As there is no exact date when the earth was formed, scientists spent years struggling to determine the age of this blue planet. By dating the rocks in Earth's ever-changing crus as well as from moon and visiting asteroids, scientists found that the planet is 4.54 billion years old, with an error range of 50 million years.
Recently a layer of sediment found on a riverside cliff in southern Japan has revealed earth's new age which is called Chibanian age. As per the new findings, the Chibanian geologic time interval took place between 770,000 and 126,000 years ago.
Earth's new age
It was named after Chiba, which is the Japanese prefecture where the sediment was found. International Union of Geological Sciences has recently confirmed the new geological age of the earth. This period is important to understand the recent reversal of Earth's magnetic field, an article in Eos revealed.
However as per the scientists, in various occasions previously Earth's magnetic north and south poles have swapped locations and during that time it leaves a mark in rocks around the world. This recently noted cliffside sediment in Chiba, Japan may offer a richer record of the magnetic pole reversal than any other site on Earth.
The study on earth's geological age
It should be noted that Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, named after Bernard Brunhes and Motonori Matuyama, was the geologic event which happened almost 781,000 years ago when the Earth's magnetic field last underwent reversal but it is still a debatable topic among the scientists. A paper published in Geophysical Journal International used information from sediments found in Italy to argue that the swapping took place in the span of a few decades.
Later in 2019, relying on information from ancient lava flows in Hawaii researchers claimed in a study that the flip took closer to 22,000 years. To end the debate on the geologic record of this flip, the Chiba sediment could eventually help the scientists. As per the researchers, the answer for how the flip takes place will help to understand what's going on today's earth.
