Unit 8: Earth History

Stephanie Coyle
PHY 163: Geology
MACC
Agenda

● Origin of the Universe

● Origin of the Solar System
● Hadean Eon
● Archean Eon
● Proterozoic Eon
● Phanerozoic Eon: Paleozoic Era
● Phanerozoic Eon: Mesozoic Era
● Phanerozoic Eon: Cenozoic Era
Origin of the Universe
The Big Bang Theory

● Universe is at least 13.8 billion years old

● Big Bang
● at some point in the past, all matter and energy that
we know of existed in an infitensinaly small point
○ The point exploded and has been expanding since
○ 74% of the universe is Hydrogen
 Birth of the First Stars
● The Big Bang released all of these atoms into the
universe
● Very slowly, gravitational attraction accretes atoms
together to make dust and gas (took about 200 million
years)
● Over millions of years this dust and gas has enough
https://www.shalom-educatio
pressure, mass, and temperature to form accretionary
n.com/cou
rses/gcse-physics/lessons/
cs-2/topic/the-life-cycle-of-s
space-physi
tars/ disks and nebulous clouds powered by fusion
 Birth of the First Star

https://www.shalom-education.com/courses/gcse-physics/lessons/space-physics-2/t
opic/the-life-cycle-of-stars/
 Middle Age Star
● Once star is old and massive enough, planets and
protoplanets can be pulled in due to gravity
● Fusion keeps taking place until iron is made and then the
star will die

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Simple_Periodic_Table_Char
t-blocks.svg
 Death of the First Star
● Supernovas are the source
of all the heavy elements
(heavier than iron)
● Rare, which is why most of
the universe’s elements are
hydrogen and helium

https://www.shalom-education.com/courses/gcse-physics/lessons/space-physics-2/t
opic/the-life-cycle-of-stars/
Origin of the Solar System
Starting with the Sun

● Life cycle of our sun is the same as the stars

● 99% mass of solar system in the sun
● Death will occur in 5 billion years
● Will not form a black hole or supernova (too small)
● Red giant: expands in size and temperature decreases
○ Core then shrinks once all gas is gone
○ Collapses on itself forming a planetary nebula and releasing gases
 Formation of the Planets

● Remaining dust and gas did not form sun rotated around
the sun forming protoplanets that eventually grew to
form the planets we know today
● Inner planets are close enough to the sun that most of
their gases and atmospheres were burnt up
● Outer planets are mainly made of ice and gases as its cold
● CC BY-SA 4.0 enough away from the sun
● If the Moon were only 1 Pixel
Hadean Eon
Hadean Eon
● Earliest Earth history: 4.6 - 4.0 bya
● Not much known - no rocks from the early eon, few from
later
● Tons of volcanism, fast moving plate tectonics,
bombardment by meteorites, no atmosphere, no water
Formation of Earth’s Crust

● Slowly Earth cooled and layers began to form based on

density
● More dense elements (Fe & Ni) went towards the core
while the lighter elements (O & Si & C) went to the crust
Origin of the Moon

● Formed about 4.5 bya

● Most likely formation: a protoplanet collided with Earth
(giant impact hypothesis)
● 2 min: formation of Moon
Origin of Earth’s Water

● Mostly from outgassing of water vapor from volcanoes

(steam)
● Also meteorites and comets
● Why is some salty and some fresh? Unknown
Archean Eon
 Archean Eon
● 4.0 - 2.5 bya
● Crust and plate tectonics begin, early stages of life,
atmosphere (very little oxygen), early formation of
oceans
● Late bombardment period
● Started cooling off and maturing
CC BY-SA 4.0
Archean Eon

● More rocks from Archean Eon as the crust really

solidified
● Unknown if plate tectonics started in Hadean or Archean
○ Small islands and pieces of drifting crust
○ Slowly started colliding
○ Formed protocontinents (cratons) by end of Archean
● Slowly O2 in oceans formed
● Slowly O2 & N2 in atmosphere took over
Archean Eon - First Life

● As Earth became more hospitable, life began

● How? Unknown mechanisms
○ Miller- Urey Experiment
● Single celled organisms and stromatolites
○ Stromatolites: a fossil that forms when cyanobacteria secrete a
mucus like substance that sediments stick to
Archean Eon - First Life
● 3.4 bya
● stromatolites

Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4
Proterozoic Eon
Proterozoic Eon

● 2.5 bya - 541 mya

● Boring billion: 2.5 - 3.7 bya
○ Formation of minerals
○ Formation of Rodinia
● Explosion of oxygen (and life)
○ More oxygen was produced than used so all the extra went to the
air
○ Allowed life to get more complex
● Plate tectonic movement slowed down
○ Formation of supercontinent: Rodinia
● Snowball Earth?
○ Great cooldown towards the end of the eon
Proterozoic Eon - Rise of Oxygen

Lubitz, Wolfgang & Chrysina, Maria & Cox, Nicholas. (2019). Water oxidation in photosystem II. Photosynthesis
Research. 142. 10.1007/s11120-019-00648-3.
Proterozoic Eon - Rodinia

● Mechanisms still unknown for the

breakdown of Rodinia
● Formed 1 bya and started breaking
up around 750 mya
○ Finished around 600 mya
Proterozoic Eon - Rodinia

Fu, Changlei & Yan, Zhen & Guo, Xianqing & Niu, Manlan &
Cao, Bo & Wu, Qi & Li, Xiucai & Wang, Zongqi. (2018).
Assembly and dispersal history of continental blocks within
the Altun-Qilian-North Qaidam mountain belt, NW China.
International Geology Review. 61. 1-24.
10.1080/00206814.2018.1428831.
 Proterozoic Eon - Snowball Earth

● Towards the end of the eon, glaciation took place throughout Earth
● CO2 from volcanoes trapped enough heat to slowly melt the glaciers
Phanerozoic Eon:
Paleozoic Era
Paleozoic Era

● 541 - 252 mya

● Started with Cambrian Explosion, ended with the first
tetrapods
● Sea level rose and fell at least 5 times - major
unconformities
● Assemblage of Pangea complete at the end
○ Appalachian Mountains formed
● Permian mass extinction took place to end the era
Paleozoic Era - Cambrian Explosion

● Unknown why life exploded

● Started with the explosion of marine organisms
○ Brachiopods, corals, trilobites, nautiloids, jawless fish, crinoids
● Life begin to move on land - first plants (vascular) and
tetrapods
● Ended with insects, reptiles, and conifers
○ Large due to large amounts of oxygen in air
USGS,
2020
USGS, 2020
Paleozoic Era - Sea Level Rising and Falling
● Occurred at least 5 times
● Many shallow seas in N. America that eroded away
sediments

Brunton, Frank. (2009). A Guide to the Paleozoic Geology and Fossils of Manitoulin
Island and northern Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.
Paleozoic Era - Pangea

● Formation of Pangea complete about 252 mya

Paleozoic Era - Pangea
Paleozoic Era - Permian Extinction
● 95% of marine animals extinct
● 70% of land animals extinct
● Unknown why
○ Siberian traps - volcanic activity
Phanerozoic Eon: Mesozoic Era
Mesozoic Era

● Pangea breakup around 150 mya

● Warm climate, shallow sea
● Mountain building west coast
○ Formation of west coast s & Rocky Mountains
● Evolution of dinosaurs, birds, and small mammal like
creatures
● K-Pg Mass Extinction
Mesozoic Era - Pangea Breakup

● Beginning of Pangea breakup and movement to present

location
● Video animation
Mesozoic Era - Climate

● Very warm → sea levels rose

○ Western Interior Seaway
● N. America close to equator

Earth.com, 2008
Mesozoic Era - Mountain Building

● Accretion of land on the west coast (250 - 150 mya)

○ West coast of California
● Around 70 mya, oceanic crust subducted under the west
coast
○ Rocky Mountains
 Mesozoic Era - Sierran Arc
NPS, 2020
Mesozoic Era - Rocky Mountains
 Mesozoic Era - Life

● Large amounts of oxygen → large creatures

● Dinosaurs, reptiles, small mammals, archaeopteryx
○ Archaeopteryx is the evolutionary ancestor to modern birds
○ How did flight occur?
● Modern fish
BBC, 2014 ● Angiosperms (flowering plants) and hardwood trees
began to dominate
Mesozoic Era - Life

USGS, 2020
Mesozoic Era: K-Pg Boundary Event

● Aka: Trex and the Crater of Doom or KT boundary

extinction
● Occurred at boundary of Cretaceous-Paleogene
● Occurred around 66 mya
● Killed 100% dinosaurs, 90% plankton, and 75% plants
● Paved the way for larger mammals and birds
Mesozoic Era: K-Pg Boundary Event
● Large asteroid hit modern Mexico
● Chicxulub crater in Yucatan Peninsula
● 2 km high tsunamis, darkness, cold, huge
ash
● Additional factors:
○ Decreasing sea levels?
○ Deccan Traps (flood volcanoes in India)?
Phanerozoic Eon: Cenozoic Era
 Cenozoic Era
● 65 mya to present
● New mammals including humans
● Relatively warm with the ice age
towards the end (and currently!)
● San Andreas fault, Basin &
Range Province & Himalayan
Range
● Current Anthropocene
extinction?
 Cenozoic Era - Life Evolution
● Mammals and birds evolved
● Human (hominoid) evolution
 Cenozoic Era - Climate
● Very warm until 2.58 mya
● Cycle of ice ages occurring then
● Animals (including humans) used the ice to cross from Russia to N. America
○ Bering Strait Land Bridge

Utah Geological Society,

2019
 Cenozoic Era - Climate
https://opengeology.org/textbook/8-earth-history/#86_Phanerozoic_Eon_Paleozoic_
Era
Cenozoic Era - San Andreas Fault

● Grew as a spreading ridge

subducted under North
American plate (30 - 5
mya)
● Movement

USGS
Cenozoic Era - Basin & Range
Province
● N. America is slowly being
stretch in an east - west
direction stretching the
western US
● Movement

USRA, 2015
 Cenozoic Era - Formation of
Himalayas
● Current collision of Eurasian and Indian plate
● Currently, Himalayas are upthrust 1cm/yr
● movement

USGS, 2015
 Cenozoic Era - Extinction
https://opengeology.org/textbook/8-earth-history/#86_Phanerozoic_Eon_Paleozoic_Era