ENG 363

Alex Woodward

05/08/2018

Definition Assignment

Geologic Time Scale:

The “Geologic Time Scale” is a standardized method of analyzing and describing time as it
relates to the history of the earth.

What is the Geologic Time Scale: The Geologic time scale splits earth's history into discrete sections
called eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages which span the 4.54 Billion year history of the earth (See
Figure 1.) The number of discrete epochs and ages are changed slightly as new scientific evidence is
discovered. The time scale also gives the dates of the end of geologic ages in millions of years before
present.

(Figure 1. Modern Timescale produced by the Geological Society of America)

History of the Geologic Time Scale: For much of human history there has not been a consensus about
the age of the earth. The relationship between the passage of time and the creation of sedimentary rock
had been observed going back to at least the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (Harland, 1991) who
observed the deposition of sedimentary layers one after the other following the annual flooding of the
Nile river. However it was not until 1669 when an Italian Naturalist Nicholas Steno would formally
describe the processes by which sedimentary rocks (rocks formed by deposition and cementation of
smaller particle of rock, often deposited by rivers and streams) were created from deposited sediments.
(Newman, 1988), Steno described how newer sediments were laid on top of older sediments, how
sediments settle in water and are deposited in a horizontal orientation due to the pull of gravity, and
how structures , like earthquake faults, that cut across and deform sedimentary layers must therefore
have occurred after those layers were deposited. These simple rules that Steno used to describe the
sedimentary rock he observed would allow scientists following him to imagine an earth that was at least
millions of years old. Later scientific observation of fossils in sedimentary rock divided the history of the
earth into discrete segments when specific fossilized species flourished. Recently the discovery of
radioactive isotopes and their half lives has allowed for the empirical measurement of the age of rocks
giving relatively hard numbers to the geologic time scale showing that the earth is in fact billions of
years old.

Other Timescales: The geologic time scale is designed and used exclusively to describe the history of the
earth and it's rock units. However many other timescales exist, other bodies in our solar system have
their own timescales describing their history, mars has the Martian geologic time scale, and the moon
has the Selenologic time scale (Ogg, 2016). All these timescales have a common thread in that they
describe time using millions of years as units, this is in stark contrast to what is often called the "human
time scale" where single years and generations are used as units. This large time difference between the
geologic time scale and the human time scale does make it difficult for people to imagine events and
processes that take place on the millions of years timescale.
Usage: In the field of geology any description of a unit of rock is not complete without indicating its age,
generally simplified to the period (See Figure 2.). More modern sedimentary rock units may be
described in terms of epochs or age on the scale of hundreds of thousands of years. This increased
ability to accurately describe the age of more modern sediments is due to the fact that more modern
sediments generally have not been deformed by the passage of time and have more preserved fossils
and other sedimentary structures which can be used to interpret them. The ability to describe the
different ages of rock units in a location allows for the interpretation of the geologic history of an area.

(Figure 2. Geologic Time scale correlated to different rock units in the Grand Canyon (Harland, 1991))

What Defines a Geologic Age: Different geologic ages are described by a number of different factors
that were present during that age; the specific types of fossils that were preserved in the age, by
climatic conditions that existed in that age, by the magnetic fluctuations that existed in an age, or by a
mass extinction which caused a number of species to go extinct in that age (See Figure 3. (Ogg, 2016)).
(Figure 3. Chart showing the 5 major mass extinctions where over 70% of earths species went extinct and the geologic periods that they define
the start or end of)

Modern Additions to the Geologic Time Scale: Recently there has been a movement by geologists to
add a new age to the Geologic Time Scale the "The Anthropocene" referring to the new state that the
earth is in, impacted by the influence of human activity (Rull, 2016). Because human activity has
changed the distribution of radioactive material around the world (Radioactive isotopes being one way
to empirically measure the age of a rock), it has been proposed that the time that we currently live in is
a distinct new geologic age.

References:
Harland, B. (1991). Geologic Time Scale 1989 by Brian Harland, Richard L. Armstrong, Allan V. Cox,
Lorraine E. Craig, Alan G. Smith and David G. Smith
Newman, W., & Geological Survey. (1988). Geologic time. Reston, Va.?]: U.S. Geological Survey, Dept. of
the Interior.
Ogg, J. G., Ogg, G., & Gradstein, F. M. (2016). A concise geologic time scale : 2016. Retrieved from
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Rull, V. (2016). The ‘Anthropocene’: A requiem for the Geologic Time Scale? Quaternary
Geochronology, 36(C), 76-77.