GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE
Earth’s Calendar
JULY 19, 2024
THE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
The Geological Time Scale: Earth's Giant Calendar
This helps scientists organize and understand the major events that have shaped our planet,
from its formation to the present day.
The Big Divisions
• Eons: The longest chapters in Earth's story. Usually, hundreds of millions to billions of
years long.
• Eras: Smaller sections within each eon. They usually last tens to hundreds of millions
of years.
• Periods: Even smaller chunks of time within each era. They typically last tens of
millions of years.
• Epochs: Smaller sections within each period. They usually last a few million years.
• Ages: The tiny sentences in each Epoch. They last less than a million years.
Why These Divisions Matter
These divisions aren't arbitrary. They're based on major changes in Earth's geology (like the
formation of mountains or continents) and the types of life that existed during different time
periods. For example:
• The end of the Cretaceous period is marked by a mass extinction that wiped out the
dinosaurs.
• The start of the Quaternary period is defined by the appearance of the first humans.
Important Topics to Know
• Mass Extinctions: Periods when a large percentage of life on Earth died out. These are
often caused by major events like asteroid impacts or volcanic eruptions.
• Plate Tectonics: The theory that Earth's outer layer is made up of large plates that
move and interact with each other. This movement is responsible for earthquakes,
volcanoes, and the formation of mountains and continents.
• Fossil Record: The preserved remains of ancient organisms. Fossils help scientists
understand the history of life on Earth and how it has changed over time.
• Radiometric Dating: A method used to determine the age of rocks and fossils by
measuring the decay of radioactive isotopes. This is how scientists figure out the
absolute ages of different events in Earth's history.
Approximate Time
Range (Million Major Events and Life
Eon Era Period Epoch Years Ago) Forms
Earth's formation, extremely
Hadean 4600 - 4000 hot and hostile, no life
First single-celled organisms
(bacteria, archaea) appear,
early atmosphere lacks
Archean 4000 - 2500 oxygen
First multicellular organisms,
oxygen begins to build up in
the atmosphere, "Snowball
Proterozoic 2500 - 541 Earth" periods
"Explosion" of diverse life
forms, first animals with
shells and skeletons,
Phanerozoic Paleozoic Cambrian 541 - 485 trilobites dominate
First vertebrates (fish), early
Ordovician 485 - 444 land plants
First land animals
(arthropods), early vascular
Silurian 444 - 419 plants
"Age of Fishes," first
Devonian 419 - 359 amphibians, first forests
Extensive swamps form coal
deposits, first reptiles, large
Carboniferous 359 - 299 insects
Largest mass extinction in
Earth's history, paves the
Permian 299 - 252 way for the dinosaurs
First dinosaurs, first
Mesozoic Triassic 252 - 201 mammals
Jurassic 201 - 145 Dinosaurs flourish, first birds
Flowering plants appear,
dinosaurs dominate, ends
with a mass extinction that
Cretaceous 145 - 66 wipes out the dinosaurs
Mammals diversify and
become dominant, early
Cenozoic Paleogene 66 - 23 primates
Modern mammal groups
evolve, early hominids
Neogene 23 - 2.6 (human ancestors) appear
Ice ages, mammoths, saber-
toothed cats, modern
humans (Homo sapiens)
Quaternary Pleistocene 2.6 - 0.012 evolve
Rise of human civilization,
Holocene 0.012 - Present current geological epoch