The result joins a mounting set of evidence that suggests the planetвЂ™s magnetic field is capable of flipping more frequently than once thought possible, says Joseph Meert, a paleomagnetist at the University of Florida who was not part of the study team. Find out the origins of our home planet and some of the key ingredients that help make this blue speck in space a unique global ecosystem. During this stunningly chaotic time, detailed in a recent publication in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the planet experienced 26 magnetic pole reversals every million years-more than five times the rate seen in the last 10 million years.Д®arth is the only planet known to maintain life. Now, Gallet and his colleagues have uncovered evidence of one of the highest rates of field reversals yet recorded. ( Learn more about what might happen when the magnetic poles flip.) While fears of a looming geomagnetic apocalypse are overblown, a magnetic reversal could have many damaging impacts, from increased radiation exposure to technological disruptions, which makes understanding these historic flips more than just a scientific curiosity. In the planetвЂ™s 4.6-billion-year history, the field has frequently flipped, swapping magnetic north and south, and some research suggests that another flip may be on the geological horizon. This protective bubble shields Earth from radiation thatвЂ™s constantly streaming from the sun.

But Gallet, of FranceвЂ™s Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, had his face turned toward the rocks with one goal in mind: deciphering the history of EarthвЂ™s magnetic field. Yves Gallet balanced on a steep rocky slope in northeast Siberia, a turquoise river leisurely wending across the undulating landscape that sprawled below.

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