Which way is North? Princeton scientists say they have evidence that today's North Pole could have been originally located along the equatorial line. What's more interesting is that the planetary somersault may have been caused by an erupting supervolcano. Either that, or a mountain range so large that it created an imbalance in the Earth's rotation. To illustrate the major shift in the Earth's axis, the scientists ask one to imagine Alaska at the equator. This theory is not new and has been around for 140 years, but the evidence is most definitely new...

The magnetic grains discovered by scientists in layers of rock sediment on the ocean floor are like entries in Earth’s diary. When rock particles sink to the ocean floor to form layers of new sediment, tiny magnetic grains align with the magnetic lines of the Earth. As the rock hardens it becomes a reliable record of where Earth’s magnetic field was pointing at the time of the rock’s formation. If dramatic geological event did take place, the magnetic grains will have an different orientation than present day rock formation.

Known as the True Polar Wander, the theory suggests that if an object of sufficient weight  formed far from the equator, the planet’s rotation would gradually pull the heavy object away from the axis which the Earth spins around. If the supervolcano or some massive formation caused the Earth's spin to become imbalanced, the planet would tilt and rotate until the  extra weight was relocated to a point along the equator. Incidentally, polar wander is not the same as continental drift.

“The sediments we have recovered from Norway offer the first good evidence that a true polar wander event happened about 800 million years ago,” said Adam Maloof, an assistant professor of geosciences. “If we can find good corroborating evidence from other parts of the world as well, we will have a very good idea that our planet is capable of this sort of dramatic change.”

In case were you wondering if Earth will do another somersault, Maloof says probably not. "The Earth’s surface is pretty well balanced today.”