/ / What is the geologic time scale?

What is the geologic time scale?

What is the geologic time scale?What is it for? These and other questions you will find answers in the article. The geochronological scale (stratigraphic scale) is the time geological scale of the Earth’s history. It is used in paleontology and geology - it is a kind of calendar for colossal time intervals.

The age of our planet

You do not know what a geochronological scale is.geologic time? Experts estimate the age of the Earth at 4.6 billion years. Minerals and rocks have been found on our planet that could witness its creation. Extreme old age of the Earth is reduced to the age of the very first solid formations in our planetary system - refractory impregnations rich in aluminum and calcium (CAI) from carbonaceous chondrites.

geologic time scale

According to the results of modern testingusing the lead-uranium method, the age of the CAI from the Allende meteor is equal to 4568.5 Ma. Currently, this idea of ​​the age of the solar system is considered the most accurate. The earth could have been formed much later than this period - by several tens and even hundreds of millions of years.

The geologic time scale is prettyentertaining thing. The subsequent period in the history of the Earth is divided into different time intervals. Their boundaries affect the major events that took place.

The boundary between the times of the Phanerozoic appears throughmajor evolutionary phenomena - global extinctions. The Paleozoic is separated from the Mesozoic by the largest Triassic-Perm extinction of species in the history of the Earth. Cenozoic and Mesozoic are separated by Cretaceous-Paleogene elimination.

History of the scale

How was the geologic time scale created?The nomenclature and hierarchy of most of the current geochronological units were adopted in 1881-1900. at the II-VII sessions of the Interethnic Geological Congress. Further, the World Geochronological Scale was continually refined.

Periods were called on various grounds.Most often used geographical names. So, the name of the Devonian period came from the county of Devonshire in England, Jurassic - from the European Jura mountains, Perm - from the city of Perm, and the Cambrian - from the Latin. Cambria, names Wales.

The Vendian, Silurian, and Ordovician stages are namedin honor of the ancient tribes. Names associated with the composition of rocks, used very rarely. The Carboniferous era is so named because of the huge number of coal seams, and the Cretaceous - due to the popularization of writing chalk.

Basis of construction

The geologic time scale was created to identify the conditional geognostic age of rocks. Absolute old age, measured in years, is of secondary importance to geologists.

Earth's life is divided into two main periods:cryptosis (Precambrian) and phanerozoa, according to the occurrence of archaic residues in sedimentary rocks. Only soft-bodied organisms existed in the cryptose, which left no traces in the sedimentary rocks. This is the phase of the invisible life.

Phanerozoic began at the moment when the Cambrian and Ediacaria (Vendian) appeared at the turn of the world, forms of mollusks and other organisms, allowing paleontologists to divide the sequences by fossil fauna and flora.

earth geologic time scale
The scale of geological time of the Earth has one moremajor division, which is distinguished by the first attempts to crush the history of our planet into the largest time intervals. Then the whole chronicle was divided into four periods: primary, equivalent to Precambrian, secondary - Mesozoic and Paleozoic, Tertiary - completely Cenozoic without a final Quaternary era. The quaternary phase occupies a special position. This is the smallest cycle, a huge number of events occurred in it, the traces of which survived better than others.

Eons

The geologic time scale is a toolnecessary for every geographer. Cryptosis or Precambrian took place 4 billion - 542 million years ago. OO differs in that organisms did not have hard shells and skeletons. Their presence and history is almost impossible to detect, only by rare marks on the stones.

geochronological scale of geological time

The time frame of the Phanerozoic is 542 million years ago andto the present day. It is determined by solid surface layers of organisms and skeletons, so that the chronicle of the development of life can be traced using fossils. Hidden life passed to the obvious, apparently due to the fact that the atmosphere was saturated with oxygen. Next came the ozone layer, protecting the planet from radiation from space.

Such atmospheric changes were caused by the functioning of organisms. Perhaps this led to the extinction of many species for which oxygen was a poison.

Palaeozoic

 geological time scale grade 7

So, we already know what the scale is.geological time phanerozoic. What is Paleozoic? This is the ancient life that existed 542-251 million years ago, “before the dinosaurs”. It is divided into the following periods:

  • Cambrian phase: 542-488 million years ago. Это в основном морская жизнь.The most common group of unicellulars are trilobites. However, the diversity of animals is such as it will never be again in history (you can say "Cambrian explosion").
  • Ordovician time: 488-444 million years ago. Mollusks and corals are common. The first invertebrates appeared - jawless fish-like and land plants.
  • Silurian stage: 444-416 million years ago. Arthropods and plants adapt to land, jaw-bred fish arise. The life of the oceans and seas begins to resemble the present.
  • Devonian gap: 416-359 million years ago. There were insects, spiders and mites. Soil appears. Kisteperye and lungfish fish adapted to life on land.
  • Carbon, or coal phase: 359-299 million years ago. Determined by an impressive variety of floraSushi (in previous periods it was the same throughout the Earth) Appear giant arthropods, reptiles. Insects have taken possession of authentic flight. Many swamps, as the bacteria do not have time to dispose of the dying vegetation. Sharks and other cartilage fish reign in the oceans and seas.
  • Perm, or Permian era: 299-251 million years ago. On Earth were born the first archosaurs - the forefathersdinosaurs, and cynodonts raznoozubye - direct ancestors of mammals. Huge animal beasts appeared, like dimetrodon, accumulating heat from the sun with the help of “sail”.

Mesozoic Era

Even children know what a geological scale is.of time. Grade 7, in accordance with the school curriculum, is studying this issue. Pupils know that the Mesozoic is the era of dinosaurs, which existed 251-65.5 million years ago. This phase is known for the following cycles:

  • Triassic period: 251-200 million years ago. Многообразие позвоночных значительно уменьшилось, since on Earth a general extinction happened. Crocodiles, frogs, megastrain (true mammals), turtles and pterosaurs appear - the first vertebrates that can fly.
  • Jurassic period: 200-146 million years ago. In the water dominated by sea dinosaurs, on land -dinosaurs, and in the air - pterosaurs. Jurassic mammals are very small and resemble insectivores and rodents - just one niche that has been cut to them after reptiles.
  • Cretaceous period of time: 146-65.5 million years ago. Most dinosaur species reach maximum sizes. Social insects, flowering plants, snakes, real birds, placental mammals appear.

geography geologic time scale

Extinction

Who likes geography?The scale of geological time is one of the most important nuances of this subject. It is known that the Mesozoic and Cenozoic are shared by the most famous, but not the most numerous extinction in the history of our planet. At that time, the entire microfauna disappeared, including the sea one. Experts have found a lot of evidence of catastrophic events of that time, but their details and sequence are still being studied.

 geologic time scale is

The base fall is a huge meteorite with a diameter of 11 km (more than Everest) in the Yucatan zone.

Cenozoic era

 Phanerozoic geologic time scale

Cenozoic time frame: 65.5 million years ago - our days. This cycle consists of the following periods:

  • Paleogene phase (65.5 - 23 million years ago).
  • Neogene cycle (23 million - 2 588 000 years ago).
  • The anthropogenic (quaternary) stage (2,588,000 years ago is our day).

Neocene

Neocene is called the geological hypotheticalan era which in the future will come in return for the Holocene. Since the future has not yet come, there may be many options for his vision. However, experts can predict some phenomena based on the facts of the current world change: the direction and speed of movement of continents, the approximate slope of the Earth’s axis, the course of ocean currents.

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