geological time

Earth's vast chronology

Geological time is the vast timescale of Earth's history, measured in millions and billions of years rather than human lifespans.

It divides the planet's 4.5-billion-year existence into eons, eras, periods, and epochs based on major changes in rock formations and life forms.

The Grand Canyon exposes layers spanning hundreds of millions of years of geological time.

Related

eonImmense time division
Cambrian explosionSudden appearance of complex life
erosionGradual wearing away
weatheringAtmospheric breakdown of materials
CenozoicPresent geological era

Ice Age · stratigraphy · radiometric dating · fossil · fossil record · mass extinction · billion years · rock strata · ice core analysis · Precambrian · sedimentation · continental drift · dendrochronology · uniformitarianism · geochronology · trilobite · paleomagnetism · carbon dating

Categories

earth scienceatmosphere, earthquake, volcano, crust, eruption
geologybedrock, fault lines, faults, rock, basalt
Earth historyice age, extinction, eons, fossil, epochs
geologic timeeons, eon, epochs, era, epoch
historical dating termsBC, AD, BCE, CE, carbon dating
timesecond, minute, hour, day, seconds

Opposites

temporal scale

geological timehuman history

Record of civilization's events

instantaneous · recorded history · the present · momentary · real time

experiential accessibility

geological timenow

The present moment

frame of reference

geological timehuman scale

Proportioned for human bodies

personal time · social time · news cycle · economic cycles · modern era

Family

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G