Earth Has a Mysterious Heartbeat of Geologic Changes Every 27.5 Million Years That Baffles Scientists

One study said that catastrophic change is a regular occurrence, which starts and ends in a regular span of time.

Destruction and rebirth like clockwork

Using data that spans over 260 million years, researchers have studied major changes on planet earth like mass extinctions and massive changes of the sea level reported Daily Mail. The group is from New York University and they are proposing that the ancient events were self-repeating clusters space over a period of 27.5 million years. They suggest that these events are not a random occurrence over millions of years.

Why these pulses happen at all, and how these occur in the earth's inner core is part of the mystery. Tectonic plates move as part of these rhythmic cycles. The planet's orbit in space also seems to be part of the puzzle.

Members of the study estimate that the last pulse geological activity happened only 7 million years ago and the next one is due in 20 million years.

What scientists say

Study lead, Michael Rampino, a geologist and faculty member of New York University Department of Biology said that most geologists think that these events are random, cited Sciencedaily.

He added that the data from the study indicates it is a cyclical phase and happens regularly, like cosmic clockwork on the dot, every 27.5 million years based on their calculations.

Previous studies have shown that all the stages of major geologic changes, including volcanoes and anything else that causes changes on the land, including animals are from 26 to 36 million years. One problem is the accuracy of dating these ancient events are not precise. Rampino utilized the newest methods to date the changes accurately. He gathered a collection of 89 major geologic changes over 260 million years, basing on the baseline of 27.5 million years as the start of each major phase.

When did it happen?

Their study focused on 10 major timepoints in the proposed 260 million-year timeline when the earth's pulse was felt. These pulses were kept on schedule by something that has not been comprehended by science. Once the cycle begins there is no stopping it.

Rampino added that the study questions the so-called random events, that other scientists consider over periodic destruction and creation of the earth, noted NYU.

The evidence of the earth pulse

Last year, the results were published and centered on mass extinction over time during the earth's entire existence. The new paper says that it is a combination of several events that happen in several epochs, which led to the changes seen now.

The researchers studied the major extinction of any animals with four limbs, as to how it happened, and worked a hypothesis.

Many of these recognized factors in the 27.5 million-year cycle is an asteroid collision and devastation caused by volcanic magma. One thought is that it could be influenced by the orbit of the earth in space, which brought it into contact with comet showers, like the one that killed the dinosaurs. When the asteroid caused mass extinction it was called a K/T Extinction Event and thought as the cause of a mysterious heartbeat of geologic changes every 27.5 million years.