GEOLOGIC TIME

SCALE
AFTER THIS LESSON, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO DESCRIBE
HOW EARTH’S HISTORY CAN BE INTERPRETED FROM
THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE. (S1/12ES-I-E-29)
SPECIFICALLY, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

a. EXPLAIN THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE;

b. DESCRIBE HOW EARTH’S HISTORY CAN BE
INTERPRETED FROM THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE;
c. INTERPRET THE HISTORY OF THE EARTH BASED FROM
THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE;
d. DIFFERENTIATE EONS, ERAS, PERIODS, AND EPOCHS;
AND E. VALUE THE IMPORTANCE OF GEOLOGIC TIME
SCALE.
 GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE IS THE TIMETABLE OF EVENTS IN THE HISTORY
OF THE EARTH. IT IS A SYSTEM USED BY THE SCIENTISTS IN RELATING
STRATIGRAPHY AND TIME TO ANY GEOLOGICAL EVENTS. THIS TIMETABLE OF
EVENTS IS SUBDIVIDED INTO GEOLOGIC TIME UNITS’ EON, ERA, PERIOD, AND
EPOCH. THESE UNITS ARE BASED ON STRATIGRAPHY, WHICH IS THE
DESCRIPTION OF ROCK SUCCESSION AND ITS INTERPRETATION IN TERMS OF
A GENERAL TIME SCALE WHICH IS THE BASIS FOR HISTORICAL GEOLOGY. THE
USE OF INDEX FOSSILS PLAYS A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE STUDY OF
GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE. THESE SERVE AS INDICATORS OF SPECIFIC
GEOLOGIC PERIODS.
• GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE is a timeline that illustrates
earth's history based on geologic events and life forms.
• EXTINCTION is the termination of a kind of organism or of
a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species.
• FOSSILS are the remains of past life, such as bones, shells,
or other hard parts; they may also include evidence of past
life such as footprints or leaf impressions.
• EON is the largest division of geologic time scale.
• ERA is the second-largest division of geologic time scale
includes two or more periods.
• PERIOD is the third-largest division of the geologic time scale.
• EPOCH is the smallest division of the geologic time scale.
• CENOZOIC ERA means recent life (age of mammals).
• PALEOZOIC ERA means ancient life (age of amphibians).
• MESOZOIC ERA means middle life (age of reptiles).
THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE IS A SYSTEM USED BY
GEOLOGIST TO RELATE STRATIGRAPHY AND TIME.
 THE MAJOR SUBDIVISIONS
• EONS ARE THE LARGEST SUBDIVISION OR
INTERVAL IN THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
WHICH IS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF
DURATION.
• THE PHANEROZOIC EON IS THE MOST
RECENT EON WHICH IS ABOUT 500 MILLION
YEARS AGO THEN THE PRECAMBRIAN EON.
 THE MAJOR SUBDIVISIONS
• ERAS - eons is divided into smaller subdivisions
called eras. the phanerozoic eon is divided
into cenozoic era, the most recent, about 65
million years ago, mesozoic era, occurs
between 65 - 250 million years ago, while
palaeozoic era is about 299- 542 million years
ago.
• In precambrian eon, it is divided into
proterozoic era which is about 2500 million
 THE MAJOR SUBDIVISIONS
• PERIODS—eras are further divided
and it is called period. in the geologic
time scale, cenozoic is divided into,
quaternary and tertiary periods, the
mesozoic into cretaceous,13jurassic,
and triassic periods, the paleozoic into
permian, pennsylvanian,
 THE MAJOR SUBDIVISIONS
EPOCHS - periods are further subdivided
and it is called epoch. only in cenozoic era
is finely subdivided into epoch because
rocks have been in-tensely deformed and
are buried deeply and has been severely
modified in a long term earth process. the
subdivisions of cenozoic era are, for
quaternary period, holocene and
pleistocene epochs, tertiary periods,
 THE PRECAMBRIAN OR
CRYPTOZOIC ERA
(4.6 GA – 540 MA)

• A. REPRESENTS 80% OF EARTH’S HISTORY

• B. EON OF “HIDDEN LIFE” – FOSSIL RECORD
OBSCURE.
 HADEAN EON (4.56 -3.8 GA)
a. FROM “HAEDES” GREEK GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD
b. CHAOTIC TIME, LOTS OF METEORITE BOMBARDMENT
c. ATMOSPHERE REDUCING (METHANE, AMMONIA, CO2)
d. START OF THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE AND THE
FORMATION OF THE WORLD OCEANS
e. LIFE EMERGED IN THIS “HOSTILE” ENVIRONMENT
 ARCHEAN EON (3.8 – 2.5 GA)
a. anaerobic (lack of oxygen)
b. no ozone
c. photosynthetic prokaryotes (blue green algae)
emerged and started releasing oxygen to the
atmosphere
d. life forms still limited to single celled organisms
without a nucleus (prokaryotes) until 2.7 ga
 PROTEROZOIC EON (2.5 GA TO 540
MA)
a. Oxygen level reaches ~ 3% of the
atmosphere
b. Rise of multicellular organisms represented
by the Vendian Fauna
c. Formation of the protective Ozone Layer
 PHANEROZOIC EON (540 MA TO PRESENT)

A. EON OF “VISIBLE LIFE”

B. DIVERSIFICATION OF LIFE. MANY LIFE FORMS
REPRESENTED IN THE FOSSIL RECORD
C. LIFE FORMS WITH PRESERVABLE HARD PARTS
 PHANEROZOIC EON (540 MA TO PRESENT)

A. EON OF “VISIBLE LIFE”

B. DIVERSIFICATION OF LIFE. MANY LIFE FORMS
REPRESENTED IN THE FOSSIL RECORD
C. LIFE FORMS WITH PRESERVABLE HARD PARTS
 1. PALEOZOIC ERA (540 – 245)
a. age of “ancient life”
b. rapid diversification of life as represented by the
cambrian fauna (cambrian explosion)
c. dominance of marine invertebrates
d. plants colonize land by 480 ma
e. animals colonize land by 450 ma
f. oxygen level in the atmosphere approaches present
day concentration
g. massive extinction at the end (end of permian
extinction)
 2. MESOZOIC ERA (245 – 65 MA)
a. Age of Reptiles
b. Dominance of reptiles and dinosaurs
c. Pangea starts to break-apart by 200 ma
d. Early mammals (220 mya)
e. First birds (150 ma)!
f. First flowering plants (130 ma)
g. Mass Extinction at the end of the Cretaceous (65 ma)
 3. CENOZOIC ERA (65 MA TO PRESENT)
a. Age of Mammals
b. Radiation of modern birds
c. Early Primates 60 ma
d. Continents near present-day positions (40 ma)
e. First hominids (5.2 ma)
f. Modern humans (0.2 ma)
g. Global ice ages begin (2 Ma)
 RECAP
• THE EARTH IS VERY OLD, AND THE STUDY OF EARTH'S
PAST REQUIRES US TO THINK ABOUT TIMES THAT WERE
MILLIONS OR EVEN BILLIONS OF YEARS AGO.
SCIENTISTS USE THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE TO
ILLUSTRATE THE ORDER IN WHICH EVENTS ON EARTH
HAVE HAPPENED.
• THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE WAS DEVELOPED AFTER
SCIENTISTS OBSERVED CHANGES IN THE FOSSILS
GOING FROM OLDEST TO YOUNGEST SEDIMENTARY
ROCKS. THEY USED RELATIVE DATING TO DIVIDE
EARTH'S PAST IN SEVERAL CHUNKS OF TIME WHEN
 RECAP
• SCIENTISTS USED ABSOLUTE DATING TO DETERMINE
THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF YEARS AGO THAT EVENTS
HAPPENED. THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE IS DIVIDED
INTO EONS, ERAS, PERIODS, AND EPOCHS
 RECAP
• HOW DO GEOLOGISTS USE THE GEOLOGIC TIME
SCALE? TO DIVIDE EARTH’S LONG GEOLOGIC
HISTORY:
• THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE DIVIDES EARTH’S
GEOLOGIC HISTORY INTO INTERVALS OF TIME DEFINED
BY MAJOR EVENTS OR CHANGES ON EARTH.
• THE LARGEST UNIT OF GEOLOGIC TIME IS AN EON.
• EARTH’S 4.6-BILLION-YEAR HISTORY IS DIVIDED INTO
FOUR EONS: THE HADEAN, ARCHEAN,
PROTEROZOIC, AND PHANEROZOIC.
 RECAP
• PRECAMBRIAN TIME MAKES UP ALMOST 90 PERCENT OF
EARTH’S HISTORY.
F. EONS MAY BE DIVIDED INTO SMALLER UNITS OF TIME CALLED
ERAS.
• THE PHANEROZOIC EON, THE PRESENT EON, IS DIVIDED INTO
THREE ERAS: THE PALEOZOIC, MESOZOIC, AND CENOZOIC.
• EACH ERA IS SUBDIVIDED INTO A NUMBER OF PERIODS.
• THE PERIODS OF THE CENOZOIC, THE PRESENT ERA, ARE
FURTHER DIVIDED INTO EPOCHS.
• TO MARK MAJOR CHANGES IN THE FOSSIL RECORD SUCH AS
SOME DIVISIONS ARE BASED ENTIRELY ON THE FOSSIL RECORD
 ASSESSMENT

Multiple choice:
Instruction: Choose the letter of the
best answer. Write your chosen
letter on a separate sheet of paper.
1. WHICH IS THE CORRECT ORDER OF THE
GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE FROM OLDEST TO
RECENT?
a. eon, era, period, epoch
b. eon, period, epoch, era
c. epoch, period, era, eon
d. epoch, eon, era, period
2. HOW CENOZOIC, MESOZOIC, AND
PALEOZOIC ARE CATEGORIZE?
a. eon b. era c. period d. epoch
3. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING ARE THE
FIRST ORGANISMS ON EARTH?

a. animals c. plants
b. dinosaurs d. trilobites
4. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING ERA IS
WHERE WE ARE CURRENTLY IN?
a. Cenozoic era
b. Paleozoic era
c. Mesozoic era
d. Proterozoic era
5. WHEN DID MAMMAL BECAME THE MOST
DOMINANT ORGANISM ON EARTH?
a. Cenozoic era
b. Paleozoic era
c. Mesozoic era
d. Proterozoic era
 6. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS TRUE
ABOUT THE USE OF FOSSILS AS
INDICATORS OF THE GEOLOGIC TIME
SCALE?
a. Fossils found in deeper layers are older than the fossils
found on upper layers.
b. Fossils are usually found in between layers of sedimentary
rocks.
c. Fossils are remains of primitive animals that can be
interpreted through their composition.
d. Fossils are compared with the composition of the layers of
7. DURING THE PALEOZOIC ERA, ALL OF
THE FOLLOWING EVENTS HAPPENED
EXCEPT
a. Animals began to breathe in air.
b. Land plants began to develop.
c. Trilobites and brachiopods started to
appear.
d. Dinosaurs evolved from primitive reptiles.
8.WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WERE USED
TO DIVIDE THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE?

a. rock layers and fossils

b. fossils and live animals
c. lava flows and rocks
d. age of rocks and fossils
9. ACCORDING TO WHAT PALEONTOLOGIST
BELIEVE, HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?

a. 2020 years old

b. 4.6 billion years old
c. 4.6 million years old
d. 3.6 billion years old
10. BASED FROM THE GEOLOGIC TIME
SCALE, IN WHICH PERIOD DO MOST EVENTS
HAPPENED?
a. Precambrian
b. Phanerozoic
c. Hadean
d. Proterozoic
11. What era is sometimes called the "age
of fish" or “ancient life”?
a. Precambrian
b. Paleozoic
c. Cenozoic
d. Mesozoic
12. Which series of time interval shows the
order from the shortest to the longest?
a. era, period, epoch
b. epoch, period, era
c. period, epoch, era
d. eon, era, period, and epoch
 13. Which type of dating method used the
five principles to discern the nature,
sequence of geological events, and ages of
rocks?
a. Relative dating
b. Absolute dating
c. Geologic time
 14. Which type of method used the actual
age of rocks in measuring the ratio of a
radioactive isotope to their decay products?
a. Geologic time scale
b. Relative dating
c. Absolute dating
d. Paleozoic era
 15. What is the age of the Earth?
a. 5.10 billion years
b. 4.6 billion years
c. 14.6 billion years
d. 6.4 billion years
 16. In what epoch do humans live?
a. Miocene
b. Oligocene
c. Halocene
d. Eocene
 17. What was the first organism on Earth?
a. Plants
b. Alligators
c. Bacteria
d. Fish
 18. Which era is also known as the age of
the dinosaurs?
a. Precambrian
b. Paleozoic
c. Mesozoic
d. Cenozoic
 19. When did mammals become the most
dominant organisms?
a. Precambrian
b. Paleozoic
c. Mesozoic
d. Cenozoic
 20. What era did flowering plants first
appear?
a. Precambrian
b. Cenozoic
c. Mesozoic
d. Paleozoic