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In my verse the Magnetic Poles of the planet underwent a sudden shift due to the construction of a great tower imbued with great amounts of Magic. This shift made it so that the poles shifted to the Tower. This occurred around a hundred million years or so in the past.

What effects can one expect to see on the planet due to this sudden change in the poles? And can we expect to see evidence of a change if we looked at this version of Earth in the present day.

This is only the shifting of one pole to the tower, with the other pole being on the antipode of this. The shift I am imagining as being rather quick, but not completely instant. Not sure the exact duration.

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  • $\begingroup$ What do you mean? The north magnetic pole shifted to the tower? Or both? If the former, the effects would be limited. If the latter, that would be a major violation of how we understand magnetic fields to work, and would probably be much more complicated to work out. $\endgroup$
    – jdunlop
    May 21, 2021 at 2:13
  • $\begingroup$ Both magnetic poles shifted to the place? That would be rather strange physics, with incalculable consequences. But if only one of them, then no big consequences. In fact, they are shifting right now, with the northern magetic pole leaving Canada and apparently being determined to go to Russia as quickly as possible. As for evidence, well, of course; that is one of the reasons why we keep geologists. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    May 21, 2021 at 5:46
  • $\begingroup$ The shifting of the poles to different places (but still opposite of each other) is a real thing. Researchers are busy with it, so there's theories. Have you looked yourself? $\endgroup$
    – Trioxidane
    May 21, 2021 at 6:15
  • $\begingroup$ I'm having trouble deciding if you are asking about the natural phenomenon that we are already aware of or asking about an accelerated version of it. What does "sudden" mean in your world? Over a few years/decades/centuries or overnight (as soon as the switch was flipped ON at the Magic Tower). $\endgroup$
    – EveryBitHelps
    May 21, 2021 at 7:57
  • $\begingroup$ It was a singular pole. I do not know if it would be the positive or negative charged pole, but it is only one side of it. I am aware that magnets can't have two poles in the same point as we understand them. $\endgroup$
    – Zoey
    May 21, 2021 at 14:02

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There is a huge ball of metal in the middle of the earth. It spins round and round and that creates the Earth's magnetic field. Unstable currents of magma cause it to shift orientation every now and then, changing the apparent location of the magnetic poles. For a matter of fact, in 2020 the poles drifted further south than ever recorded. There is evidence that the poles flipped several times throughout the history of the earth. Why this happens is unknown. There is debate if the increased surface radiation during these flips (it takes a while, though unknown exactly how long) caused mass extinctions. Read more: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

In any event, such a magic tower is basically messing with the big spinning ball of metal, possibly changing it's spinning orientation completely. If this magic tower forcefully and permanently anchors the pole to it's location, then the compound of the friction between the core and the mantle and the tidal pull of the moon would possibly rotate the earth, moving the tower from wherever it was to one of the poles. This would take many millions of years, so in the meantime the day/night cycle would be kind of messed up, with more areas experiencing polar winters and summers. Evolution wise, this would favor more seasonal and hibernating animals in a fair portion of the earth, or sea mamels with really long migration routes, like humpback whales.

The other effect of increased friction with the Mantle would be increased volcanic and tectonic activity. Pangea, the ancient supercontinent, broke apart almost 200 million years ago, so 100 million years is enough time for things to move around a bunch, possibly some ridiculously large mountains and volcanoes, but unlikely to significantly change the map. The increased volcanic activity on the other hand, can lead to an increase in extinction level volcano eruptions, known as ve-8 events. These type of events cause ice ages and such, which would change a lot of the evolution of Earth's flora and fauna.

Finally there are the cosmetic changes: an aurora over the tower, compasses pointing towards the tower and birds using the tower as a migration reference.

P.S. If the tower doesn't hold the magnetic field in place, just moved it as a short 1000ish year event, none of this will happen and it will be just a paleontological footnote.

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