(ORDO NEWS) — The Cambrian explosion was a period of planetary reset, which gave impetus to the emergence of a number of new types of multicellular organisms.
This event was accompanied by a sharp weakening of the Earth‘s magnetic field, and scientists believe that the reasons are hidden in the processes that took place deep in the core of our planet.
Cambrian Explosion
The Earth’s magnetic field is a very important element for the comfortable life of species on the planet. It reliably protects life from the effects of cosmic radiation and other factors.
Approximately 550 million years ago, there was a sharp jump and the magnetic field weakened sharply, subsequently it regained its strength.
Scientists suggest that it was in the core of the Earth that the processes that caused the Cambrian explosion took place – a sharp jump in the formation of new life forms that were not related to previously existing ones.
An analysis of crystals in the rock of Quebec showed that during the Cambrian explosion, the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field was approximately 10% of today’s and could not properly protect living organisms from cosmic and solar radiation. Most likely, the magnetic field was losing strength due to the rapid cooling of the core.
Subsequently, the core began to harden. This spurred the movement of the outer core and restored the strength of the planet’s magnetic field.
As the study showed, the formation of the inner core occurred just before the Cambrian explosion began – a sharp increase in the number of living beings on the planet and the appearance of many exoskeletons.
Observations of other worlds where magnetic fields have disappeared show the dramatic consequences of losing the protective magnetic shell.
An example is Mars, which lost its magnetic field 4 billion years ago. Unprotected from the solar wind – a continuous stream of protons and electrons pouring out of the Sun – the Martian atmosphere evaporated into space, leaving the planet’s surface dead and waterless.
How and why the solid iron core of the Earth began to form remains a mystery. But over half a billion years, it has grown to the size of the moon, and if not for it, our planet would now look different.
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