A sudden reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field may sound like quite an unlikely event, but the findings of a recent study suggest that it may actually happen in our lifetime.
The analysis of the ancient sediments at the bottom of the Italian lakes allowed scientists to find out when the magnetic poles of the Earth flipped for the last time, and to conclude that a new geomagnetic reversal could take place in less than 100 years from now.
An international team of scientists from Italy, France and the United States managed to determine the age and duration of the last polarity transition. In their study, the scientists used argon-argon dating method to bottom sediments at Dry Lake, located in the Apennine Mountains near the town of Sulmona, east of Rome. The sediments had well-preserved traces of our planet’s magnetic field lines in their structure, which allowed the researchers to reveal their past directions.
