New Delhi:
Scientists so far had the knowledge that planet earth has two magnetic poles- North and South and these two poles protect us from the harmful cosmic rays and high speed solar winds.
But a new study reveals that the ancient earth had more than one or two magnetic poles, it was subject to erratic changes as in the past earth also had several pairs of magnetic poles.
The recent study points out that the arrangement of magnetic fields was not always the same. Researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Science believe that earth's inner core was not always solid and at some point of the planet's history it began transforming from a molten state into a solid one.
Earth's magnetism is due to its core which is made of molten iron and scientists wanted to test the magnetic properties of earth when it had molten core.
The study also revealed that earth's core was changing from molten to solid state and at that time our planet had several magnetic poles.
The findings were published in Geographical research letters. Researchers belive that these findings may help further to understand the bizarre fluctuations in magnetic field direction which occured 600 to 700 millions years ago.
