26.7.

2014 Geological Timeline

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Geological Timeline of the Earth

Geology is the study of the Earth. This includes the composition, structure and properties of the Earth, including the processes that produce
geological changes, and the history of how these changes hav e affected the Earth. The Earth has a v ery long history , and its geology has changed
continuously ov er its history , and still continues to change.

A geological timeline of the Earth summarizes the history of these changes.

It is not the same as the timeline of life on Earth, although geology affects life
and life has influenced geology . Many of the geological stages of the Earth,
specially in the more recent past when life was plentiful, are often defined at
least in part by the strata in which different fossils hav e been found.

The Earth is about 4.56 billion y ears old. The Sun and all planets, asteroids,
comets, etc. condensed from the solar nebula. This nebula was itself the
result of an earlier supernov a ex plosion in the v icinity . The shockwav e from
the supernov a ex plosion may hav e initiated the process of contraction of
the solar nebula. Gradually , grav itational forces within the nebula caused
the matter to aggregate and clump together. As the matter contracted, it
started to spin, and took the form of an accretion disk.

Most of the material aggregated at the center, forming the proto-Sun. As

grav ity compressed this matter further, its temperature rose to a point
where fusion was ignited at the core, and the Sun was born. The v iolent solar
wind blew away most of the material (specially lighter elements) outwards,
leav ing a mix ture rich in heav ier elements, which gradually coalesced into
the inner rocky planets. This process was relativ ely rapid - it's estimated that
it took about a hundred million y ears to form the Sun and the planets from
the solar nebula.

The Earth formed soon after the Sun. How soon is a matter of debate, since
no rocks from the earliest period ex ist on Earth any more. The oldest
meteorites are made of the same material that condensed into the planets. Earth from Space
Some of these date within 1 -2 million y ears of the formation of the solar
sy stem, and remarkably , some are basaltic meteorites. Since basalts can
only form under high temperatures and pressures, it seems likely that clumps of material large enough to hav e sufficient pressure and
temperature at their cores formed at a v ery early age.

The Earth continued to grow as it accumulated more material from impactors. One of these impactors was possibly a Mars-sized planetesimal
(known as Theia), which may hav e resulted in the formation of the moon. It seems likely that Earth reached almost its full present mass (99%)
within the first 60 million y ears, that is, during the Cry ptic period of the Hadean.

Mean Radius 6371 km The internal structure of the Earth is lay ered. The outermost lay er is lithosphere
(literally "rocky sphere") which is a region about 60 km thick composed
Equatorial Radius 6378.1 km
predominantly of solid rock. The outermost 35 km of the lithosphere are also
Polar Radius 6356.8 km
known as the "crust". Note that these numbers are av erages, and the actual depth of
Surface Area 510,072,000 sq km the lithosphere or crust v aries considerably by region. It is thinnest under the
Mass 5.9736 x 10E24 kg ocean floors. The nex t lay er inwards is the mantle, which is solid (but plastic and
Mean Density 5.5153 g/cc highly v iscous) rock. The mantle is 2900 km thick, and forms about 7 0% of the bulk
Sidereal Rotation Period 23H 56M 4.09054S of the Earth. The crust can simply be considered the outermost lay er of the mantle,
Axial Tilt 23.439281 degrees with some chemical differences. The crust was formed by repeated melting and
Aphelion 152,097,701 km solidification of the mantle, and is therefore a somewhat cry stalline melt-product
of the mantle. Due to the periodic re melting, the heav ier elements (such as
Perihelion 147,098,074 km
magnesium) sunk below into the mantle and lighter elements (such as silicon and
aluminum) predominate in the crust.

Below the mantle is the Earth's core, which consists of the inner and outer cores. The outer core is liquid, while the inner core is solid. These are
regions of v ery high pressures and temperatures, containing predominantly iron. The inner and outer cores of the Earth are responsible for
generating the Earth's magnetic field.

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26.7.2014 Geological Timeline

Geological Ages of the Earth

Here's a table of the Geological Ages of the Earth. Note that this is just a rough representation - the durations of different periods are not to scale.

Hadean Cryptic 4.56b - 4.50b Click to see each div ision in detail. A much
more detailed chart prepared by the
Basin Groups 4.50b - 3.95b
International Commission on Stratigraphy
Nectarian 3.95b - 3.85b
can be found at their web site (as pdf) or
Early Imbrian 3.85b - 3.80b here (gif).
Archean Eoarchean 3.80b - 3.60b
Paleoarchean 3.60b - 3.20b The following is a brief summary of the
Mesoarchean 3.20b - 2.80b eons of geologic time. Y ou can select an
Neoarchean 2.80b - 2.50b eon here or click directly in the table to
the left.
Proterozoic Paleoproterozoic Siderian 2.50b - 2.30b
Rhyacian 2.30b - 2.05b
Orosirian 2.05b - 1.80b Hadean
Statherian 1.80b - 1.60b
This was the age when the Earth first
Mesoproterozoic Calymmian 1.60b - 1.40b formed, accreting from the solar disk. The
Ectasian 1.40b - 1.20b moon formed early in this period, possibly
Stenian 1.20b - 1.00b due to collision with a planet-sized
Neoproterozoic Tonian 1.00b - 850m impactor. The surface of the Earth cooled
Cryogenian 850m - 635m rapidly , and liquid water was probably
Ediacaran 635m - 542m present within the first 1 00 million y ears
Phanerozoic Paleozoic Cambrian 542m - 490m of the Earth's formation. This period is
marked by heav y bombardment by
Ordovician 490m - 442m
asteroids and comets from space.
Although the first generally accepted
Silurian 442m - 415m
ev idence of life comes from a later age, it's
Devonian 415m - 359m
possible that life established itself as early
Carboniferous Mississippian 359m - 318m as 4 billion y ears ago, during this eon.
Pennsylvanian 318m - 299m
Permian 299m - 251m
Archean
Mesozoic Triassic 251m - 199m
Jurassic 199m - 145m This was a 1 .3 billion y ear period in which
Cretaceous 145m - 65m the Earth's geology was established. The
Cenozoic Paleogene Paleocene 65m - 56m oldest rocks generally belong to this
Eocene 56m - 34m period, and it marks the beginning of the
formation of continental plates. Life
Oligocene 34m - 23m
ev olv ed during this period, with the
Neogene Miocene 23m - 5.33m
earliest ev idence from about 3.5 billion
Pliocene 5.33m - 2.588m y ears ago. Photosy nthesis appeared
Pleistocene 2.588m - 11700y towards the end of the Archean, about 2.8
Holocene 11700y - present billion y ears ago, but ox y gen lev els in the
atmosphere remained negligible due to the
presence of sev eral ox y gen sinks in the rocks and oceans.

Proterozoic
This was a period of great geological changes in the Earth. Plate tectonics finally became established during this period. The first ev idence of
multicellularity and sex ual reproduction dates to about 1 .2 billion y ears ago, in the middle of the proterozoic. Towards the end, the Earth cooled
rapidly , and for a time, may hav e been completely frozen. It soon recov ered, and the first complex multicellular life appeared.

Phanerozoic
This is most recent eon, which continues to this day . In this time, multicellular life spread from the oceans to land, the first plants, trees, and
forests appeared. All modern phy la ex isted early in the phanerozoic, and continued to ev olv e into the life forms we see today . This includes the
age of the dinosaurs (the Jurassic and Cretaceous), the age of mammals (Cenozoic), the emergence of birds, modern reptiles, etc. This is also the
period of the formation and breakup of the most recent supercontinent, Pangaea, and the most sev ere mass ex tinction (the end-Permian
ex tinction).

To read the timeline in chronological order, proceed to the Hadean Eon. Or y ou may click any period in the table abov e.

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