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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 age of Earth is estimated to be 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years (4.54 × 109 years ± 1%).[1][2][3][4] This age may represent the age of Earth 's accretion, or core formation, or of the material from which Earth formed. [2] This dating is based on evidence from radiometric age-dating of meteorite [5] material and is consistent with the ...
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 Hadean (/ h eɪ ˈ d iː ə n, ˈ h eɪ d i ə n / hay-DEE-ən, HAY-dee-ən) is the first and oldest of the four known geologic eons of Earth's history, starting with the planet's formation about 4.6 billion years ago [3] [4] (estimated 4567.30 ± 0.16 million years ago [1] set by the age of the oldest solid material in the Solar System found in some meteorites about 4.567 billion years ...
According to evidence from radiometric dating and other sources, Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago. [7] [8] [9] The current dominant theory of planet formation suggests that planets such as Earth form in about 50 to 100 million years but more recently proposed alternative processes and timescales have stimulated ongoing debate in the planetary science community. [10]
Scientists estimate that the Solar System is 4.6 billion years old. The oldest known mineral grains on Earth are approximately 4.4 billion years old. [140] Rocks this old are rare, as Earth's surface is constantly being reshaped by erosion, volcanism, and plate tectonics.
The most widely accepted model of planetary formation is known as the nebular hypothesis. This model posits that, 4.6 billion years ago, the Solar System was formed by the gravitational collapse of a giant molecular cloud spanning several light-years. Many stars, including the Sun, were formed within this collapsing cloud.
1991 [1] The Paleoproterozoic Era[4] (also spelled Palaeoproterozoic) is the first of the three sub-divisions (eras) of the Proterozoic eon, and also the longest era of the Earth's geological history, spanning from 2,500 to 1,600 million years ago (2.5–1.6 Ga).