Geological

Time Scale
Killi Srinivas
M.Sc, M.Tech , [PhD]

SSIT, IST, JNTUK

• PRE-CAMBRIAN (4.5 BYA to 545 MYA)
– Archean Eon (about 2 B.Y.)
– Proterozoic Eon (about 2 B.Y.)

• CAMBRIAN (545 MYA till Present)

– Phanerozoic Eon
• Paleozoic Era
• Mesozoic Era
• Cenozoic Era
 Geologic Time Scale
• ARCHEAN EON (4.5 bya – 2.5 bya) Pre-Cambrian

– Birth of Earth till Earth Cooled down

• PROTEROZOIC EON (2.5 bya – 545 mya)
– Beginning of Unicellular Life forms (Algae)
– Formation of O2 & CO2 began
– Two ICE-AGES Happened
Cambrian
• PHANEROZOIC EON (545 mya to Present)
– Paleozoic Era (545 mya to 251 mya = 294 my)
– Mesozoic Era (251 mya to 65 mya = 186 my)
– Cenozoic Era (65 mya to PRESENT = 65 MY)

Oldest Rock and Mineral(Zircon) are 4.4 bya

 Geologic Time Scale
• PHANEROZOIC EON (545 mya to Present)
– Paleozoic Era
• Cambrian Period
• Ordovician Period
• Silurian Period
• Devonian Period
• Carboniferous Period
• Permian
– Mesozoic Era
– Cenozoic Era
 Geologic Time Scale
• PHANEROZOIC EON (545 mya to Present)
– Paleozoic Era
– Mesozoic Era
• Triassic Period
• Jurassic Period
• Cretaceous Period
– Cenozoic Era
• Paleogene Period
• Neogene Period
• Quaternary Period
 Paleozoic Era
• Cambrian (545 mya – 488 mya = 53 my)
– Age of the invertebrates (in the sea) (Matsya Avataara)
– Very High Concentration of CO2 (7,700 ppm ; present is
410 ppm) – Global Warming ???
– New Glaciers formed lead to mass extinct

• Ordovician (488 mya – 443 mya = 45 my)

– Age of the Vertebrates, 1st Fishes appear
– Formation of Appalachians
– Fungi appears
– Mass extinction (I/V) due to ICE-AGE (3rd )
 Paleozoic Era
• Silurian (443 mya – 416 mya = 27 my)
– 1st Land Plants and Insects formed
– 1st Jawed Fishes
– Melting of Glaciers and Sea-level rise
– Formation of Mountains started due to Plate Tectonics

• Devonian (416 mya – 359 mya = 57 my)

– Age of Fishes & Amphibians
– Formation of Landmasses
– Germination and seeds of plants started
– Ended with Mass Extinction (II/V) due to Huge
Meteor Impact
 Paleozoic Era (cntd…)
• Carboniferous (359 mya – 299 mya = 60 my)
– Age of Coal Forests/Swamps, large extent of forests
supporting large animals
– Atmospheric O2 is Maximum
– Reptiles and Land Vertibrates appeared
– Glaciation started leading to another Ice-Age (4th)
– Mississippian & Pennsylvanian Periods

• Permian (299 mya – 251 mya = 48 my)

– Age of Insects with huge spell of Dry Climate
– Ended due to a Massive Volcanic Activities under the sea
and on land as well.
– Formation of Pangea (Laurasia + Gondwana)
– 98 % of the species got extinct (III/V)
 Mesozoic Era
• Triassic (251 mya – 199 mya = 52 my)
– The Age of REPTILES (Dominating on Land, in
Air and Water)
– Coniferous plants developed
– 1st MAMMALS Appeared

• Jurassic (199 mya – 145 mya = 54 my)

– The Age of DINOSAURS, Arceopterix (1st Birds)
– Massive Continental and Mountain building
activities due to Tectonics and Vocanoes
– Pangea began to breakup (Laurasia,
Gondwana, Tethysis Sea)
 Mesozoic Era
• Cretaceous (145 mya – 65 mya = 80 my)
– Age of Flowers (pollinated by bees and
butterflies)
– Age of T-Rex
– Further breakup of N-S America and Africa
(Beginning of Rockies)
– Ended with an Impact of HUGE
Meteor/Asteroid and Vigorous Volcanic
activities
• Smoke covered the earth for many years
obstructing the sunlight
– 70% of species died (V/V Mass Extinct).
– CO2 at present levels
 Cenozoic Era
• Paleogene Period (65 mya – 23 mya = 42 my)
– Paleocene Epoch, Eocene Epoch, Oligocene Epoch
– Indian Plate collides with the Asian plate and The
Great Himalayas started to form.
– The First grass appears.

• Neogene (23 mya – 2.6 mya = 21 my)

– Miocene Epoch & Pliocene Epoch
– 1st APES appear
– Development of 1st Homonids
– Beginning of the Present Ice-Age (5th)
 Cenozoic Era
• Tertiary
– Age of Mammals
– Increase in Plant species
– Development of Homonids (1st Humans)
– Very amicable climate for the growth of all.
– Beginning of a New Ice-Age
– Rise of Alps & Himalayas

• Quaternary
– Age of Giant Mammals (Mammoths)
– The Continents are in the present positions
– Developments of Modern Humans
 Evolution …

• Evolution of Lithosphere (Land)

• Evolution of Atmosphere (Air)

• Evolution of Hydrosphere (Water)

• Evolution of Biosphere (Life)

 Evolution
of
Lithosphere
(Land)
 Evolution of the Continents

• Vaalbara (3.6 to 2.8 bya)

• Ur (3 bya)
• Kenorland (2.5 bya)
• Columbia (Nuna) (1.8 to 1.5 bya)
• Rodinia (1.1 bya)
• Pannotia (650 mya)
• Pangea (300mya)
• Gondwana + Laurasia
• Present
2 Billion Years
 Vaalbara
(3.6 to 2.8 bya)

But its
existence is
only a theory
-
hypothetical

8,000 km
 Ur

Areas of this
supercontinent are
now parts of
Australia, Africa
(Madagascar) and
India.
 Kenorland

Only in the lower

latitudes.

First major
glaciations were
formed on the
Earth.
Columbia (Nuna)

It is assumed
that the
supercontinent
was about
12,900 km from
North to South
and about 4800
km in its widest
part from West
to East.
 Rodinia

Broke up about 750

million years ago

The Earth map was

already approaching
similarity with its’ modern
version during the
existence of Rodinia.

The Earth began to turn

into a snowball. The
theory of “Snowball
Earth” refers to this
period.
Pannotia
Started 650 million years ago and lasted until 540 mya.
The formation of Pannotia was associated with the break
up of Rodinia into Proto-Gondwana and Proto-Laurasia.
Since the major part of the land in those days was just
near the poles, it is believed that the glaciations reached
its peak just about 600 mya.

There were two proto-oceans — Panthalassa and the

Pan-African ocean, which surrounded the supercontinent
during the maximum convergence.

Pannotia broke up into four continents: Gondwana,

Baltica, Siberia and Laurentia. These continents will later
form the last supercontinent (Pangea) at this moment.
Pangea
Pangea existed in the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic 300
mya. At that time, the supercontinent united all modern
continents into one. Many of today’s mountain ranges were
formed at the time of collision of continents and lithospheric
plates.

The outlines of Pangea are the most accurate since the

existence of the supercontinent is not ancient as that of the
previous ones.

At the end of its existence, Pangea split into Northern and

Southern continents — Laurasia and Gondwana. Modern
Eurasia and North America formed from Laurasia and Africa,
South America, India, Australia and Antarctica formed from
Gondwana respectively.
A banded-iron formation (BIF) rock recovered from the Temagami greenstone
belt in Ontario, Canada, and dated to 2.7 billion years ago. Dark layers of iron
oxide are intercalated with red chert.
 Evolution
of
Atmosphere
(Air)
 Evolution of Atmosphere
• The early atmosphere, with H and He, is
supposed to have been stripped off as a
consequence of the solar winds.
• The gases released from the Earth during its early
history, including water vapour, have been called
excess volatiles.
• These volatiles are thought to have formed the
early atmosphere of the Earth.
• During the cooling of the earth, gases and water
vapour were released from the interior solid
earth. This started the evolution of the present
atmosphere.
 Evolution of Atmosphere
• The present composition of earth’s atmosphere is
mainly contributed by nitrogen and oxygen.
• There are three stages in the development of the
current atmosphere.
– The first stage is marked by the loss of primitive
atmosphere.
– In the second stage, the hot interior of the earth
contributed to the evolution of the atmosphere. The
procedure through which the gases were outpoured
from the interior is called degassing.
– Finally, the composition of the atmosphere was
customized by the living world through the procedure
of photosynthesis.
 Evolution of Atmosphere
• Continuous volcanic eruptions contributed
water vapour and gases to the atmosphere –
forming rains
• The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere got
dissolved in rainwater and the temperature
further decreased causing more compression
and more rains.
• The rainwater falling onto the surface got
collected in the depressions to give rise to
oceans.
Earth's early and modern atmospheres : Comparison of Earth's prebiotic and modern
atmospheres. Before life began on the planet, Earth's atmosphere was largely made up of
nitrogen and carbon dioxide gases. After photosynthesizing organisms multiplied on
Earth's surface and in the oceans, much of the carbon dioxide was replaced with oxygen.
 Evolution
of
Hydrosphere
(Water)
 Evolution of Hydrosphere

• The hydrosphere is composed of all of the

water on or near the planet’s surface. This
includes oceans, rivers, and lakes, as well as
alternative aquifers and the moisture in the
atmosphere.
• The earth’s oceans were formed within 500
million years from the structure of the earth.
 Evolution of Hydrosphere
• The oceans are as old as 4 billion years.
• Sometime around 3.8 billion years ago, life began
to evolve.
• Around 2.5 - 3.0 billion years before the present,
the procedure of photosynthesis got evolved.
• Life was confined to the oceans for a lengthy
time.
• Oceans began to have the part of oxygen through
the procedure of photosynthesis.
• Eventually, oceans were drenched with oxygen
and 2.0 billion years ago, oxygen began to flood
the atmosphere.
 Evolution of Hydrosphere
• At an early stage, Earth thus did not have water or water
vapour at its surface, and the topic of how water arrived
on Earth’s surface is a matter of substantial debate.
• Some scientists argue that much of the water on the
planet was delivered by comet and meteor impacts.
Both of these celestial objects have been shown to
contain ice.
• Other scientists claim that most of Earth’s water came
from chemical reactions within the planet’s interior.
• A large cool Earth most certainly served as a better trap
for water because of its gravitational attraction for water
vapour.
 Evolution of Hydrosphere

• Whether most of the degassing took place during

core formation or shortly thereafter or whether
there has been significant degassing of Earth’s
interior throughout geologic time remains
uncertain.
• Water loss in the upper atmosphere is by
photodissociation, the breakup of water vapour
molecules into hydrogen and oxygen due to
the energy of ultraviolet light. The hydrogen is
lost to space and the oxygen remains behind.
Evolution
of
Biosphere
(Life)
 Evolution of Biosphere

• Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

– Struggle for Existence
– Survival of the Fittest
– Origin of Species
 MASS EXTINCTION - 1
• The Ordovician Mass Extinction (about 440 mya)
• Size of the Extinction: Up to 85% of all living species at the
time were eliminated
• Suspected Cause or Causes: Continental Drift and
subsequent climate change

• It happened in two different waves.

– The first wave was an ice age that encompassed the entire
Earth. Sea levels were lowered and many land species could not
adapt fast enough to survive the harsh, cold climates. It was not
all good news, however, when the ice age ended.
– It ended so suddenly that the ocean levels rose too fast to keep
enough oxygen in them to keep the species that had survived
the first wave alive. Again, species were too slow to adapt
before extinction took them out completely. It was then up to
the few aquatic autotrophs that had survived to increase the
oxygen levels so new species could evolve.
 MASS EXTINCTION - 2
• The Devonian Mass Extinction (about 375 mya)
– Size of the Extinction: Nearly 80% of all living species at the
time were wiped out
– Suspected Cause or Causes: Lack of oxygen in the oceans,
quick cooling of air temperatures, possibly volcanic
eruptions and/or meteor strikes

• The quick moving on to the land of plants also had a

major effect on the carbon dioxide available in the
atmosphere. By removing so much of the greenhouse
gas relatively quickly, the temperatures plummeted.
Land species had trouble adapting to these changes in
climate and also went extinct.
 MASS EXTINCTION - 3
• The Permian Mass Extinction (about 250 mya)
– Size of the Extinction: An Estimated 96% of all species
living on Earth at the time
– Suspected Cause or Causes: Unknown - Possibly
asteroid strikes, volcanic activity, climate change, and
microbes.

• It could have been massive volcanic activity paired

with asteroid impacts that sent deadly methane
and basalt into the air and across the surface of
the Earth. These could have caused a decrease in
oxygen that suffocated life and brought about a
very quick climate change.
 MASS EXTINCTION - 4
• The Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinction (about 200
mya)
– Size of the Extinction: More than half of all known
species living at the time
– Suspected Cause or Causes: Major volcanic
activity with basalt flooding, global climate
change, and changing pH and sea levels of the
oceans
 MASS EXTINCTION - 5
• The K-T Mass Extinction (about 65 mya)
– When: At the end of the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era
– Size of the Extinction: Nearly 75% of all known species living at
the time
– Suspected Cause or Causes: Extreme asteroid or meteor
impact

• Not only the dinosaurs went extinct, however, up to 75% of all

known living species died during this major mass extinction event.
It is pretty well documented that the cause of this mass extinction
was a major asteroid impact. The huge space rocks hit the Earth
and sent debris into the air, effectively producing an “impact
winter” that drastically changed the climate all over the Earth
 ICE AGES

Unit – III
Glacial Landforms

https://www.history.com/topics/ice-age
 Origin and Evolution of Man
• Dryopithecus and Ramapithecus : About 15 mya.
– They were hairy and walked like gorillas and chimpanzees.
– Ramapithecus was more man-like while Dryopithecus was more ape-like.
• Australopithecus : Two mya, probably lived in East African grasslands.
– Evidence shows they hunted with stone weapons but essentially ate fruit.
• Homo habilis : This creature was called the first human-like
• Homo erectus : about 1.5 mya. Homo erectus had a large brain around
• Neanderthal man : between 1,00,000-40,000 years back
– lived in near east and central Asia.
– They used hides to protect their body and buried their dead.
• Homo sapiens : between 75,000-10,000 years ago
– During ice age modern Homo sapiens arose in Africa and
– moved across continents and developed into distinct races.
• Pre-historic cave art developed about 18,000 years ago.
• Agriculture came around 10,000 years back and human settlements started.
Geological
Time Scale
(in 24 hrs)
 ANCIENT SITES
• Bhimbetka Caves
• Naguleru River at Kesanapalli village in
Dachepalli mandal, Guntur
• Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park
Fossilized Dinosaur eggs displayed at Indroda Fossil Park
DASAVATHARAS
THANK
YOU
J