Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronology (a scientific branch of geology that aims to determine the age of rocks).
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 ...
Geochronology is different in application from biostratigraphy, which is the science of assigning sedimentary rocks to a known geological period via describing, cataloging and comparing fossil floral and faunal assemblages.
The history of the Earth can be organized chronologically according to the geologic time scale, which is split into intervals based on stratigraphic analysis. [2] [21] The following five timelines show the geologic time scale to scale. The first shows the entire time from the formation of the Earth to the present, but this gives little space ...
The first shows the entire time from the formation of the Earth to the present, but this gives little space for the most recent eon. The second timeline shows an expanded view of the most recent eon. In a similar way, the most recent era is expanded in the third timeline, the most recent period is expanded in the fourth timeline, and the most ...
Geologic Time Spiral. Historical geology or palaeogeology is a discipline that uses the principles and methods of geology to reconstruct the geological history of Earth. [1] Historical geology examines the vastness of geologic time, measured in billions of years, and investigates changes in the Earth, gradual and sudden, over this deep time.
Geologic time is the timescale used to calculate dates in the planet's geologic history from its origin (currently estimated to have been some 4,600 million years ago) to the present day. Radiometric dating measures the steady decay of radioactive elements in an object to determine its age. It is used to calculate dates for the older part of ...
Each period is marked below the era bar on top of its subdivided epochs and stages. Each stage is assigned an age in mya , an acronym for million years ago, which is the age at which it began. Most of these ages are derived from astronomical cycles in sediments, magnetic data, biostratigraphic data, and radiometric dating methods.