakened and the poles actually flipped, according to the researchers. .

In case you didn’t know, Earth’s magnetic field is formed thanks to the flow of molten iron in the outer core of Earth’s crust that is also susceptible to chaotic swings which are known to not just weaken the field but can also cause the poles to move and flip entirely. .

The magnetic orientation of minerals in rock are known to leave traces of long-lasting reversals but the same cannot be said for flips that last only a few hundreds of years, like the one roughly 42,000 years ago.

During that time the poles flipped and the field recovered some strength but then crashed and flipped back around 500 years later.