Earth Timeline: A Guide to Earth’s Geological History and Events [Infographic]
Since Earth’s creation, oceans, continents and life have emerged. From evolution to extinction, here are the geological events and history of Earth timeline
Geologic Timeline
Paleozoic Era: Diversification of Life (540 to 252 million years ago)
The Paleozoic Era marked the first fossil records of animal life.The Cambrian explosion was the largest diversification of life in Earth’s history.
Hadean Eon: The Formation of Earth (4.6 to 4.0 billion years ago)
4,567,000,000 years ago, Earth was covered in molten lava. In the Hadean Eon, it was in its earliest stage of formation as it clumped from a cloud of dust.
Human Timeline: How Long Have Humans Existed?
The earliest anatomically modern human fossil found was dated at about 200-300,000 years old in Morocco, Africa. They had modern faces and used stone tools.
The Cenozoic Era: From Dinosaur Extinction to Human Evolution
The Cenozoic Era started with the extinction of dinosaurs and moved into the age of mammals.This led to the diversification and increase in size of mammals.
What Happened in the Archean Eon? [4.0 to 2.5 billion years ago]
Earth formed a stable climate in the Archean Eon. Because it cooled down from its molten state, Earth was able to support oceans, continents and oxygenation
Proterozoic Eon: Eukaryotes to Multicellular Life (2500 to 541 million years ago)
In the Proterozoic Eon, key highlights are: ozone layer thickened, an oxygen crisis, Snowball Earth and eukaryotes and multicellular organisms evolved.
The Mesozoic Era: The Age of Reptiles, Dinosaurs and Conifers
The Mesozoic Era had a lot of “firsts”. For example, it had the first birds, first mammals, first dinosaurs and first flowering plants on Earth.
What is Earth’s Geological Time Scale?
Earth’s geological time scale is almost unimaginable to us. This is because humans lifespans are so short in comparison (in hours, days, months and years).