The weakened magnetic field may have led to increased oxygen concentrations in our atmosphere and oceans, triggering an explosion of animal evolution.
Life on Earth may exist thanks to a brief faltering in our planet's protective magnetic field shell, scientists have found.A bizarre drop in the strength of the magnetic field has been found to have occurred between 591 and 565 million years ago, which coincides with a major increase in the oxygen levels in Earth's atmosphere and ocean, according to a new paper in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
''Multiple lines of geochemical evidence point to a possible increase in atmospheric and oceanic O2 levels in the late Ediacaran Period, specifically in the period of around 575–565 Ma,' they said.However, the reasons for this spike in oxygen were unknown—until now.
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