A 40,000-year-old log has been discovered in a New Zealand wetland, and it may hold the key to solving Earth’s climate puzzle.
Underneath a New Zealand wetland, a 40,000-year-old log was discovered, which might help to answer Earth’s climatic puzzle.
A mysterious global event that may have dramatically changed the Earth’s climate could be explained by a 45,000-year-old log discovered while constructing a new power station.
The 60-tonne wood, according to New Zealand scientists, may hold the answers to the 40,000-year-old Laschamp Event, when the Earth’s north and south poles reversed places.
In February, the 60-tonne Kauri wood was found nine meters beneath the surface in New, New Zealand’s north island. It was handed over to local Maoris on Wednesday after a major excavation operation.
Top Energy, the business building the power station, started to dig in 2017 and had dug 900,000 cubic meters of dirt before reaching the 16-meter log.
According to the NZ Herald, scientist Alan Hogg of Waikato University determined that the tree is 40,500 years old.
The age of the enormous log piqued scientists’ interest in the Laschamp Event, a magnetic reversal’ in which the Earth’s north and south magnetic poles exchanged places.
The exact date of the reversal is unknown; however, it is assumed to have happened around 41,000 years ago.
Scientists anticipate that by looking at the amount of radioactive carbon in the tree’s rings, they will figure out when and for how long the reversal happened.
The massive log’s age attracted scientists’ interest in the Laschamp Event, a “magnetic reversal” in which the Earth’s north and south magnetic poles switched places.
The magnetic reversals — and the following decline in the Earth’s magnetic field strength, which enabled more solar radiation to reach the Earth’s surface — are thought to impact climate substantially.
‘This tree is vital; we’ve never found one of this age before,’ says the researcher. Mr. Hogg claims that discovering the tree was a lucky break that will be crucial in future studies.
Based on its size, Mr. Hogg estimated that the tree was between 1500 and 2000 years old when it perished.
On Wednesday, the 16-meter log was delivered to the nearby New Marae (holy site), where a ceremony was performed to welcome the old tree to the hapu’s care (a division of Maoris).
Richard Woodman, chairman of the New Trustees group, described Shaw’s gesture as a “wonderful recognition” that the tree was returned to its original owners rather than being donated.
The tree needed pieces of around 1.5m long to be hacked off on either end so it could be relocated, and the stump alone weighed 28 tonnes, so transporting it was a huge undertaking.
Two 130-tonne cranes lifted the three sections, which were then carried along the highway by truck five kilometers in four hours.
