How often does Earth cross the galaxy regions with higher supernovae activity?
The paper "Frequency of nearby supernovae and climatic and biological catastrophes" by Clark, McCrea, and Stephenson published in Nature estimates (at 50% probability) that the Solar System passes within 10 parsecs of a supernova every 100 million years. This supernova would be part of a 20-parsec strip in which an estimated 50 supernovae occur.

They do speculate that a connection between the Solar System passing through these regions and climatic and biological events (such as ice ages) is possible.

You can read the paper yourself for more details. It's only two pages and you can purchase 48 hour access for $5 from Readcube.

Source:


"Frequency of nearby supernovae and climatic and biological catastrophes" - Clark, McCrea, and Stephenson