(ORDO NEWS) — Fossil trees helped experts find out the fact that 42 thousand years ago the planet’s magnetic field completely disappeared. This affected the climate, mass extinctions, as well as the human population.
It was possible to reveal the secret of the past due to southern agathis – a tree from New Zealand, which was stored in the sediments for more than 40 thousand years. In ancient times, there was a burst of radiocarbon in the atmosphere, which was associated precisely with the disappearance of the protective shell of the Earth.
Without a magnetic field, high-energy particles penetrate our planet, which interact with nitrogen atoms and thus cause a vigorous reaction. An isotope of carbon-14 is formed and is absorbed by trees.
The protective shell is regularly modified. The last inversion took place 780 thousand years ago, the magnetic field weakened by 28%.
The complete disappearance 42 thousand years ago was called the Adams event. Experts are sure that then due to the destruction of the ozone layer and an increase in ultraviolet radiation, the climate changed dramatically. The growth of ice sheets was observed at that time.
It is possible that some animals became extinct forever, like the Neanderthals, who fought among themselves for housing.
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