EARTH SCIENCE
2 ND Quarter Reviewer | S.Y 2023 - 2024
GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE
 filling with sedimentary and volcanic rocks occurred
The
geologic column and the time scale were originally
constructed on the basis of relative age
determinations
 Geologist developed radiometric, they added absolute
ages to the column and time scale and commonly
used to date rocks in the field.
*Based on the Radiometric dating of carbonaceous chondrites
(meteorite fragments) believed to have originated from the
formation of the Solar System, the ages of our planet is 4.54
billion years old.
THE EARLIEST EONS OF GEOLOGIC TIME:
PRECAMBRIAN TIME
 The Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic Eons, also
known as the Precambrian, are the earliest eons,
accounting for 88% of Earth's history. They occurred 4
billion years before the Cambrian Period, when fossil
remains became abundant. The Precambrian period,
from Earth's formation around 4.54 Gya to 570 Mya,
was characterized by a hot, steaming, and hostile
landscape, with the primitive crust only beginning to
cool.
 The Hadean Eon (Greek for “beneath the earth”), the
earliest time in Earth's history, is difficult to subdivide
based on fossils. Only a few rocks are known that
formed and no fossils of the Hadean age are known.
 Fossils from Archean Eon (Greek for “ancient”) are
not preserved enough and spanned around 3.8 to 2.5
billion years ago. However, evidence indicates that life
began on Earth 3.2 to 3.5 billion years ago, with plate
tectonics enabling crustal building and volcanic belt
formation and sedimentary basins. Marine rocks
during this eon contain microscopic algae and bacteria
 Fossils from the Proterozoic Eon, 2.5 billion to 543
million years ago, are found in sedimentary rocks. The
most complex fossils are multicellular, with different
cell types arranged into tissues and organs. Shell-
bearing organisms were not abundant until the
Proterozoic Era. The rifting of the continental crust and
during this time. Extensive iron deposits formed in
shallow Proterozoic seas, indicating free oxygen
precipitation.
Precambrian or Cryptozoic Era (4.6 ga – 540 Ma)
 Represents 80% of Earth’s history
 Also known as the eon of “hidden life” due to fossil
records
Hadean Eon (4.56 – 3.8 Ga)
 From “Haedes”, Greek god of the underworld
 Chaotic time because of several meteorite
bombardment
 Atmosphere reduction (methane, ammonia, carbon
dioxide)
 Start of the hydrologic cycle and the formation of the
world oceans
 Life emerge in this “hostile” environment
Archean Eon (3.8 – 2.5 Ga)
 Anaerobic (lack of oxygen)
 No ozone
 Photosynthetic prokaryotes (blue green algae) emerge
and started releasing oxygen to the atmosphere
 Life forms are still limited to single-celled organisms
without nuclei (prokaryotes) until 2.7 Ga when
Eukaryotes emerged
Proterozoic Eon (2.5 Ga – 540 Ma)
 Oxygen level reaches ~3% of the atmosphere
 Rise of multicellular organisms represented by the
Vendian fauna
 Formation of the protective ozone layer
Sedimentary rocks of the Phanerozoic Eon which covers the
most recent 543 million years of geologic time, contain
abundant fossils (phaneros is Greek for evident). Four changes
occurred at the beginning if Phanerozoic time that greatly
improved the fossil record:
1. The number of species with shells and skeletons
dramatically increased.
2. the total number of individual organisms preserved as fossils
increased lately.
3. the total number of species preserved as fossils increased
greatly.
4. the average sizes of individual organism increased.
Shells and skeletons are much more easily preserved than
plant remains and soft body tissues. Thus, in rocks of the
earliest Phanerozoic time and younger, the most abundant
fossils are hard, tough shells and skeletons.
Phanerozoic Eon (540 Ma – present)
 Eon of “visible life”
 Diversification of life
 Many life forms are represented in fossil records (with
preservable hard parts)
Paleozoic Eon (540 – 245 Ma)
keia
EARTH SCIENCE
2 ND Quarter Reviewer | S.Y 2023 - 2024

 Age of “ancient life”

 Rapid diversification of life
 Dominance of marine invertebrates
 Plants colonize land by 480 MA
 Animals colonize land by 450 Ma
 Oxygen level in the atmosphere approaches present
day concentration
 Massive extinction at the end (end of Permian
Extinction)

Mesozoic Era (245 – 65 Ma)

 Age of reptiles
 Dominance od reptiles and dinosaurs
 Pangea starts to break- apart by 200 MA
 Early mammals (220 Ma)
 First birds (150 Ma)
 First flowering plants (130 Ma)
 Mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous (65 Ma)

Cenozoic Era (65 Ma – Present)

 Age of mammals
 Radiation of modern birds
 Early primates (60 Ma)
 Continents near present-day positions (40 Ma)
 First hominids (5.2 Ma)
 Modern Humans (0.2 Ma)
 Global ice ages begins (2 Ma)

…..

keia
EARTH SCIENCE
2 ND Quarter Reviewer | S.Y 2023 - 2024

keia