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Research suggests that between 591 and 565 million years ago, a weakened magnetic field may have triggered an increase in oxygen levels, supporting the development of complex life.
Research suggests that between 591 and 565 million years ago, a weakened magnetic field may have triggered an increase in oxygen levels, supporting the development of complex life.
An unusual decrease in the strength of Earth’s magnetic field between 591 and 565 million years ago coincided with a significant increase in oxygen levels in the atmosphere and oceans, according to a paper published today (May 2). Contact Earth and Environment. The authors suggest that the weakening of the magnetic field may have led to an increase in oxygen, which is believed to have supported the evolution of some of the earliest complex organisms.
Between 600 and 540 million years ago, life on Earth consisted of soft-bodied organisms known as the Ediacaran fauna, the earliest known complex multicellular animals. The fossil record shows that these organisms varied greatly in complexity and species between 575 and 565 million years ago. Previous studies have shown that this diversity is associated with a significant increase in oxygen levels in the atmosphere and oceans over the same period. However, it is not yet clear why this increase in oxygen occurs.
John Tarduno and his colleagues analyzed the magnetic properties of 21 crystals of plagioclase, a common mineral in the Earth’s crust, extracted from a 591-million-year-old rock in Brazil. Plagioclase crystals contain small magnetic minerals that maintain the intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field during their formation. Analysis of the crystals showed that at the point where they formed, the Earth’s magnetic field was the weakest magnetic field ever recorded; It was about 30 times weaker than the current magnetic field strength and the magnetic field strength measured in similar crystals formed about 2,000 million years ago. .
The authors combined their results with previous measurements to find that Earth’s magnetic field had been at this weak level for at least 26 million years, between 591 and 565 million years ago. This corresponds to the increase in oxygen that occurred between 575 and 565 million years ago. The authors suggest that a weakened magnetic field may have allowed more hydrogen to escape into space, leading to higher levels of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, which may have contributed to the diversity and complexity of organism types.
Source: Port Altele
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