WEEK 6: EON AND ERA
very formation of the Earth.
1. To determine the origin of life, scientists are
investigating the problem in several different ways. 
 Some scientists are studying life on our own
planet.
 Some scientists are seeking out fossil life on
other planets in our solar system.  object the size of Mars heading towards
 And other scientists are trying to detect life in
other solar systems by measuring the effects of
the atmospheres of distant planets or by
measuring artificial radiation like radio signals
that maybe produced by advanced life.
2. HOW OLD IS EARTH?
 By dating the rocks in Earth's ever-changing
crust, scientists have calculated that Earth is 4.5
billion years old, with a margin of error either
adding or subtracting 50 million years.
 So far scientists have not found a way to
determine the exact age of the Earth directly
from Earth rocks because Earth's oldest rocks
have been recycled and destroyed.
3. GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
 For the purposes of geology, the “calendar” is
the geologic time scale.
 The geologic time scale is broken up into larger
and smaller subdivisions. Earth’s history that is
divided into eons, eras and periods and epochs.
4. EON
6. ARCHEAN EON
 Eons are the largest divisions in the geologic
timescale.
 The recent one is the Phanerozoic eon
 Other eons are the Proterozoic eon
 The Archean eon
 And the Hadean eon
 Take note that: The Hadean, Archean and
Proterozoic Eons are sometimes collectively
known as the Precambrian time, which accounts
for almost 90% of Earth’s history.
5. HADEAN EON
 The first eon of time is the Hadean eon.
 Hades is knowns as the Greek god of the
underworld. During this period the Earth was
extremely hot.
 EVENTS:
 Earth Coalescing- It begins with the
 Another event is the Earth’s water and
it originated from volcanic outgassing.
 The giant impact hypothesis models the
formation of our moon. The “Giant
Impact Hypothesis” starts with an
Earth. At tremendous speed, this object
collides into Earth. With the gravity, it
prevents all the debris from flying far
away in space. The debris form the
moon.
 Core Accretion describes the creation
of our planet and solar system. It
illustrates how planets become multi-
layered.
 In the early stage of Earth’s creation,
the heaviest material like iron sank to
the core. Because the solid inner core
heats the outer liquid layer, now it
produces convection currents that
creates the Earth’s magnetic field. The
magnetic field protects our planet from
cosmic radiation.
 Late Bombardment Stage- It was a
violent stage in Earth’s geologic
history. Asteroids, comets, and space
debris attract our young planet Earth.
Despite the harsh conditions, these
impacts started the on Earth.
 Referred as Archaeozoic Eon
 Sedimentary rock contains microscopic life-
forms
 EVENTS:
 First Ocean- From the molten state, the
Earth started to cool down. Water
vapor condensed to form oceans.
 First Continent- And the Earth cooled
down enough to create continents.
“Vaalbara vs. “Ur”.
 The banded iron formation is a
geological unit composed of iron-rich
rock.
 Great Oxygenation Event- These
cyanobacteria released oxygen as a
waste product. Oxygen entered the
atmosphere.

7. PROTEROZIC EON
 Earth now had an oxygenated atmosphere for
new life to flourish
 The first complex lifeforms appeared.
 Stromatolites are microbial reefs created by
cyanobacteria. Stromatolites pumped oxygen
into the oceans
 EVENTS:
 The reason why this event is called an
“oxygen crisis” is that cyanobacteria
threatened their own existence through
their own waste oxygen.
 In the Proterozoic Eon, there is
evidence that eukaryotes and
multicellular organisms appeared on
Earth.
 Endosymbiosis- evolved when one
simple cell engulfed another cell
 The first multicellular organism- algae.
 Snowball Earth- When oxygen is
combined with methane, it produces
carbon dioxide. Because there was less
methane in the atmosphere during this
eon, the greenhouse effect wasn’t as
strong. So, with less heat trapped in the
atmosphere, Earth froze.
 Ozone Stabilization- Oxygen atoms
could bond and form ozone.
The random Sampling technique is utilized in the
development of geologic timescale
8. PHANEROZOIC EON
 Its name means visible life and this eon was
when life became obvious.
 The Phanerozoic Eon is divided into three eras
namely: Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic
eras.
9. ERA
 Law of Superposition- the oldest layer is at the
base and that the layers are progressively
younger with ascending order in the sequence.
10. PALEOZOIC ERA
 The Paleozoic Era was historical because of the
first appearance of animal life in fossil records.
 EVENTS:
 The Cambrian Explosion is the burst
of evolution gave rise to the largest
diversification of life in Earth’s
history.
 The Cambrian explosion started with
the Age of Invertebrates. Trilobites
are often considered the first large
organism to evolve on Earth.
 AGE OF FISH: Early sharks
 AGE OF AMPHIBIANS: From the
ocean to the land, the first vertebrate
land animal made its leap ashore.
 Extinction-The Permian-Triassic
Extinction due to a major asteroid
impact event.
11. MESOZOIC ERA
 Dinosaurs ruled the planet.
 Had a lot of “firsts”. For example, it had the
first birds, first mammals, first dinosaurs and
first flowering plants.
 EVENTS:
 AGE OF REPTILES- could lay their hard-
shelled eggs on land.
 Pangaea started rifting into separate
continents from one giant landmass.
 Conifers (Gymnosperm) began
dominating the landscape and the
major source of food for herbivore
dinosaurs.
 Dinosaurs (also known as terrible
lizards) began to evolve. Dinosaurs
dominated the land.
 Archaeopteryx was the first known
feathered Mesozoic animal.
 Flowering Plant- angiosperms
included magnolias
12. CENOZOIC ERA
 This period is also known as the "Age of
Mammals.
 Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event
that wiped out the dinosaurs.
 Peak of evolution in the age of mammals.
 The earliest anatomically modern human
(Homo sapiens) fossil found was dated at
200,000 years old in Morocco, Africa. They had
modern faces and used stone tools.
 GODBLESS AND
GOODLUCK
- MAAM JE (Gen Bio 2)