Difference between revisions of "Geological Time"

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Line 39: Line 39:
 
| First dinosaurs || 41 years 5 months || 2 years 2 months
 
| First dinosaurs || 41 years 5 months || 2 years 2 months
 
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| 200 million years of mammals. || 41 years 9 months || 1 years 11 months
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| 200 million years of mammals. || 41 years 9 months || 1 year 11 months
 
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| 150 million years of birds. || 42 years 2 months || 1 years 5 months
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| 150 million years of birds. || 42 years 2 months || 1 year 5 months
 
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| 130 million years of flowers. || 42 years 5 months || 1 years 3 months
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| 130 million years of flowers. || 42 years 5 months || 1 year 3 months
 
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| 65 million years since the non-avian dinosaurs died out. || 43 years || 7 months
 
| 65 million years since the non-avian dinosaurs died out. || 43 years || 7 months

Latest revision as of 11:02, 4 November 2021

If the world were an woman … we could call her Gaia … aged 43

Gaia.gif

Let's set a scale of 2 million years = 1 Gaia week, so 104 million years = 1 year. And sure enough, in round numbers, 44 Gaia years = 4.6 billion years which is our current scientific understanding of the age of the Earth. At the other end of the scale, 6,000 years which encompasses all of written human history = ½ a Gaia hour

Gaia tells the story of her life

Event Gaia's Age How long ago
'Gaia time'
About 3.5 - 3.8 billion years of simple cells (prokaryotes). 8 years 7 months 35 years 1 month
3 billion years of photosynthesis. 14 years 10 months 28 years 10 months
Great Oxidation Event 23 years 8 months 20 years
2 billion years of complex cells (eukaryotes). 24 years 5 months 19 years 2 months
1 billion years of multicellular life. 34 years 9 years 7 months
600 million years of simple animals. 37 years 10 months 5 years 9 months
570 million years of arthropods (ancestors of insects, arachnids and crustaceans). 38 years 2 months 5 years 5 months
550 million years of complex animals. 38 years 4 months 5 years 3 months
500 million years of fish and proto-amphibians. 38 years 10 months 4 years 9 months
475 million years of land plants. 39 years 1 month 4 years 6 months
400 million years of insects and seeds. 39 years 10 months 3 years 10 months
360 million years of amphibians. 40 years 2 months 3 years 5 months
300 million years of reptiles. 40 years 9 months 2 years 10 months
First dinosaurs 41 years 5 months 2 years 2 months
200 million years of mammals. 41 years 9 months 1 year 11 months
150 million years of birds. 42 years 2 months 1 year 5 months
130 million years of flowers. 42 years 5 months 1 year 3 months
65 million years since the non-avian dinosaurs died out. 43 years 7 months
2.5 million years since the appearance of Homo. 43 years 7 months 8 days
200,000 years since the appearance of modern humans. 43 years 8 months 16 hours
25,000 years since Neanderthals died out. 43 years 8 months 2 hours