Cambrian to today

Deep time

Scrub from 539 million years ago, the start of the Cambrian on this scale, to today. Oldest is on the left. The coastlines are the Dig Quest PALEOMAP images. Each icon rides its plate, and it disappears outside the cited span. The color band uses the international chart’s names and colors. Chips above the slider keep one category, or several. The panel says what lived, and what died out.

Earth has weathered about 4.5 billion years and roughly 20 trips around the center of the Milky Way, and it's still in one piece.

About 4.5 billion years rounds the U.S. Geological Survey age of 4.54 billion years. NASA Science gives about 230 million years for one trip around the Milky Way. An older NASA page gives 250 million years. Roughly 20 trips divides that age by a galactic year in that span. USGS: Age of the Earth · NASA Science: about 230 million years · NASA: 250 million years

Back to the dinosaurs · Borealopelta Nigersaurus Triceratops Stegosaurus