Earth\u2019s geomagnetic field, which is the invisible magnetic bubble created by motion in the planet\u2019s liquid core, stretches far into space and steers charged particles.<\/p>\n Changes in that field happen because molten iron in the outer core flows in complex patterns rather than in a steady, uniform way.<\/p>\n In this new study, the team compared a long record of magnetic<\/a> field strength to matching estimates of atmospheric oxygen.<\/p>\n They found that both curves climb overall, and share a peak between about 330 and 220 million years ago. When those histories are plotted together, the lines nearly trace each other exactly.<\/p>\n Earth\u2019s core and magnetic field<\/p>\n Streams of charged particles called the solar wind, a steady outflow from the Sun, constantly crash into Earth\u2019s magnetic bubble.<\/p>\n Deflecting much of that space weather helps protect our atmosphere and surface from some of the harshest radiation.<\/p>\n Spacecraft data from Earth, Mars, and Venus show that a magnetic field can reduce atmospheric loss while also opening escape routes near the poles.<\/p>\n One analysis<\/a> reported that, under some conditions, planets with and without internal fields can lose similar amounts of gas.<\/p>\n Because of that nuance, the new work does not simply claim that a stronger magnetic field always locks in more oxygen.<\/p>\n Instead, the authors argue that a slow shared process inside Earth likely drives magnetic activity and the balance of oxygen at the surface.<\/p>\n As lava cools on the seafloor<\/a>, mineral grains line up with the field and form a paleomagnetic record, a frozen record of field direction. If those rocks stay cool enough, they preserve that signal for hundreds of millions of years.<\/p>\n Scientists infer past oxygen levels from geochemical proxies, which are chemical clues in ancient rocks that respond to how oxygen was distributed in air and seawater.<\/p>\n These clues include the chemistry of iron, sulfur, and carbon, plus signs of wildfires that only burn when oxygen is above certain thresholds.<\/p>\n Work combining rock data<\/a> and modeling shows that, after complex animals appeared, atmospheric oxygen mostly lay between about 15 and 30 percent.<\/p>\n One review highlights a late Paleozoic pulse when oxygen may have climbed close to 35 percent before dropping again.<\/p>\n Geochemical work<\/a> on molybdenum in ancient seabed rocks links major ocean oxygenation steps to the spread of land plants and large predatory fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n That pattern supports a broader connection between oxygen rich environments and bursts of complex life.<\/p>\n Earth\u2019s core and supercontinents<\/p>\n Over millions of years, continents assemble into clusters and break apart again in a supercontinent cycle, which is simply a repeating pattern in plate tectonics<\/a>. <\/p>\n Those reorganizations rearrange ocean basins, mountain belts, and the way heat moves out of Earth\u2019s mantle and core.<\/p>\n Studies of past supercontinents, such as Pangea<\/a>, suggest that these cycles can reshape long term climate and ocean circulation.<\/p>\n The work argues that supercontinent<\/a> assembly and breakup may influence atmospheric gases by changing volcanism and weathering rates.<\/p>\n Kuang and colleagues suggest that such deep Earth processes may explain why field strength and oxygen track each other over the span they examined.<\/p>\n Continental motions could modulate heat flow at the core-mantle boundary, which affects the dynamo, and change gases released or removed at Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n The study\u2019s authors emphasize that the match between the two records does not prove a simple cause and effect chain.<\/p>\n Earth\u2019s core, oxygen, and life<\/p>\n Earth is the only known planet with both complex oxygen breathing life and a strong global magnetic field.<\/p>\n That coincidence has tempted scientists to treat the field as part of planetary habitability, the ability of a world to support life.<\/p>\n The new correlation does not settle how a magnetic field shields air, yet it strengthens the idea that a planet\u2019s interior matters.<\/p>\n For rocky exoplanets, astronomers<\/a> may need to think about both distance from the star and how active their cores and plates are.<\/p>\n Future work will test whether similar links appear earlier in Earth\u2019s history or in other chemical cycles such as nitrogen.<\/p>\n For now, the results show that deep core processes have moved in step with the air we breathe. The study is published in Science Advances.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.<\/p>\n Check us out on EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls<\/a> and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For about 540 million years, Earth\u2019s magnetic field and the oxygen in its air have risen and fallen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-186790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Strong](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/earth-core_oxygen-levels_magnetic-field_correlation_540-million-years_Science_1s.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Strong link between Earth\u2019s oxygen level and geomagnetic dipole revealed since the last 540 million years. (A) 10-Myr band-pass filter (their correlations are shown in Fig. 2). (B) 50-myr band-pass filter. (C) 120-Myr band-pass filter. Both VGADM and O2 peaked in the 120-Myr time interval between 230 and 350 Myr. However, O2 peaked later than VGADM, but the time lag decreases as the band-pass filter period increases, until no lag at all after applying the 120-Myr band-pass filter. Credit: Science Advances. Click image to enlarge.Rocks hold magnetic field records<\/p>\n
Untangling that partnership could help explain why life on Earth endured so many upheavals and guide the search for other long lived worlds.<\/p>\n