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Upheaval and extinctions linked to magnetic reversal 42,000 years ago | Earth | EarthSky

Posted by Kelly Whitt in Earth | Human World | February 20, 2021

As the magnetic reversal of 42,000 years ago helped bring about earthly extinctions, these scientists said, the skies would have been lit by widespread auroras. These scientists suggest the reversal could help explain evolutionary mysteries, such as the extinction of Neanderthals. Image via Unsplash/ UNSW.

A magnetic reversal 42,000 years ago helped bring about earthly extinctions, scientists said, accompanied by changes in the sky including electrical storms and widespread auroras.

A new international study suggests that a magnetic field reversal – combined with changing solar winds – contributed to an environmental crisis and mass extinctions 42,000 years ago. It happened around the time of the demise of the Neanderthals, an extinct human species that once roamed what’s now Europe, these scientists said, and it would have come with electrical storms, widespread auroras and an influx of cosmic radiation.

Source: Upheaval and extinctions linked to magnetic reversal 42,000 years ago | Earth | EarthSky