The Earth’s crust is not firmly attached to the two inner cores; it has been tilted during the Cretaceous period like a loose sphere and is still struggling to find a way to self-correct.
According to Daily Mail, this discovery comes from ancient limestone formations in the Apennine Mountains of Italy, where ultra-small magnetic particles in the rocks reveal that the Earth’s magnetic poles have deviated significantly in the past and have yet to find their way back to their original positions.
The true North Pole of the Earth (circles) has wandered for the past 84 million years and will take at least another 5 million years to stabilize – (Photo: NATURE)
The study, led by geologist Joe Krischvink from the Earth Life Science Institute at Tokyo University (ELSI), indicates that 84 million years ago, the Earth’s crust and mantle were displaced from the core, causing the North Pole to “shift” quite far south, with the planet’s axis tilted 12 degrees. This occurred during the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs roamed across the continents.
The intriguing part doesn’t stop there: throughout the time since then, the Earth has been “struggling” to return to its original position, at times tilting back by as much as 25 degrees. Thus, over the past 84 million years, both the North and South Poles have truly been “wandering” across a vast region. According to calculations, it will take another 5 million years for our planet to self-correct back to its original position.
Ancient rocks in Italy have provided clear data about the Earth’s tilting
Dr. Krischvink explains that the layers of the Earth are not as tightly connected as previously thought. The planet’s core consists of a solid inner core and a molten outer core. It is this molten core that causes the outer “mantle” to be loose, making it easily slip and tilt unevenly with respect to the core.
According to an earlier report in Nature, when this international research team first identified the initial 12-degree tilt, the cause of the crust’s separation and wandering was due to tectonic processes that abruptly changed the planet’s weight distribution.
