This link has been bookmarked by 30 people . It was first bookmarked on 25 Mar 2008, by Ben W.
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05 Apr 15
mattemBiological and Geologic Timeline of the Earth. The origin of the Earth and the Moon. The evolution of life on Earth.
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20 Mar 14
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17 Feb 14
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25 Jan 14
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30 Aug 13
oliver-jackGood Accurate looking representation of the development of Earth all they way back from about 470 million years ago to 1900.
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03 Jul 12
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Earth's original hydrogen and helium atmosphere
escapes Earth's gravity. -
Earth's atmosphere becomes mostly
carbon dioxide, water vapor,
methane, and ammonia.
- Formation of carbonate minerals starts
reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. -
3800 mya: Surface of the Earth changed from
molten to solid rock.
- Water started condensing in liquid form. -
Earth day is 15 hours long
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Monocellular life started (Prokaryotes).
First known oxygen-producing bacteria: -
3000 mya: Atmosphere has 75% nitrogen,
15% carbon dioxide. -
2500 mya: First free oxygen is found
in the oceans and atmosphere. -
Anaerobic organisms are poisoned by oxygen.
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Start of Huronian ice age
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2200 mya: Organisms with mitochondria
capable of aerobic respiration appear. -
Intensive orogeny (mountain development)
- 2023 mya:
Meteor impact, 300 km crater
Vredefort, South Africa [9] -
Oxygen starts accumulating in the atmosphere
- 1850 mya: Meteor impact, 250 km crater
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada [9] -
Photosynthetic organisms proliferate.
- Oxygen builds up in the atmosphere above 10%.
- Formation of ozone layer starts blocking
ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
- 1500 mya: Eukaryotic (nucleated) cells appear. -
1200 mya: Spore/gamete formation indicates
origin of sexual reproduction.[36]
- 1100 mya: Formation of the supercontinent Rodinia -
1000 mya: Multicellular organisms appear.
- 950 mya: Start of Stuartian-Varangian ice age -
Earth day is 18 hours long.
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750 mya: Breakup of Rodinia and
formation of the supercontinent Pannotia -
Earth day is 20.7 hours long.[35]
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590 mya: Meteor impact, 90 km crater
Acraman, South Australia
- 580 mya: Soft-bodied organisms developed: -
570 mya: End of Stuartian-Varangian ice age
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Abundance of multicellular life.
- Most of the major groups of animals first appear -
Animals with shells appeared
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Mass extinction of many marine invertebrates.
Second largest mass extinction event.
49% of genera of fauna disappeared. -
Ferns and seed-bearing plants (gymnosperms) appeared
- Formation of the first forests -
Earth day is ~21.8 hours long.
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Wingless insects appeared on land
- 375 mya: Vertebrates with legs, such as Tiktaalik
appeared.
- Atmospheric oxygen level is about 16%
- First amphibians appear
<!-- 374 mya: --> - 374 mya: * Mass extinction of 70% of marine species.
This was a prolonged series of extinctions
occurring over 20 million years.
Evidence of anoxia in oceanic bottom waters,
and global cooling. Surface temperatures dropped
from about 93°F (34°C) to about 78°F (26°C)
- 359 mya: Meteor impact, 40 km crater
Woodleigh, Australia -
310 mya: First reptiles
- Atmospheric oxygen levels reach over 30% -
Conifers and cycads first appear
- Earth is cold and dry
- Sail-backed synapsids like
Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon appeared
- 260 mya: End of Karoo ice age.
<!-- 251 mya: --> - 251 mya: * Mass extinction (Permian-Triassic)
- Possible 480km-wide meteor crater in the
Wilkes Land region of Antarctica [26]
- Period of great volcanism in Siberia releases
large volume of gases (CO2, CH4, and H2S) [8]
- Oxygen (O2) levels dropped from 30% to 12%
Carbon dioxide (CO2) level was about 2000 ppm
Earth's worst mass extinction eliminated
90% of ocean dwellers, and 70% of land
plants and animals. -
Break-up of Pangaea starts
- Survivors of P-T extinction spread and recolonize
- Reptiles populate the land.
- 240 mya: Sea urchins (Arkarua) appear
- 235 mya: Evolutionary split between dinosaurs and lizards
- Giant marine ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs populate the seas
- First small dinosaurs such as celophysis appear on land
- Adelobasileus proto-mammal emerged (225 mya)
- 214 mya: Meteor impact, 100 km crater
Manicouagan, Quebec, Canada [9]
- 205 mya: First evidence of mammals: Morganucodon
<!-- 201 mya: --> - 201 mya: * Mass extinction caused by oceanic anoxic event
killed 20% of all marine families -
Earth is warm. There is no polar ice
- Cycads, conifers and ginkgoes are the dominant plants
- Age of the dinosaurs
- Giant herbivores and vicious carnivores
dominate the land
- Flying reptiles (Pterosaurs) appeared.
- 180 mya: North America separates from Africa
- 167 mya: Meteor impact, 80 km crater
Puchezh-Katunki, Russia [9]
- 166 mya: Evolutionary split of monotremes from primitive mammals
- 150 mya: First birds like Archaeopteryx appear
- 148 mya: Evolutionary split between
marsupial and eutherian mammals
- 145 mya: Meteor impact, 70 km crater
Morokweng, South Africa [9] -
Period of Active Crust Plate Movements
- 133 mya: Meteor impact, 55 km crater
Tookoonooka, Australia [9]
- 125 mya: Africa and India separate from Antarctica
- Global warming event starts (120 mya)
Carbon dioxide levels were 550 to 590 ppm [27]
- Flowering plants (angiosperms) appeared
- 110 mya: Crocodiles appeared
- South America breaks away from Africa (105 mya)
- Formation of the Atlantic Ocean
- Earth has no polar ice
- Modern mammals and birds developed
- 100 mya: Earth's magnetic field is
3 times stronger than today.
- 90 mya: Global warming event ends
- Interior sea separates North America
into Laramidia (west) and Appalachia (east)
- 70 mya: Meteor impact, 65 km crater
Kara, Russia [9]
- 68 mya: Tyrannosaurus rex thrived
<!-- <img src="meteor.jpg" width="53" height="50" alt="Meteor" style="float:right;"/> --> - 67 mya: Deccan Traps volcanic eruptions start in India
and produce great volume of lava and gases.
<!-- 65 mya --> - 65.5 mya: Meteor impact, 170 km crater
Chicxulub, Yucatan, Mexico [9]
- * Mass extinction of 80-90% of marine species
and 85% of land species, including the dinosaurs. -
63 mya: End of Deccan Traps volcanic eruptions in India
- Appearance of placental mammals
(marsupials, insectivores, lemuroids, creodonts)
- Flowering plants become widespread.
- 60 mya: Earliest known ungulate (hoofed mammal)
- Formation of the Rocky Mountains
- 55.8 mya: Major global warming episode
North Pole temperature averaged 23°C (73.4°F),
CO2 concentration was 2000 ppm. -
50 mya: India meets Asia forming the Himalayas
-45 mya: Australia separates from Antarctica -
Earth day is 24 hours long.
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Modern mammals appear
rhinoceros, camels, early horses appear
- 35.6 mya: Meteor impacts, 90 and 100 km craters
Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, USA, and
Popigai, Russia [9,10]
- 34 mya: Global cooling creates
permanent Antarctic ice sheet [21] -
Appearance of many grasses
- First elephants with trunks
- 27.8 mya: La Garita, Colorado supervolcanic eruption -
4.4 mya: Appearance of Ardipithecus, an early hominin genus.
- 4 mya: North and South America join at the Isthmus of Panama.
Animals and plants cross the new land bridge.
Ocean currents change in the newly isolated Atlantic Ocean.
- 3.9 mya: Appearance of Australopithecus, genus of hominids.
- 3.7 mya: Australopithecus hominids inhabit Eastern and Northern Africa.
- 3 mya: Formation of Arctic ice cap.
- Accumulation of ice at the poles
- Climate became cooler and drier.
- Spread of grasslands and savannas
- Rise of long-legged grazing animals -
370,000 yrs ago: Human ancestors and Neanderthals
are fully separate populations.
- 300,000 yrs ago: Hominids use controlled fires
- Neanderthal man spreads through Europe
230,000 yrs ago
- 200,000 to 130,000 yrs ago: Riss/Illinoian glacial period
- 160,000 yrs ago: Homo sapiens appeared.
Origin of human female lineage (Mitochondrial Eve)
- 125,000 yrs ago: Eemian stage or Riss/Würm interglacial period.
Hardwood forests grew above the Arctic Circle.
Melting ice sheets increased sea level by 6 meters (20 feet)
- 110,000 yrs ago: Start of Würm/Wisconsin glacial period
<!-- http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/326/5960/1680 --> - 105,000 yrs ago: Stone age humans forage for grass seeds such as sorghum.
- 80,000 yrs ago: Non-African humans interbreed with Neanderthals[28]
- 74,000 yrs ago: Toba volcanic eruption
releases large volume of sulfur dioxide -
Homo sapiens reduced to about 10,000 individuals.
- 70,000 yrs ago: Tahoe glacial maximum
glaciers cover Canada and northern US.
- 60,000 yrs ago: Oldest male ancestor of modern humans[3]
- 46,000 yrs ago: Australia becomes arid,
bush fires destroy habitat, and megafauna die off.
- 40,000 yrs ago: Cro-Magnon man appeared in Europe.
- 28,000 yrs ago: Neanderthals disappear from fossil record.[29]
- 26,500 yrs ago: Taupo supervolcanic eruption
in New Zealand
- 22,000 yrs ago: Tioga glacial maximum
sea level was 130 meters lower than today
- 19,000 yrs ago: Antarctic sea ice starts melting.[22] -
15,000 yrs ago: Bering land bridge between Alaska and Siberia
allows human migration to America
- 12,900 yrs ago: Explosion of comet over Canada [23, 24, 25]
causes extinction of American megafauna such as the mammoth
and sabretooth cat (Smilodon), as well as the end of Clovis culture
- Fired pottery invented (12,000 yrs ago)
- 11,400 yrs ago: End of Würm/Wisconsin glacial period.
Sea level rises by 91 meters (300 ft) -
Development of agriculture
- Domestication of animals.
- 9,000 yrs ago: Metal smelting started
- 5,500 yrs ago: Invention of the wheel
- 5,300 yrs ago: The Bronze Age
- 5,000 yrs ago: Development of writing
- 4,500 yrs ago: Pyramids of Giza
- 3,300 yrs ago: The Iron Age
- 2,230 yrs ago: Archimedes advances mathematics
- 250 yrs ago: Start of the Industrial Revolution
- 50 yrs ago: Space travel
Artificial satellite orbits the earth (1957).
Humans walk on the surface of the moon (1969).
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13 Jun 12
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29 Nov 11
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- 3800 mya: Surface of the Earth changed from
molten to solid rock. -
- 3000 mya: Atmosphere has 75% nitrogen,
15% carbon dioxide. -
- 2400 mya: Great Oxidation Event,
also called the Oxygen Catastrophe. -
2400 mya: Start of Huronian ice age
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- 2100 mya: End of Huronian ice age
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1500 mya: Eukaryotic (nucleated) cells appear
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- 1100 mya: Formation of the supercontinent Rodinia
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- 450 mya: Start of Andean-Saharan ice age.
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420 mya: End of Andean-Saharan ice age
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- 275 mya: Formation of the supercontinent Pangea
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- 240 mya: Sea urchins (Arkarua) appear
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- 235 mya: Evolutionary split between dinosaurs and lizards
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- 180 mya: North America separates from Africa
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- 166 mya: Evolutionary split of monotremes from primitive mammals
- 150 mya: First birds like Archaeopteryx appear
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04 Nov 11
Melissa Meisterearth's timeline for ch. 3 of env. ecology
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24 Jul 11
ladyhelenasartGood cheat sheet
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13 Apr 11
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21 Nov 10
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20 Sep 10
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25 Mar 10
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13 Feb 10
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06 Jan 10
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Astronomical and geological evidence indicates that the Universe is approximately 13,700 million years old, and our solar system is about 4,567 million years old. Earth's Moon formed 4,450 million years ago, just 50 million years after the Earth's formation. Because the composition of the rocks retrieved from the Moon by the Apollo missions is very similar to rocks from the Earth, it is thought that the Moon formed as a result of a collision between the young Earth and a Mars-sized body, sometimes called Orpheus or Theia, which accreted at a Lagrangian point 60° ahead or behind the Earth. A cataclysmic meteorite bombardment of the Moon and the Earth 3,900 million years ago is thought to have been caused by the debris of a planetary collision beyond the earth or by asteroids whose orbits were destabilized and were sent toward the inner solar system during the formation of planets beyond the Earth. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Global Surveyor have found evidence that the Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars may have been created by a colossal impact with an object 2,000 kilometers in diameter approximately 3,900 million years ago.[20] The debris from this impact could have been responsible for the cataclysmic meteorite bombardment (Late Heavy Bombardment) of the Earth and the Moon.
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25 Mar 08
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