NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Polarity reversals and tilt of the Earth's magnetic dipoleThere is evidence that the terrestrial magnetic field is connected with the Earth's mantle: (1) there are magnetic anomalies that do not take part in the westward drift of the main field, but are fixed with respect to the mantle; (2) the geomagnetic pole position flips in a particular way by preferred meridional paths during a reversal; and (3) magnetic polarity reversals are correlated with the activations of geological processes. These facts may be explained if we take into account that a significant horizontal temperature gradient can exist in the top levels of the liquid core because of the different thermoconductivity of the different areas of the core-mantle boundary. These temperature inhomogeneities can penetrate the core because fluxes along the core boundary (the thermal wind) can be strongly suppressed by a small redistribution of the chemical composition in the top of the core. The nonparallel gradients of the temperature, density, and composition on the top of the core create a curled electric field that produces a current and a magnetic field. This seed-field can be amplified by motions in the core. The resulting field does not forget the seed-field distribution and in this way the field on the Earth surface (that can be created only in regions with high conductivity, i.e. in the core) is connected with the core-mantle boundary. Contrary to the usual approach to the dynamo problem, we will take into account that the seed field of thermoelectric origin is acting not only at some initial moment of time but permanently.
Document ID
19940007747
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Dolginov, A. Z.
(Lunar and Planetary Inst. Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Twenty-fourth Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Part 1: A-F
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
94N12219
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available