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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 first known mass extinction was the Great Oxidation Event 2.4 billion years ago, which killed most of the planet's obligate anaerobes. Researchers have identified five other major extinction events in Earth's history, with estimated losses below: [11] End Ordovician: 440 million years ago, 86% of all species lost, including graptolites
Oxygen, O 2, meanwhile, was present in the atmosphere at just 0.001% of its present atmospheric level. [12] [13] The Sun shone at about 70% of its current brightness 4 billion years ago, but there is strong evidence that liquid water existed on Earth at the time. A warm Earth, in spite of a faint Sun, is known as the faint young Sun paradox. [14]
Boring Billion – Earth history, 1.8 to 0.8 billion years ago; Suavjärvi impact structure – Lake and claimed impact structure in Karelia, northwest Russia; Francevillian biota – Possible Palaeoproterozoic multicellular fossils from Gabon; Vredefort impact structure – Largest verified impact structure on Earth, about 2 billion years old
The Earth's magnetic field was established 3.5 billion years ago. The solar wind flux was about 100 times the value of the modern Sun , so the presence of the magnetic field helped prevent the planet's atmosphere from being stripped away, which is what probably happened to the atmosphere of Mars .
A new study reveals that all life on earth was obliterated two billion years ago, and the problem was oxygen. Samples of Canadian mineral show almost all life was wiped out 2 billion years ago ...
Ancient giant stromatolites used to be widespread in Earth’s Precambrian era, which encompasses the early time span of around 4.6 billion to 541 million years ago, but now they are sparsely ...
Earth is the only place in the universe known to harbor life, where it exists in multiple environments. [8] [9] The origin of life on Earth was at least 3.5 billion years ago, possibly as early as 3.8-4.1 billion years ago. [2] [3] [4] Since its emergence, life has persisted in