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Cosmic rays streamed through Earth's atmosphere 41,000 years ago: New findings on the Laschamps excursion

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2024-04-20 03:00:05

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Earth's magnetic field protects us from the dangerous radiation of space, but it is not as permanent as we might believe. Scientists at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly present new information about an 'excursion' 41,000 years ago where our planet's magnetic field waned, and harmful space rays bombarded the planet.

Earth's magnetic field cocoons our planet from the onslaught of cosmic radiation streaming through space while also shielding us from charged particles hurled outward by the sun. But the geomagnetic field is not stationary. Not only does magnetic north wobble, straying from true north (a geographically defined location), but occasionally, it flips. During these reversals, north becomes south, south becomes north, and in the process, the intensity of the magnetic field wanes.

But there's also something called magnetic field excursions, brief periods in which the intensity of the magnetic field wanes and the dipole (or two magnetic poles) that we're familiar with can disappear, replaced with multiple magnetic poles. The Laschamps excursion that occurred around 41,000 years ago is among the best studied. It features a low magnetic field intensity that implies less protection for Earth's surface from harmful space rays. Periods of low magnetic field intensity could correlate to major upheavals in the biosphere.