An Electro-Blob Under Africa May Be 'Ground Zero' for Earth's Magnetic Field Reversal

Accoring to the article, the Earth's magnetic field is weakening and may be going through a shift. Scientists studied clay pieces from mud huts in S Africa where the burned clay locked in the magnetic properties of Earth from the time when they were burned. Anyway, using this information scientists were able to better determine this shft and the location puts S. Africa at ground zero.

Weakening field
The planet's magnetic field is generated by the churning of liquid iron in the core. Without the field, life on the planet would be much different, if not impossible: This invisible shield protects the Earth's surface from deadly cosmic radiation.

Right now, the field is undergoing a weakening, and no one is sure why. The South Atlantic Anomaly, a region of the magnetic field that stretches from South Africa to Chile, is particularly weak, Tarduno said, so scientists have become interested in figuring out what might be going on in the core underneath that area.

The problem is that before about 160 years or so ago, with the advent of magnetic observatories and (eventually) satellite observations, there weren't many records of what the magnetic field looked like in the Southern Hemisphere, Tarduno said. Ninety percent of the data that does exist comes from the northern half of the planet. To start to rectify that disparity, Tarduno and his team excavated clays from the Limpopo River Valley of Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Botswana. In times of drought hundreds to thousands of years ago, Bantu-speaking farmers would burn down their clay huts and grain bins in ritualistic ceremonies. Unbeknown to these ancient farmers, the fire heated the magnetic minerals in the clay and locked into place a record of the strength and orientation of the field at that time. Now, researchers can study those properties to find out what the magnetic field was doing at that moment in time.

Locked in clay
The excavations unearthed these burnt clays as long ago as A.D. 425, Tarduno said, providing the longest record yet of the magnetic field in southern Africa. The data show that the magnetic field experienced sudden directional shifts between A.D. 400 and 450, and then again between A.D. 750 and 800. Between about A.D. 1225 and 1550, the field noticeably weakened. The first two shifts might also indicate a weakened field, Tarduno said, but more research is needed to determine the magnetic intensity in those time frames. The researchers reported their findings Feb. 15 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

What these shifts suggest is that what is going on in the Southern Hemisphere's magnetic field today may have happened before, Tarduno said.

Interesting....SO, the "shift" may be happening and if I'm getting this right, it will start over in S. Africa. I don't know if this assumption is correct or even if it means a new beginning after the end but I do know that ATS is where I want to discuss this. So.....what says ATS?

www.yahoo.com...

a reply to: lostbook

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis oh my..

I bless the geo-storms down in Africa...

a reply to: lostbook

It’s pretty interesting but why did you put it in origins and creationism?

Theres no ground zero for magnetic field. Earths mass, the molten, spinning core is a dynamo, generating a field like a spinning motor. As long as the motor is on, the axis and spin rate never change, the earths magnetic field will continue, even if it 'flips'.

So what, the compass needles will point the wrong direction. Oh, and a zillion satellites will lose their way.

That could be interesting.

a reply to: lostbook

well if you look at the shifting power struggle in the gov. down there it could be a precursor to what your article suggest.

that is if one believes that such unseen forces could interact with the human mind.

a reply to: lostbook

so now Africa is going to be even more in the fault lines than they already are... Jesus tap dancing christ...

There are dipoles of the earth too, not just the North and South poles. These dipoles are sort of made out of crystal like mineral deposits. If we mine out a dipole, the magnetic dipoles are shifted to another point. We have been mining these areas full of minerals for a hundred years a lot more. Some of them are magnetite, others are just full of gold and copper ores and even other conductive minerals that poke out of the crust. The earth will eventually send up some new dipoles as the magnetic field gets weirded up, that can somewhat effect weather patterns.

There is evidence of this in a lot of old mining industry information done years ago, but with the new extensive desire for minerals and ores, they have discarded the concerns of our ancestors pertaining to this matter and now blame it on natural cycles. Yes, a cycle can include volcanic activity which can increase a messing up of this too, but we now have big enough equipment and desire for things we do not need to increase mining past what is acceptable. Mineral containing mountains are most times geoeffective, take away the minerals and change will occur.

a reply to: lostbook

I wonder if it couldn’t be the electric grid that is messing it up..


The earth went from almost no elecric fields besides the earth itself and those life gives off.


To powerlines. Nuclear plants, hadreon colliders and such..


Maybe that stuff matters o a macro scale

originally posted by: intrptr

Theres no ground zero for magnetic field. Earths mass, the molten, spinning core is a dynamo, generating a field like a spinning motor. As long as the motor is on, the axis and spin rate never change, the earths magnetic field will continue, even if it 'flips'.

So what, the compass needles will point the wrong direction. Oh, and a zillion satellites will lose their way.

That could be interesting.

Being a magnetic field, that means every point in space has a direction and a strength. If the magnetic field flips then the strength in some places will reduce to zero then increase again but with a reversed direction. At the surface of the Earth, local magnetic fields take over, forming loops and arches much like solar flares do on the Sun.

Apparently Earth already has two North Poles and two South Poles, so they will probably fight it out:

malagabay.files.wordpress.com...

This webpage has an animation, but it doesn't work for me:
www.pbs.org...

a reply to: rickymouse

interestingly enough...copper has been being mined the Great Lakes for thousands of years...but thats another topic all together

originally posted by: JoshuaCox
a reply to: lostbook

I wonder if it couldn’t be the electric grid that is messing it up..


The earth went from almost no elecric fields besides the earth itself and those life gives off.


To powerlines. Nuclear plants, hadreon colliders and such..


Maybe that stuff matters o a macro scale

Ummm...those are thought provoking questions...I'm sure they have small localized effects...however... extrapolated to the entirety of the grids I wonder if the electromagnetic fields produced might have more than negligible effects...especially as these grid are maxed in series coinciding with the diurnal rotation of the earth and the day/night cycle...(usage rate spikes as lights are clicked on)

Wouldn't this form oscillations of electromagnetic waves congruent to the rotation...?

Still...magnetic pole fluctuations and reversals are historical and natural to variations in the earths core...

See...you provoked some thought in my noggin...no...I did not rush to the interwebs to be provided with an instant answer...
I much prefer rolling thought around in that empty space between my ears...like an singular seed in a hollow gourd...

Much more fun that way...and a pleasing cha cha...sound to boot...





YouSir

originally posted by: intrptr

Theres no ground zero for magnetic field. Earths mass, the molten, spinning core is a dynamo, generating a field like a spinning motor. As long as the motor is on, the axis and spin rate never change, the earths magnetic field will continue, even if it 'flips'.

So what, the compass needles will point the wrong direction. Oh, and a zillion satellites will lose their way.

That could be interesting.

There's a wee bit more. The iron in the core is thought to be solid, and that there is an outer liquid core that carries ionized iron that moves around the outer core in a very slow process, and that is thought what causes the magnetic field, which then is variable, and the outer core is probably asymmetrical in its motion.

Some interesting ideas

a reply to: JoshuaCox

I wonder if it couldn’t be the electric grid that is messing it up..

I think you are correct the government could be messing it up..

originally posted by: smurfy

originally posted by: intrptr

Theres no ground zero for magnetic field. Earths mass, the molten, spinning core is a dynamo, generating a field like a spinning motor. As long as the motor is on, the axis and spin rate never change, the earths magnetic field will continue, even if it 'flips'.

So what, the compass needles will point the wrong direction. Oh, and a zillion satellites will lose their way.

That could be interesting.

There's a wee bit more. The iron in the core is thought to be solid, and that there is an outer liquid core that carries ionized iron that moves around the outer core in a very slow process, and that is thought what causes the magnetic field, which then is variable, and the outer core is probably asymmetrical in its motion.

Ummm...I'm wondering how much truth there is in that solid core theory...
It seems to me that the core would contain the highest heat and pressure...if we have liquid iron that spews from the earth's mantle to the crust...wouldn't the iron at the center be liquid as well...?

The core is under considerably more pressure...if you compress liquid iron while increasing heat...wouldn't you end up with more dense liquid iron and not a solid...Per Se...?
With increased pressure in all directions inward...the viscosity would no doubt increase in conjunction with the density...
Still...I would think you would end up with a "rest liquid"...rather than an amorphous solid...an increased viscosity liquid in a rest state due to the increased density and pressure...

Chika...chika...there goes that singular seed rattling around that gourd again...

Perhaps I could get it to form a beat...





Yousir

originally posted by: YouSir

originally posted by: smurfy

originally posted by: intrptr

Theres no ground zero for magnetic field. Earths mass, the molten, spinning core is a dynamo, generating a field like a spinning motor. As long as the motor is on, the axis and spin rate never change, the earths magnetic field will continue, even if it 'flips'.

So what, the compass needles will point the wrong direction. Oh, and a zillion satellites will lose their way.

That could be interesting.

There's a wee bit more. The iron in the core is thought to be solid, and that there is an outer liquid core that carries ionized iron that moves around the outer core in a very slow process, and that is thought what causes the magnetic field, which then is variable, and the outer core is probably asymmetrical in its motion.

Ummm...I'm wondering how much truth there is in that solid core theory...
It seems to me that the core would contain the highest heat and pressure...if we have liquid iron that spews from the earth's mantle to the crust...wouldn't the iron at the center be liquid as well...?

The core is under considerably more pressure...if you compress liquid iron while increasing heat...wouldn't you end up with more dense liquid iron and not a solid...Per Se...?
With increased pressure in all directions inward...the viscosity would no doubt increase in conjunction with the density...
Still...I would think you would end up with a "rest liquid"...rather than an amorphous solid...an increased viscosity liquid in a rest state due to the increased density and pressure...

Chika...chika...there goes that singular seed rattling around that gourd again...

Perhaps I could get it to form a beat...

Yousir

The core would be at such a high pressure that the electron orbitals for each iron atom are squashed into different shapes. That would generate different crystal configuration for a solid. Think of gases, liquids and solids as people gathered together for a concert. If there's a few people there, it's easy to move around at random (gases). Add more people and they can only move where there are spaces (liquids). Get more crowded and they can only move into some space if some else move out of the way, sometimes they have to rotate together (superfluids). Packed like a crowded concert or train, and it's impossible to move freely (solids). There are some states in between where people can move
in opposite directions but in straight lines (jet streams).

Strangely enough at high temperatures and pressures, iron remains a liquid:
commons.wikimedia.org...ure_iron_phase_diagram_(EN).png
en.wikipedia.org...
web.gps.caltech.edu...

Immanuel Velikovsky - Challenging Truths (Camera Three - 1964) spoke on this subject

originally posted by: YouSir

Ummm...I'm wondering how much truth there is in that solid core theory...
It seems to me that the core would contain the highest heat and pressure...if we have liquid iron that spews from the earth's mantle to the crust...wouldn't the iron at the center be liquid as well...?

The core is under considerably more pressure...if you compress liquid iron while increasing heat...wouldn't you end up with more dense liquid iron and not a solid...Per Se...?
Yousir

Well,
They are those that also say it is actually the intense pressure at the core is such that the iron is so compressed that is raises the iron's melting point so much that it remains a solid. What isn't solid is the outer molten core.

a reply to: YouSir

Absolutely..

I’m not real knowledgeable o. The subject, but know waves can cancel each other out.

What if all those fields are negating any fields with the opposite frequencies.


Maybe all those waves that get negated add up...