Geological history of Earth

For broader coverage of this topic, see History of Earth.
Geologic time shown in a diagram called a geological clock, showing the relative lengths of the eons of Earth's history and noting major events

The geological history of the Earth follows the major geological events in Earth's past based on the geological time scale, a system of chronological measurement based on the study of the planet's rock layers (stratigraphy). Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago by accretion from the solar nebula, a disk-shaped mass of dust and gas left over from the formation of the Sun, which also created the rest of the Solar System.

Initially, Earth was molten due to extreme volcanism and frequent collisions with other bodies. Eventually, the outer layer of the planet cooled to form a solid crust when water began accumulating in the atmosphere. The Moon formed soon afterwards, possibly as a result of the impact of a planetoid with the Earth. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapor, augmented by ice delivered from asteroids, produced the oceans. However, in 2020, researchers reported that sufficient water to fill the oceans may have always been on the Earth since the beginning of the planet's formation.[1][2][3]

As the surface continually reshaped itself over hundreds of millions of years, continents formed and broke apart. They migrated across the surface, occasionally combining to form a supercontinent. Roughly 750 million years ago, the earliest-known supercontinent Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia, 600 to 540 million years ago, then finally Pangaea, which broke apart 200 million years ago.

The present pattern of ice ages began about 40 million years ago, then intensified at the end of the Pliocene. The polar regions have since undergone repeated cycles of glaciation and thawing, repeating every 40,000–100,000 years. The Last Glacial Period of the current ice age ended about 10,000 years ago.

Plate tectonics from the Neoproterozoic to present[4]
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  4. ^ Merdith, Andrew (16 December 2020). "Plate tectonics, Rodinia, Gondwana, supercontinent cycle". Plate model for 'Extending Full-Plate Tectonic Models into Deep Time: Linking the Neoproterozoic and the Phanerozoic'. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4485738. Retrieved 23 September 2022.