A Model for the Geomagnetic Field Reversal Rate and Constraints on Core-Mantle Boundary Heat Flux
First published: 2020
Brief summary
Models geomagnetic reversal rate as cycles with variable frequency, showing transitions into reversal-free 'superchrons' (tens of millions of years) can be described as a second-order phase transition driven by core-mantle heat flux.
Article
A Model for the Geomagnetic Field Reversal Rate and Constraints on Core-Mantle Boundary Heat Flux is a peer-reviewed journal article published by Scientific Reports (Nature) in 2020. It models geomagnetic reversal rate as cycles with variable frequency, showing transitions into reversal-free 'superchrons' (tens of millions of years) can be described as a second-order phase transition driven by core-mantle heat flux.
Reversal timescales: tens to hundreds of millions of years. It also considers superchrons lasting tens of millions of years. The data source is paleomagnetic polarity switch record. This gives the cycle claim a specific numerical and evidential setting rather than presenting periodicity only as a visual impression.
By investigating data of geomagnetic reversal rates, the authors report the presence of cycles with variable frequency and show that the transition towards superchrons can be described by a second-order phase transition driven by heat flux variations. The interpretation is strongest when measurement uncertainty, nonlinear dynamics, boundary conditions and alternative physical mechanisms are tested explicitly.
For cycles researchers, the article brings together geomagnetic reversal rate, superchrons, core-mantle heat flux, geodynamo. It is relevant to physical and geophysical systems in which oscillation, reversal, recurrence and nonlinear dynamics must be distinguished from random variability.
Because it is a peer-reviewed journal article, the article is a strong starting point for discussion in the Physics & Geophysics forum, although its conclusions should still be compared with later replications and updated datasets.
Source details and credits
- Source / publisher: Scientific Reports (Nature)
- Source type: Peer-reviewed journal article
- URL type: WWW
- Credits: Scientific Reports (Nature)
- URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-69916-w