II.

4 Climate Change

huuuuuuuuu (Kent gjhgjjhget al, 2006). The ancient rocky lurch was a part of a
development referred to as true polar wander, within which the uppermost layers of the earth,
possible all the method all the way down to the liquid outer core, rotate considerably when
Earth continues its daily circle its usual spin axis.

More than one hundred sixty million years ago, northeastern China was home to a large
array of plants and animals referred to as the Yanliao biology. A dramatic change in climate
from temperate to arid conditions likely led to their demise. But what drove this shift has long
been a mystery. Irving (2019) says, that a new study of paleomagnetic data from northeastern
China suggests that between 174 and 157 million years ago, the Earth’s surface as a whole
turned a lurching twenty five degrees, which might have moved the landscape underpopulated
by the Yanliao biology from a cool, humid zone into a hot, dry band.

How did this happen?

This colossal change can be explained by true polar wander, which occurs when a mass
imbalance causes the entire surface of Earth and its mantle to rotate around the core (Kent et
al, 2006).

If so, many questions linger. For one, it’s unclear precisely what drives such a large
shift, an event that must involve some significant redistribution of our planet’s mass (Yi, et al
2019). Perhaps the birth of subduction zones—regions where one tectonic plate drives under
another—drives the wander, Boschman (2019) says. Or, it could be due to slabs that have
already subducted breaking apart, which would then send pieces of crust sinking through the
mantle, upsetting the planetary balance, Kent adds. For now, unraveling the many geological
unknowns is all part of the intrigue.