Geologic Time Scale

geologic time scale

• is the timetable of events in the history of the Earth.
• It is a system used by the scientists in relating stratigraphy and time to any geological events.
• This timetable of events is subdivided into geologic time units’ eon, era, period, and epoch.
• These units are based on stratigraphy, which is the description of rock succession and its interpretation in terms of a
general time scale which is the basis for historical geology.
• The earth’s history in reference to the geological time scale is divided into different subdivisions with different time
intervals that are not equal in length.
• Significant events in the history of the earth, fossils, and rock layers were used to divide the geologic time scale.
• Fossils, which are remains of ancient life like plants and animals, as mentioned play a very important role in gathering
important occurrences of facts and information about the existence of life and in the understanding geological changes.
• Index fossils that were preserved in rocks were used as indicators of certain geologic period.
• Geologist, usually relate the age of rocks with the age of fossils found in a certain area. Isn’t so great how the earth’s
history was made? Fossils and layers of rock are important in the determination of the ages. Now, let us continue learning.
The Major Subdivisions
• Eons
➢are the largest subdivision or interval in the geologic time scale which is hundreds of millions of duration.
➢The Phanerozoic eon is the most recent eon which is about 500 million years ago then the Precambrian eon.
• Eras
➢Eons is divided into smaller subdivisions called eras.
➢The Phanerozoic eon is divided into Cenozoic era, the most recent, about 65 million years ago,
➢Mesozoic era, occurs between 65 - 250 million years ago, while Palaeozoic era is about 299 - 542 million years ago.
➢Precambrian eon, it is divided into Proterozoic era which is about 2500 million years ago,
➢Achaean era, 3800 million years ago, and the Hadean era, which is 4600 million years ago.
• Periods
➢Eras are further divided and it is called period.
➢In the geologic time scale, Cenozoic is divided into, Quaternary and Tertiary periods,
➢the Mesozoic into Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic Periods,
➢the Paleozoic into Permian, Pennsylvanian, Mississippian, Devonian, Silurian, Ordovician, and Cambrian periods.
• Epochs
➢Periods are further subdivided and it is called epoch.
➢Only in Cenozoic era is finely subdivided into epoch because rocks have been intensely deformed and are buried deeply and has been severely
modified in a long term earth process.
➢ For Quaternary period, Holocene and Pleistocene epochs, Tertiary periods, Pliocene, Miocene, Oligocene, Eocene, Paleocene epochs.
Significant events that happened during the most recent
part of the earth’s history
• Precambrian
➢The enormous amount of events in the history of the earth happened during the Precambrian
➢This is about 4.1 billion years.
➢It was during Hadean which came from the word Hades, meaning “hell” was believed to be the most chaotic due to the bombardment
of meteorites on earth causing severe volcanic eruption.
➢It was during this time when the ocean, atmosphere, and the core were formed together with the stabilization of the crust.
➢It is believed to be the beginning of the earth.
Archaean era
• was described as the time when the earth became warm.
• Most of the earth was covered with water.
• Methane gas occupied the atmosphere with little to no oxygen.
• The abundance of this gas makes the atmosphere orange in color during this period.
• The formation of the continent was also believed to have started during this time and great amount of iron and
stromatolite on shorelines made the oceans green in color.
• It is also believed that the origin of life especially the prokaryotes happened in this period.
The Proterozoic
• lasted almost half of the age of the earth.
• The atmosphere started to have oxygen making multicellular organisms called eukaryotes transformed
• other multicellular animals also appeared, and the continent started to drift away.
Paleozoic era
• life began to flourish in the sea.
• They actually appeared during this era that is why it is known to be the “age of invertebrates”.
• The fossils of marine invertebrates which lived near shallow waters were found to form in sedimentary layers.
• Trilobites appeared during this era (2 feet size cockroaches).
• Trilobites’ fossils were spotted to have been preserved in rocks during this period.
Devonian period
• This is known as the “age of fishes” plants and the first insect is believed to have evolved.
• Animals started to breathe air as they came out of the sea and transfer to land like the amphibians that you know now.
Land plants like the marsh plants and giant ferns began also to develop.
• In the late part of Paleozioc era, reptiles started to appear which much like their amphibian ancestors is, only that they
were able to lay eggs on land.
• The remains of these formed the large amount of coal deposits in many areas of the world
early Mesozoic era
• also known as the “age of dinosaur” marked the breaking up of major landmasses.
• The dinosaurs, the largest creatures that existed during this period and is believed to be the descendants of the early
reptiles survived throughout this era.
Cenozoic era
• is known as the “age of mammals”, new life forms started to appear.
• Volcanic eruption took place on a large scale, forming colossal flows of lava and basalt.
• Warm blooded animals and other primordial mammal roamed the land.
• It was during this era, as observed in the stone tools used that humans left marks on land.
• we are in in this period that’s why we are here
Activity 1: Complete the Geological Time Scale by filling up the necessary
information, and then describe the following indicated subdivision.
Complete the table below. Write down the major events
then draw the representative life in the given era.