EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE

THE GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE

 record of life form and geologic events in Earth’s history.

 Earth has a very long history. Years and centuries are not very
helpful for such a long history. So scientists use the geologic time
scale for Earth’s history.
 The geologic time scale is a record of how Earth and its life forms
have changed through time. For example, the scale shows when
life first appeared on Earth.
 In the geologic time scale, time is divided into bigger blocks than
years or centuries. The scale begins when Earth formed 4.6
billion years ago and goes to the present.

DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGIC TIME

1. Eon
 Largest unit of time
 Extremely long, indefinite period of time
2. Era
3. Period
4. Epoch