Could plant life evolve on a world with a toroidal magnetic field?

Let us assume that my new world has within its rings, shells, and blobs of remarkably cool magnetically-involved stuff such that its magnetic field is toroidal (shaped like a donut) rather than spherical.

• The toroid is equatorially aligned, meaning the planet is ringed by the magnetotoroid somewhat like a child floating down a river in an inner tube.

• The inner radius of the toroid is basically zero, the outer radius is basically identical to Earth's magnetosphere.

• The consequences are two substantially magnetic-flux-weakened areas (possibly no magnetic-flux areas) at the poles.

Could at least plant life evolve on such a planet?

• It may not be the magnetic field itself, but instead its shape that affects evolution. For example, how would it affect the Van Allen radiation belts, which would then affect the poles, allowing radiation onto the planet? Would this affect weather? Would there be radiation storms? etc.

• I am looking for the evolution of complex plants such as grass and trees. Not merely single-celled organisms.

• The planet can be considered Earth-like other than I'm not focusing on animal evolution, but whether or not such a planet could be colonizable without the need for importing all food or building structures more protective than day-to-day buildings already found on Earth.

The following image is more exaggerated than I had in mind

As AlexP points out, the Earth's normal magnetic field could be considered a toroid field with an inner radius of 0. Consider a toroid with an inner radius of 15% the outer radius. This would expose a considerable amount of the two poles to solar radiation that would normally not be exposed.

posted almost 7 years ago

JBH‭

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