The Role of Geomagnetic Field Intensity in Late Quaternary Evolution of Humans and Large Mammals

Abstract

It has long been speculated that biological evolution was influenced by ultraviolet radiation (UVR) reaching the Earth's surface, despite imprecise knowledge of the timing of both UVR flux and evolutionary events. The past strength of Earth's dipole field provides a proxy for UVR flux because of its role in maintaining stratospheric ozone. The timing of Quaternary evolutionary events has become better constrained by fossil finds, improved radiometric dating, use of dung fungi as proxies for herbivore populations, and improved ages for nodes in human phylogeny from human mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes. The demise of Neanderthals at ~41 ka can now be closely tied to the intensity minimum associated with the Laschamp magnetic excursion, and the survival of anatomically modern humans can be attributed to differences in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor that has a key role in the evolutionary response to UVR flux. Fossil occurrences and dung‐fungal proxies in Australia indicate that episodes of Late Quaternary extinction of mammalian megafauna occurred close to the Laschamp and Blake magnetic excursions. Fossil and dung fungal evidence for the age of the Late Quaternary extinction in North America (and Europe) coincide with a prominent decline in geomagnetic field intensity at ~13 ka. Over the last ~200 kyr, phylogeny based on mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes in modern humans yields nodes and bifurcations in evolution corresponding to geomagnetic intensity minima, which supports the proposition that UVR reaching Earth's surface influenced mammalian evolution with the loci of extinction controlled by the geometry of stratospheric ozone depletion.

How the Geomagnetic Field Influences Life on Earth – An Integrated Approach to Geomagnetobiology

“…Present-day studies imply that geomagnetic excursions, e.g. Laschamp excursion (41 to 42 thousand years ago) and excursions identified in sediments of Brunhes Chron (nearly 13 thousand years ago) could have led to a regional extinction of large mammals (Channell and Vigliotti 2019). According to Cooper et al (2021), the Laschamp excursion in combination with the Grand Solar Minima, initiated substantial changes in the concentration and circulation of the atmospheric ozone, increased atmospheric ionisation and ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels, leading to global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes.…”

“…According to Cooper et al (2021), the Laschamp excursion in combination with the Grand Solar Minima, initiated substantial changes in the concentration and circulation of the atmospheric ozone, increased atmospheric ionisation and ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels, leading to global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes. It was also suggested that those environmental changes could have sparked a chain of events leading to the extinction of large mammals in Australia and Europe, and possibly to the extinction of Homo neanderthalensis (King 1864) and subsequent success of Homo sapiens Linnaeus 1758 (Channell and Vigliotti 2019;Cooper et al 2021). Similarly, large mammals' extinctions in North America and Europe 13 thousand years ago could be linked to geomagnetic excursions identified in sediments of Brunhes Chron.…”

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“…Recent evidence demonstrated that megafauna (including Hominidae) die-offs in North America and Eurasia were associated with geomagnetic field intensity minima ( Channell and Vigliotti, 2019 ). The Neolithic population collapse (~5500 before present (BP) years), which occurred over approximately 500 years in the mid-Holocene (~7000 to 5000 BP), was temporally coupled to the last geomagnetic field intensity minimum ( Shennan et al, 2013 ; Batt et al, 2017 ; Nilsson et al, 2014 ; Riris and Arroyo-Kalin, 2019 ; Warden et al, 2017 ; Li et al, 2014 ).…”

Human Cryptochrome Mediates Oxidative Stress Responses Modulated by Static and Electromagnetic Fields in Doxorubicin-Treated Cells

“…Humans are continuously exposed to MFs, which are from natural origin comprising GMF, thunderstorm, solar storms and/or manmade sources such as power transmission lines, factories, MRI and other therapeutic apparatuses, etc 54 . Indeed, MFs as stimuli or deleterious stresses are important phenomena in our surrounding environment, has been associated with the human health modulate the physiological and hemostatic functions of cells especially neural cells and the circadian periods 55,56 . However, the mechanism of these biologic in uencing is not well-established on the cellular behaviors.…”