Earth Timeline: A Guide to Earth’s Geological

History and Events [Infographic]

Published on: July 31, 2018 | Last Updated: May 27, 2019

4,567,000,000 years ago, Earth was covered in molten lava. Earth was
completely unrecognizable. In its earliest stage of formation, it was
uninhabitable as it clumped from a cloud of dust.
Since about 1,000,000,000 years ago, Earth had its first signs of life. Single-
celled organisms consumed the sun’s energy. As a waste product, this
cyanobacteria eventually filled the oceans and atmosphere with oxygen.

Next, an oxygenated atmosphere paved the way for more complex life forms
to exist. At about 100,000,000 years ago, dinosaurs roamed the Earth until
their abrupt extinction.

Finally, 10,000,000 years ago was the age of mammals. And these mammals
are our direct ancestors. It was only 100,000 years ago when homo sapiens
truly evolved.

In this Earth timeline, we lay out all the pieces on the floor. What sequence of
events have unfolded for Earth to support life and for it to evolve?
Chapter 1: The Sculpting of Earth
4.6 – 4.0 billion years ago Bombardment of Earth Hadean Eon Chemical Building
Blocks for Life

The Big Bang created all matter in the universe. This includes the sun,
planets and our solar system. At the center, the sun swept in smaller elements
like hydrogen and helium. Farther away, heavier elements formed planets.
Based on the core accretion model, gravity was the driver coalescing Earth
from a cloud of dust.
In this early stage of Earth’s creation, the heaviest material like iron sank to
the core. Lighter material remained on top to form a crust. Because the solid
inner core heats the outer liquid layer, it produces convection currents.
This geodynamo is Earth’s magnetic field. Without it, Earth would be
blasted by harmful rays from the sun.
In the late Hadean Eon, the Earth was still in its late heavy bombardment
stage. Earth was hit by asteroids, comets and foreign objects left, right and
center. We know it wasn’t only Earth because we can see these impacts other
places in our solar system. Some scientists believe that water originated from
the bombardment of comets at this time. In addition, there’s reason to believe
that these collisions could have sparked the chemical building blocks for
life – DNA.
One of the most important events for Earth was the formation of our moon.
The giant impact hypothesisdescribes it as an object the size of Mars
heading towards Earth at tremendous speed. After delivering a glancing blow
to Earth, gravity pulls this object into orbit. Ever since this grande event in
the Hadean Eon, it has remained in orbit ever since.
Chapter 2: Earth Cooling and
Primitive Life
4.0 – 2.5 billion years ago Cooling of Earth Archean Eon Prokaryotic Bacteria

The collision of the moon into Earth significantly impacted climate, oceans
and life on Earth. Because the moon’s orbit drags Earth, it slowed Earth’s
rotation significantly from 6 hour days to 24 hours. By having the moon in
orbit, it also stabilized the Earth from wobbling. But most importantly, the
collision of the moon tilted Earth on its axis. And because the Earth is tilted
on its axis, Earth now had seasons.
Eventually, the climate on Earth became more stable in the Archean Eon.
Instead of a molten state, the Earth started to cool down. Water vapor
condensed to form oceans. And the Earth cooled down enough to create
continents. Though opinions vary, “Vaalbara” became Earth’s first
supercontinent.
As the Earth cooled down, a new form of life began to prosper. When oxygen
was absent in the atmosphere, cyanobacteria could convert sunlight to
energy. In shallow water, they metabolized their own food. As a waste
product, cyanobacteria released oxygen into the oceans.
When oxygen mixed with iron in the oceans, rusted iron collected on the
seafloor. The banded iron formationcontinued until there was no more iron
in the oceans to rust. Oxygen had nowhere to go but into the atmosphere.
That’s why this event is the Great Oxygenation Event.
Chapter 3: An Oxygenated
Atmosphere
2500 – 541 million years ago Oxygenation of Earth Proterozoic Eon Eukaryotic Cells

Earth now had an oxygenated atmosphere for new life to flourish on Earth.
But it wasn’t cyanobacteria flourishing. Because oxygen was toxic for
cyanobacteria, they poisoned all anaerobic life on Earth including themselves.
Imagine a dominant species polluting the planet until extinction. The oxygen
byproduct from cyanobacteria created an oxygen crisis on Earth.

At this time, methane was more abundant in the atmosphere. One thing that
methane did very well was trap heat in the atmosphere. It’s one of the most
efficient greenhouse gases there are. So when oxygen combined with
methane, it produced carbon dioxide. All of a sudden, the greenhouse
effect wasn’t as strong. As a result, the whole planet froze. It was “Snowball
Earth” as the Earth went into an ice age for the next 300,000,000 years.
Another important consequence of an oxygen-filled atmosphere was the
emergence of aerobic eukaryotes. Before oxygenation, life was anaerobic.
Eventually, aerobic respiration organisms emerged because of the enriched
atmosphere. This increased the complexity of life. For example, multi-cellular
organisms became apparent in this eon. But the abundance of CO held 2

eukaryotes from diversifying.

As oxygen filled the atmosphere, Earth’s ozone layerthickened. Before the
presence of an ozone layer, life was restricted to shallow water. Because
water shielded harmful radiation, that’s where life existed. Eventually, a thicker
ozone layer (O ) enabled life to diversify on land in the Proterozoic Eon.
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Chapter 4: The Cambrian
Explosion and Fossil Records
541 – 245 million years ago Diversification of Life Paleozoic Era Invertebrates and
Vertebrates

The Cambrian explosion was the largest diversification of life in Earth’s

history. Everything before this era was precambrian. We couldn’t identify life
because we didn’t have fossilized shells or animals. This is when hard-
shelled invertebrates originated in the oceans. The Cambrian explosion
started with the Age of Invertebrates. And life got more diverse from there.
Next came the Age of Fish when thousands of fish species arose. Then, the
first vertebrate land animal made its leap ashore. Amphibians took a breath of
fresh air and colonized the empty continent of Gondwana. This was the start
of the Age of Amphibians. We share similar characteristics as our vertebrate
ancestors. For example, humans have spines, jaws and mouths originating
from fish.

In the Paleozoic Era, lush rainforests flourished on land. But due to an abrupt
shift in global warming, a major marine and terrestrial extinction event began.
This event was the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse. Plants and swamps
were buried, compacted and cooked into underground coal deposits. It left
behind vast deserts for reptiles to eventually dominate the continental interior.
The Paleozoic Era ended with the largest extinction in Earth’s history.
The Permian-Triassic Extinctionvanquished 96% of all marine species.
About 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species were wiped out. Opinions vary
about the Permian-Triassic Extinction cause. But the consensus is that it was
from a major asteroid impact event.
Chapter 5: The Age of Reptiles
and Dinosaurs
245 – 66 million years ago Pangea Supercontinent Mesozoic Era Reptiles and
Dinosaurs

When Earth’s climate became hotter and drier, rainforests collapsed triggering
the Age of Reptiles. Reptiles are different from amphibians because they lay
their hard-shelled eggs on land. They essentially adapted to the land by
cutting all ties with the ocean. Because reptiles evolved to dryland
conditions, they gained a unique ecological advantage.
As conditions changed, dinosaurs (also known as terrible lizards) began to
evolve. These reptile-like mammals had scaly skin and hatched eggs like
reptiles. Some dinosaurs adapted as herbivores and some as carnivores. For
the next 160 million years, dinosaurs were the dominant land
vertebrates on Earth.
The Age of Conifers in the Mesozoic Era provided the spread of seeded
plants. Conifers store vast amounts of carbon. As a result, oxygen content in
the atmosphere jumped to 35% compared to 21% today. In addition, they
provided habitat, shelter and a source of food for specific animal species to
survive.
Also notable is that Pangea existed as one supercontinentin this era.
Dinosaurs lived on one supercontinent. Plate tectonics were the mechanism
that eventually tore continents apart. Don’t forget that dinosaurs existed for
160 million years. So continental drift gradually rifted dinosaurs apart. We
know this because we can find the same fossils on separate continents.
Chapter 6: The Age of Mammals
and Homo Sapiens
66 million years ago – now Dinosaur Extinction Cenozoic Era Mammals and Homo
Sapiens

Ultimately, the start of the Cenozoic Era was the demise of dinosaurs. After a
6-mile wide asteroid hit Earth, a dust cloud blocked the sun. This caused
temperatures to plummet which was the heart of the damage from the
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Because of the worldwide climate
disruption, it was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Mammals existed long before the Cenozoic Era. But they kept a low profile
because dinosaurs dominated the land. After the extinction of the dinosaurs,
this marked the Age of Mammals. When dinosaurs roamed the Earth,
mammals remained small and furry. And because dinosaurs went extinct,
mammals emerged as the largest land animals at this time.

Apes remained in trees for their primary food source. Eventually, grass began
to spread in places like the African Savannah and there were fewer trees. This
forced apes to walk to new food sources. With their heads above the grass to
see predators, apes evolved by walking on two legs. It also helped to have
their hands available when they were traveling.

As the timeline to modern human evolution begins, hominids were the

early proto-humans. They were known for sharpening objects with silicon
rocks. They began to master the use of their hands and fingers. In the stone
age, early humans had fire under control. This enabled them to cook their
food giving them more calories. Modern humans learned to make more
complex sounds and share information in groups. So humans have only
existed for about 0.004% of the age of the Earth.