Podcast: Paleomagnetism 101

Earth's magnetic field, which is generated by convection currents in the highly-conductive liquid outer core, has been documenting our planet's past for billions of years. Just like that of a standard bar magnet, our magnetic field behaves, on average, like an axial dipole: it has a north pole and a south pole and the field lines connecting them follow a characteristic geometry. Thanks to certain magnetic minerals that are incorporated into rocks as they form, the orientation of this magnetic fi...