Do any mass extinctions correlate with magnetic reversals?
No. There is no evidence of a correlation between mass extinctions and magnetic pole reversals.
Earth’s magnetic field and its atmosphere protect us from solar radiation. It’s not clear whether a weak magnetic field during a polarity transition would allow enough solar radiation to reach the Earth's surface that it would cause extinctions. But reversals happen rather frequently--every million years or so--compared to mass extinctions, which occur every hundred million years or so.
Related Content
Why measure the magnetic field at the Earth's surface? Wouldn't satellites be better suited for space-weather studies?
Does the Earth's magnetic field affect human health?
Are we about to have a magnetic reversal?
How does the Earth's core generate a magnetic field?
Do animals use the magnetic field for orientation?
Is the Earth a magnet?
Could magnetic reversals be caused by meteorite or comet impacts?
Is it true that Earth's magnetic field occasionally reverses its polarity?
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