Precambrian Supereon

E42694

geological time interval supereon

The Precambrian Supereon is the vast span of Earth's early history before the Phanerozoic, encompassing the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic eons during which the planet formed, life first appeared, and early continents and atmospheres developed.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form	Occurrences
Precambrian	6
Precambrian Eon	1

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	geological time interval ⓘ supereon ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Cryptozoic ⓘ Precambrian Supereon ⓘ surface form: Precambrian
boundaryDefinedBy	base of Cambrian Period at 541 Ma ⓘ
characterizedBy	Great Oxidation Event ⓘ appearance of eukaryotes ⓘ appearance of multicellular organisms ⓘ dominance of microbial life ⓘ lack of abundant shelly fossils ⓘ major crustal differentiation ⓘ oxygenation of atmosphere ⓘ scarce fossil record ⓘ stabilization of continental cratons ⓘ
contains	Neoproterozoic Era ⓘ surface form: Cryogenian Period Neoproterozoic Era ⓘ surface form: Ediacaran Period Eoarchean Era ⓘ Hadean time interval ⓘ Mesoarchean Era ⓘ Mesoproterozoic Era ⓘ Archean Eon ⓘ surface form: Neoarchean Era Neoproterozoic Era ⓘ Paleoarchean Era ⓘ Paleoproterozoic Era ⓘ
covers	development of early atmosphere ⓘ development of early oceans ⓘ early Earth history ⓘ evolution of early life ⓘ formation of Earth ⓘ formation of first continents ⓘ origin of life ⓘ
duration	about 4 billion years ⓘ
endTime	about 541 million years ago ⓘ
followedBy	Paleozoic Era ⓘ surface form: Paleozoic Era (within Phanerozoic)
follows	none (represents earliest Earth history) ⓘ
geologicTimeRank	supereon (largest formal division) ⓘ
includes	Archean Eon ⓘ Hadean Eon ⓘ Proterozoic Eon ⓘ
includesEvent	Snowball Earth glaciations ⓘ emergence of Ediacaran biota ⓘ formation of banded iron formations ⓘ formation of first stable continental crust ⓘ
location	Earth ⓘ
partOf	geologic time scale ⓘ
precededBy	no earlier formal eon ⓘ
precedes	Phanerozoic Eon ⓘ
significance	covers about 88 percent of Earth history ⓘ
startTime	about 4.6 billion years ago ⓘ