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The Eras of Geologic Time


Similarly, in 1859, Charles Darwin recognized that millions of years were necessary for small evolutionary changes to accumulate and produce the variety of life we see today. Because they lacked definitive, precise data, however, 19th-century geologists could only guess at the age of the Earth. In the meantime, an accurate, relative geologic time scale had been developed, which placed the main events of geologic history in their proper sequence.
             The scale by which earth's rock formations are measured and dated is known as the geologic timescale. This chronological scale is used to measure the relative or absolute age of any certain part in geological time. There are numerous time scales but there is one common one that many paleontologist use. It is based upon a certain set of geological conditions that make it different from any other section. Examples of these differences could be rock type or fossils within the strata. It is based upon geologic time units which are then divided into eras, periods, and epochs. The largest unit is the eons, which is then divided into eras or sometimes when referring to more recent periods, epochs, which in some cases are then divided into ages. Each geologic time chart is different. It all depends upon the most recent findings dating rocks and fossils of that certain age. .
             The era of geologic time from c. five billion to five hundred seventy million years ago is known as the Precambrian era. It is divided into two periods, the Archeozoic and the Proterozoic. Eighty percent of the earth's history is included in the Precambrian era. The name stems from using the beginning of the Cambrian Period, the oldest major time unit of the Phanerozoic Eon, as the temporal reference. Prior to about 1965 the spelling pre-Cambrian prevailed, and this form still is preferred by some, notably those who favor the establishment of a still older time period within the Phanerozoic Eon.


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