History of the Earth How did we get here?. From Apollo 17.

History ofthe Earth

How did we gethere?

From Apollo 17

Physical Geology

Mt. St. Helens

Historical Geology

History is Written in the Rocks

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Lithosphere

Hydrosphere

Sunrise from the Shuttle

Atmosphere

Biosphere

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CretaceousConnections

CretaceousConnections

Geology ABC’s

Minerals(Geologic Alphabet)

Rocks & Fossils(Geologic Language)

Strata (Layers)(Pages of the Book of Time)

Rusting of the Earth

SnowballEarth

Origins of Life

Basilosaurus

Titanis & Hipparian

Why StudyHistorical Geology?

Helps us understand our place in space and time

Puts current environmental issues in context

“Past is the Key to the Future” - Helps up predict impacts and find

important resources

GeologicTimeScale

Era Age (Myrs) Epoch

0.01Holocene

1.8Pleistocene

5.3Pliocene

23.8Miocene

33.6Oligocene

54.8Eocene

65Paleocene

144

206

248

290

323

354

417

443

490

543

2500

3800

Precambrian

Phanerozoic

Eon

Proterozoic

Archean

Hadean

Period

Quaternary

Tertiary

Neogene

Paleocene

Mississippian

Cenozoic

Mesozoic

Paleozoic

Cretaceous

Jurassic

Age of the Earth 4600 Myrs (4.6 Byrs)Source: Geological Society of America (1999)

Geologic Time Scale

Devonian

Silurian

Ordivician

Cambrian

Triassic

Permian

Pennsylvanian