Emily is a health news writer based in London, United Kingdom. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Durham University and a master's degree in clinical and therapeutic neuroscience from Oxford University. She has worked in science communication, medical writing and as a local news reporter while undertaking journalism training.
Geological evidence tracing back more than 65 million years and taken from hundreds of sites across the world suggests that deep-sea currents have repeatedly gone through periods of being either stronger or weaker. This happens every 2.4 million years and is known as an"astronomical grand cycle."
"The gravity fields of the planets in the solar system interfere with each other and this interaction, called a resonance, changes planetary eccentricity, a measure of how close to circular their orbits are," study co-author Dietmar Müller, a professor of geophysics at the University of Sydney, said in a statement.
The authors of the new study used satellite data to map the accumulation of sediment on the ocean floor over tens of millions of years. They found that there were gaps in the geological records where sediment stopped building up within these astronomical cycles. They believe that this could be linked to stronger ocean currents as a result of warmer weather caused by Mars' gravitational influence on Earth.
"We know there are at least two separate mechanisms that contribute to the vigor of deep-water mixing in the oceans," Müller said. One of these mechanisms is known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation , Müller said. This acts as an ocean"conveyor belt," bringing warm water from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, pulling heat deep into the ocean in the process.
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