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The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronology (a scientific branch of geology that aims to determine the age of rocks).
The Proterozoic (IPA: / ˌ p r oʊ t ər ə ˈ z oʊ ɪ k, ˌ p r ɒ t-,-ər oʊ-,-t r ə-,-t r oʊ-/ PROH-tər-ə-ZOH-ik, PROT-, -ər-oh-, -trə-, -troh-) [3] [4] [5] is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, [6] and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale.
The Paleoproterozoic Era [4] (also spelled Palaeoproterozoic) is the first of the three sub-divisions of the Proterozoic eon, and also the longest era of the Earth's geological history, spanning from (2.5–1.6 Ga).
Geologic time shown in a diagram called a geological clock, showing the relative lengths of the eons of Earth's history and noting major events The geological history of the Earth follows the major geological events in Earth's past based on the geological time scale , a system of chronological measurement based on the study of the planet's rock ...
The dates for each age can vary by region. On the geologic time scale, the Holocene epoch starts at the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age (c. 10,000 BC) and continues to the present. The beginning of the Mesolithic is usually considered to correspond to the beginning of the Holocene epoch
31.6 Ps (1000 Ma, 1 Ga): One giga-annum (Ga), one billion years, the largest fixed time unit used in the standard geological time scale, approximately the order of magnitude of an eon, the largest division of geological time. +1 Ga: The estimated remaining habitable lifetime of Earth, according to some models.
The term geon (for geological eon) refers to large, geologic units of time. Geologists traditionally subdivide Earth history into a hierarchy of named intervals: eons, eras, periods, etc. (e.g., the Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era). Historians subdivide the history of human activity into intervals that are comparatively much shorter.
The history of the Earth can be organized chronologically according to the geologic time scale, which is split into intervals based on stratigraphic analysis. [2] [21] The following five timelines show the geologic time scale to scale. The first shows the entire time from the formation of the Earth to the present, but this gives little space ...