Is our former magnetic field like the present setup? Recent evidence says that the old hypothesis about how old the existing magnet configuration of the planet which dates back to millions of years was .
The magnetic field of Earth protects it from high-energy particles, such as cosmic radiation, and from solar breezes – that is, highly energized particles that the Sun emits in Earth’s direction. In a recent discovery, scientists observed the magnetic field of planet Earth is today consistent to what is was 3.7 billion years ago.
These results, reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research, would have been the oldest estimates of the strength of Earth’s magnetic field so far, if they ended up being exactly accurate and if time machines existed in real life. It was determined by means of rocks consisting of feldspar, quartz, and trace mica, which have a typical age of 3.7 billion years.
“The detection of this remnant magnetic field is an especially crucial step along our path as we seek to answer why the first life appeared on Earth when the ancient fields were not yet,” said Claire Nichols, lead scientist on this study, and a geologist at the University of Oxford, in a press release.
Evidence of an Ancient Magnetic Field
Although the rocks mining process was as precise as possible using excavated fragments from Isula, Ghana, the researchers could tell that the ancient magnetic field strength // three and half billion years ago was 15 microTesla – half of our current strength.
Scientists were accomplished this by investigating the observation of the particles of iron in the rocks of ancient ages; each of the particles of iron was like a magnetic particles recording the strength and the direction of magnetic field.
“Interpreting reliable data from all these ancient rocks proved to be extremely difficult, and I was ecstatic that we were able to see the actual magnetic signals as we collected more samples in the lab.,” remarked Nichols in the press release.
One reason why finding out an age identifying Earth´s all over magnetic field´s age as such may be hard is the heat known to be along tectonics plates, being in the planet’s crust, which may destroy any trace found. Though there were the similar type of rocks in Greenland but they were on top of a really thick continental crust what saved them to melt.
Is a Magnetic Field Needed to Support Life?
In a sense, in spite of changing magnetic field in the last billions of years, we are able to infer that Earth’s incorporation against solar wind as more powerful.
The scientists are suspicious that this is possible because some time back, to be more exact, the solar wind was more ferocious. The planet being engulfed by the magnetosphere of the Earth the solar wind was barred and thus gave an opportunity for life to bloom on the land after swimming in the ocean cover.
The team will excavate ancient rocks from Canada, Australia, and South Africa to investigate their crystal structure for future investigations. The stipulated rocks could help in the investigation of their crystal structure for future research. Moreover, measurements which help reveal the magnetic field’s origin and how it has evolved may provide scientists with enough insight to explain whether a magnetic field is necessary or not to the development of life.
This article is republished from DiscoverMagazine under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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