The mysterious link between land and oxygen magnetism avoids scientists
The stability of the magnetic field of land and the amount of oxygen in its atmosphere seems to be considered – and the scientists want to know why
A Dimetrodon hunting group in a peremia environment.
StockTrek Images, Inc./aliky Stock Photo
The stability of the magnetic field of the land as to rise and falls in the hand with many oxygen in its space, a study of geological records found.
The explanation of the link helps to reveal the basic trends of evolution of life on earth – and can show promoro areas to seek signs of complex life on other planets. But it is not clear when magnetic in the world is to handle a role in the oxygen levels – and maintained animal life – or if both influenced by a third, unknown mechanism.
Nature;; Source: “strong connection between land oxygen levels and geomagnetic dipole has been revealed since last 540 million years,” by Weija Kuan et al., SA Science progressVol. 11, Num. 24; June 13, 2025
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“We never have a good explanation for it,” says Benjamin Mills, a Biogeochemist at the University of Leeds, UK, and co-authorship co-authorship, published in Science progress on June 13. But the study suggests “some potential factoring and potentially tested”, as Aubrey Zerkle, a Biogeochemist at the University of St Andrews, UK.
Knowing how to influence the depths of the evolution of the air “is critical to going to our planida, a Geophard bond in Tallahase in Tallahasee in Tallahasee.
Geological hints
Oxygen is the main component of the land crust and mantle. But the molecule oxygen just began a slow accumulation in the air after organisms producing oxygen by photosynthesis began to progress, about 2.5 billion years ago. And in the current Aeon, covering the last 540 million years or more, it was achieved concentration with most animals.
There is no direct way of measuring the composition of the air deeper, but geochemists can use indirect signs of oxygen time also starting during the Cambrian, which began about 540 million years ago. For example, oxygen concentration “has a strong relationship how easy it is to start and continue with wildfires,” as big wilds can by seeing the old charcoal deposits, among other reasons.
Geophysicists can also be constructed how the power and direction of the Geomagnetic field varies in the history of the world, by studying the blasts of the face of ancient rot. That’s because magnetic crystal shapes of lava reinforcing themselves in the field, which act like small compasses frosting in time.
To put these two long side records and compare it, the mills included Geophysicist Waajia Kordparsen Center, Marydard Space Center Center, Marydard Space Center Center at the University of Washington in Seattle. The authors found a strong correlation – the level of oxygen and geomagnetic force increased in the last million years, and the main spikes or droplets of the same geological measures (see long-tong trends’).
Possible explanations
The paper mentions some possible correlation reasons. The magnetic field of land is known to have a protective effect in the upper atmosphere because it has gone away from the solar air, a stream with oxygen and other gases slowly to escape space. But teams are calculated that the absence of oxygen causes an enthusiastic vulnerability of the field is less than compared to photosynthes values
“We don’t have to think that the magnetic field affects cycling directly, but it can be a result of the same processes,” says Mills. Over hundreds of millions of years, tectonic motions have repeatedly formed supercontinents, and have subsequently broken them up – releasing vast amounts of nutrients that in turn spurred massive blooms of oxygen-producing algae in Earth’s oceans. Tectonics are driven by slow churning of the land in the ground, the region between crust and core. This churning can also affect the liquid to the outer core, where the geomagnetic field is made, says Kuang.
“If things are like spreading rate (in Oceanic Crust) influence the magnetic field, tectonic cycle can drive oxygenation – but also the magnetic field,” as well as the magnetic field, “mills.
Sanja Patso, a Geophysicist at Helmholtz Center for Geoscience in Potssam, Germany, says study convincing questions than it answered. “The authors discuss many hypotheses, but they are not tested on this paper.”
However, discovery can eat a long-term debate if a strong magnetic field is crucial for the complex life to develop on a planet. “It is very important to observe exoplanets, and you need to choose who can observe,” Mills said. “What kind of work to inform is the class of places you look.”
This article has been copied with permission and first published On June 13, 2025.
