The 13 million year Cenozoic pulse of the Earth

Abstract

The geomagnetic polarity reversal rate changes radically from very low to extremely high. Such process indicates fundamental changes in the Earth's core reorganization and core–mantle boundary heat flow fluctuations. However, we still do not know how critical such changes are to surface geology and climate processes. Our analysis of the geomagnetic reversal frequency, oxygen isotope record, and tectonic plate subduction rate, which are indicators of the changes in the heat flux at the core mantle boundary, climate and plate tectonic activity, shows that all these changes indicate similar rhythms on million years' timescale in the Cenozoic Era occurring with the common fundamental periodicity of ∼13 Myr during most of the time. The periodicity is disrupted only during the last 20 Myr. Such periodic behavior suggests that large scale climate and tectonic changes at the Earth's surface are closely connected with the million year timescale cyclical reorganization of the Earth's interior.