Histrica

Planet Earth

4.5 billion years of a world.

Before there was history there was deep time — molten crusts, single-celled life, wandering continents and five mass extinctions.

Geological eons

Hadean

4.54 – 4.0 Bya

Molten Earth; formation of the Moon by giant impact.

Archean

4.0 – 2.5 Bya

First continents, first life, methane-rich atmosphere.

Proterozoic

2.5 Bya – 541 Mya

Great Oxidation Event; snowball Earths; eukaryotes.

Phanerozoic

541 Mya – present

Cambrian explosion, dinosaurs, mammals, humans.

The Big Five extinctions

  1. Ordovician–Silurian445 Mya60% of marine genera lost.
  2. Late Devonian375 MyaReef ecosystems collapse.
  3. Permian–Triassic252 Mya'The Great Dying' — 96% of marine species vanish.
  4. Triassic–Jurassic201 MyaCleared the way for the dinosaurs.
  5. Cretaceous–Paleogene66 MyaAsteroid impact ends the dinosaurs.