Scientists have wondered why the polarity of Earth's magnetic field occasionally reverses. Recent studies of fer intriguing clues about how the next reversal may begin Most of us take it for granted ...

Have you ever heard of the geodynamo? Perhaps not, but its presence has certainly had a huge impact on your life. The theory describes how Earth's magnetic field is generated and maintained by ...

At the present day, the geodynamo is powered primarily by compositional buoyancy 3,4,5 due to the crystallization of the inner core from the outer core, which started around one billion years ago 2,6.

Gleaning data from old rocks may result in bias. Now, geophysicists have a way to improve their methods to overcome challenges in studying the history of the Earth's core and magnetic field that make ...

During mantle overturn, large-scale plumes rise toward the surface, contributing to the formation of the Archean continents. Simultaneously, the temperature at the core-mantle boundary rapidly ...

Ancient dynamo Earth's magnetic field is 800 million years older than previously thought, new research suggests. A new analysis of Western Australian zircon minerals has found the engine that ...

Sustaining a magnetic field is difficult for a terrestrial planet. Creeping flow of the planet's rocky shell (mantle) restricts heat loss from the underlying core. By comparison, the liquid-iron core ...

The results place the core at the younger end of an age spectrum that usually runs from about 1.3 billion to 4.5 billion years, but they also make it a good bit older than a recent estimate of only ...

Scientists have produced a new estimate of just how old the Earth's core is. And it is relatively young, the researchers suggest, with the new study coming in at the bottom of recent estimates. The ...

Knowing when the geodynamo started is important for understanding the evolution of the core, the atmosphere, and life on Earth. We report full-vector paleointensity measurements of Archean to Hadean ...

Bias introduced through analyzing the magnetism of old rocks may not be giving geophysicists an accurate idea of how Earth's magnetic dynamo has functioned. A team has shown there is a way to improve ...

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