THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE

Earth’s 27-Million-Year "Heartbeat": A Mysterious Cycle of Geological Upheaval!

Scientists have uncovered a recurring cycle of geological activity on Earth, occurring roughly every 27.5 million years. This planetary "heartbeat" is marked by clusters of volcanic eruptions, mass extinctions, shifting tectonic plates, and rising sea levels. The findings, published in Geoscience Frontiers, suggest that these events are not random but follow a predictable pattern—one that has shaped Earth’s history for at least 260 million years.

By analyzing 89 well-documented geological events over the past 260 million years, researchers discovered that catastrophic changes tend to cluster together in pulses. These pulses involve a wide range of planetary upheavals, including:

Mass extinctions in both marine and land ecosystems.

Large-scale volcanic eruptions, such as continental flood basalts.

Major ocean anoxic events, where oceans lose oxygen, leading to widespread marine die-offs.

Sea-level fluctuations tied to climate shifts and ice age cycles.

Tectonic shifts, including changes in seafloor spreading rates and plate reorganizations.

What makes this discovery remarkable is that statistical analysis confirms these events are not random. Instead, they follow a recurring cycle—suggesting a deeper underlying cause driving these periodic catastrophes.

The idea of cyclic geological activity isn’t new. In the 1920s and 1930s, early studies suggested a 30-million-year cycle in Earth’s history. Later, research in the 1980s and 1990s refined the pattern to between 26.2 and 30.6 million years. This new study pinpoints 27.5 million years as the most consistent interval, further strengthening the idea that Earth’s history moves in rhythmic pulses.

RESEARCH PAPER

M.R. Rampino et al., “A pulse of the Earth: A 27.5-Myr underlying cycle in coordinated geological events over the last 260 Myr”, Geoscience Frontiers (2021)