🔄FROM THE ARCHIVE It's been 780,000 years since this happened — and some scientists say that Earth's magnetic poles are long overdue for a switch.
— and, because the most recent occurred a whopping 780,000 years ago, some scientists believe we are overdue for another. But reversals are not predictable and are certainly not periodic.Researchers map out the ancient history of Earth’s magnetic field using volcanic rocks. When lava cools, the iron that it contains is magnetized in the direction of the magnetic field.
But carrying out measurements on these archeological artifacts is difficult. For one, the magnetism in ancient objects is very weak — not enough to move a compass needle. And if any objects were heated and cooled several times, several magnetic patterns will be superimposed. Lastly, their reliability is dependent on the objects remaining in the same location that the heating took place.
Juvenile loggerhead turtles dig their way out of underground nests on the beaches of Florida, enter the sea and travel far into the Atlantic Ocean . Then, after many years, they return to the same Florida beaches on which they were born. They navigate this featureless, 9,000-mile journey. When it comes to the salmon, whales, birds and other creatures that also use Earth’s magnetism to navigate, their lives would be seriously disrupted by a reversal of the magnetic field.
that mass extinctions seem to correlate with these time periods, humans or our ancestors have been on Earth for several million years. During that time there have been many reversals, and there is no obvious correlation with human development.The direct effect on mankind could be only slight, but not so for technology. We use artificial satellites for navigation, television broadcasting, weather forecasting, environmental monitoring and communication of all kinds.
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