For hundreds of millions of years, the Earth's magnetic field has been guided by two vast, overheated regions deep inside the planet. This groundbreaking discovery, led by Professor Andy Biggin, a specialist in ancient magnetic fields, reveals that the Earth's magnetic field has been steered by the same deep features for an extremely long time. The research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, sheds light on the complex interplay between heat and magnetism within the Earth's core and mantle. By tracing magnetic clues in rocks, scientists have documented a persistent influence tied to the Earth's deepest interior, challenging previous assumptions about the stability of the magnetic field. This finding has significant implications for understanding the dynamic evolution of the deep Earth and its more stable properties, as well as for refining ancient maps and climate reconstructions. The study also opens the door to examining what drives those long-lived patterns and how they affect the Earth's magnetic history.
