Earth could right itself if unbalanced: Researchers

U.S. researchers have discovered that the Earth may have the ability to restore its own balance if an unequal weight distribution ever developed on its surface.

A team of scientists from Princeton, Harvard, Caltech, and MIT, have revealed evidence that the Earth could tilt so far that Alaska could end up near the equator.

The theory, called true polar wander, suggests that large objects - such as super-sized volcanoes - formed far from the equator and caused the Earth to be heavier on one side than the other.

For further evidence of this, the team analysed the magnetic composition of ancient rock particles found in Svalbard, a cluster of islands in Norway.

Their findings suggested that such an imbalance might have occurred some 800 million years ago.

When rock particles sink into the ocean floor, it begins to form layers of new sediment. Tiny magnetic grains within the particles then align themselves with the magnetic lines of the Earth.

The team says that when the rock hardens, these grains can provide evidence of what direction the Earth's magnetic field was pointing to at the time of the rock's formation.

So if a rock spun around during a dramatic geological event - like a tilt in the Earth's axis - its magnetic field would serve as proof of the polar wander theory.

The team now plans to travel the world to seek supporting evidence in sediments similar in age to the ones found in Svalbard.

The researchers' study was published this past weekend in the Geological Society of American Bulletin.

Photography: Solstation

Source: Discovery Channel Reports, August 29 edition