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The first eon in Earth's history, the Hadean, begins with the Earth's formation and is followed by the Archean eon at 3.8 Ga. [2]: 145 The oldest rocks found on Earth date to about 4.0 Ga, and the oldest detrital zircon crystals in rocks to about 4.4 Ga, [34] [35] [36] soon after the formation of the Earth's crust and the Earth itself.
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 ...
Over time the Earth began to cool as planetary accretion slowed and heat stored within the magma ocean was lost to space through radiation. A theory for the initiation of magma solidification states that once cool enough, the cooler base of the magma ocean would begin to crystallise first.
The earliest evidence for life on Earth includes: 3.8 billion-year-old biogenic hematite in a banded iron formation of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in Canada; [30] graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks in western Greenland; [31] and microbial mat fossils in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone in Western Australia.
The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and extinct organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as Ga, for gigaannum) and evidence suggests that life emerged prior to 3.7 Ga. [1] [2] [3] The similarities among all known present-day species indicate that they have diverged through the ...
Dinosaurs evolved from more primitive reptiles in the aftermath of Earth's biggest mass-extinction event caused by extreme volcanism at the end of the Permian Period about 252 million years ago.
The latter two are sub-divided into several eras as currently defined. In total, the Precambrian comprises some 85% of geological time from the formation of Earth to the time when creatures first developed exoskeletons (i.e., hard outer parts) and thereby left abundant fossil remains.
Known affectionately to scientists as the "boring billion," there was a seemingly endless period in the world's history when the length of a day stayed put.