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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 layers (stratigraphy). Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago by accretion from the solar nebula, a disk-shaped mass of dust and gas left ...
The end of the last glacial period, which was about 10,000 years ago, is often called the end of the ice age, although extensive year-round ice persists in Antarctica and Greenland. Over the past few million years, the glacial-interglacial cycles have been "paced" by periodic variations in the Earth's orbit via Milankovitch cycles.
v. t. e. This timeline of prehistory covers the time from the appearance of Homo sapiens approximately 315,000 years ago in Africa to the invention of writing, over 5,000 years ago, with the earliest records going back to 3,200 BC. Prehistory covers the time from the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) to the beginning of ancient history.
c. 10,000 BC – Ongoing: Humans [3] Quaternary extinction event: 640,000, 74,000, and 13,000 years ago: Unknown; may include climate changes, massive volcanic eruptions and Humans (largely by human overhunting) [4] [5] [6] Neogene: Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary extinction: 2 Ma: Possible causes include a supernova [7] [8] or the Eltanin ...
Earth formed in this manner about 4.54 billion years ago (with an uncertainty of 1%) [25] [26] [4] and was largely completed within 10–20 million years. [27] In June 2023, scientists reported evidence that the planet Earth may have formed in just three million years, much faster than the 10−100 million years thought earlier.
The Pleistocene (/ ˈplaɪstəˌsiːn, - stoʊ -/ PLY-stə-seen, -stoh-; [ 5 ][ 6 ] often referred to colloquially as the Ice Age) is the geological epoch that lasted from c.2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International ...
The Holocene (/ ˈhɒl.əsiːn, - oʊ -, ˈhoʊ.lə -, - loʊ -/) [ 2 ][ 3 ] is the current geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. [ 4 ] It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. [ 4 ] The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene [ 5 ] together form the Quaternary period.
Currently, Earth is in an interglacial period, the Holocene epoch beginning 15,000 to 10,000 years ago; this has caused the ice sheets from the Last Glacial Period to slowly melt. The remaining glaciers, now occupying about 10% of the world's land surface, cover Greenland, Antarctica and some mountainous regions.