405 thousand year climate cycle discovered related to Earth’s orbit around the sun

In ancient rocks, scientists see a climate cycle working across deep time.

A repeating shift in Earth’s orbit spans hundreds of millions of years

From THE EARTH INSTITUTE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Scientists drilling deep into ancient rocks in the Arizona desert say they have documented a gradual shift in Earth’s orbit that repeats regularly every 405,000 years, playing a role in natural climate swings. Astrophysicists have long hypothesized that the cycle exists based on calculations of celestial mechanics, but the authors of the new research have found the first verifiable physical evidence. They showed that the cycle has been stable for hundreds of millions of years, from before the rise of dinosaurs, and is still active today. The research may have implications not only for climate studies, but our understanding of the evolution of life on Earth, and the evolution of the Solar System. It appears this week in the