4.5 billion years of Earth’s history summarized in an impressive video map

In about 11 minutes we can see the evolution of our planet and notice that the juiciest things happen in just a few seconds.

Humanity and everything we know is absolutely insignificant not only in the Universe, but also in the very existence of our planet. The Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago and has evolved from an extremely hostile body (steam rock with a temperature of over 3,500 degrees) to a body that has the ideal composition to allow it to evolve over millions of years.

The process was slow, very slow, and in this impressive video we can see the totality of thousands of years in just a few minutes.

Everything stopped until the moon arrived. At first there was nothing to see in this simulation. The planet was at a temperature of 3700 degrees, and the atmosphere… well, there was no atmosphere. There is no data on how long the days were then, but after several million years the Milky Way began to take shape. The Moon was created, which stabilized the rotation of the very young Earth, which was also orbiting the young Sun. The days lasted just over four hours and the atmosphere was completely poisonous.

This was also when the “primordial soup” formed from the primordial oceans, which already contained some organic molecules due to the impact of various meteorites. About 4 billion years ago, temperatures dropped to a more comfortable 63 degrees and a magnetic field formed. Its power was estimated to be between 10 and 50% of what it is today, and after 300 million years of meteorite bombardment, the impact rate had decreased.

Wait, we can cook something here. A billion years after the formation of the Earth, the first cyanobacteria may have appeared. Some life already existed, if it can be considered that way, but it is estimated that 3.4 billion years ago the first organism capable of photosynthesis appeared. There was evidence of oxygen, but not atmospheric oxygen as it would have taken another few million years to appear, and that photosynthesis was anoxygenic. The atmosphere at that time was still nitrogen with small percentages of methane, argon and carbon dioxide. The average temperature has already dropped to 25 degrees.

First supercontinent. Although some land formations already existed, it is estimated that 3.3 billion years ago the appearance of Vaalbara, a supercontinent whose existence has been debated for many years and which gave rise to the Kaapvaal (which would now be located in South Africa) and Pilbara cratons. found in Western Australia). These two are the oldest continental crustal terranes on Earth.

It is believed that the first bacteria appeared shortly after this, and it is curious that after rapid development everything stopped for a billion years. Yes, the days got longer, the average temperature dropped, and there was already a tiny percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere about 3 billion years ago, but there hasn’t been any significant change since the first ice age 2,800 million years ago. Earth with an average temperature of 10 degrees. The first ice age lasted about 120 million years.

red oceans. About 400 million years later, the amount of oxygen began to increase rapidly. If there was nothing for billions of years, higher concentrations began to appear in the atmosphere, which caused the oxidation of iron present on Earth and is estimated to have changed the color of the oceans. It is curious that it was thanks to the appearance of the first organisms capable of oxygenic photosynthesis that they began to produce molecular oxygen in large quantities. Exposure to oxygen led to the extinction of virtually all life forms, estimated to be the first major extinction event on the planet. Oxygen does not always give life.

another ice age. Because of these oxygen levels that continued to rise, the methane in the atmosphere collapsed and the average temperature dropped to 28 degrees below zero. This continued for another 300 million years, during which rocks continued to move across the surface, days became longer, and the composition of the atmosphere began to stabilize its levels.

1.8 billion years ago, a meteorite about 15 kilometers wide collided with the surface and brought numerous minerals, but mitochondria began to appear thanks to the symbiosis of prokaryotic cells, and the oceans, which at that time were still red, began to turn blue because the iron in them began to dissolve.

Sexual reproduction has begun.. About 1.5 billion years ago the temperature was about 13 degrees, the day lasted 17 hours and the distinctive moment was the appearance of the first mushrooms. About 100 million years later, algae appeared and were among the first multicellular organisms to colonize the ocean.

It is estimated that 1,200 million years ago, the Earth’s core consolidated due to greater magnetic field strength, and about 1,000 million years ago, sexual reproduction emerged, allowing the emergence of multicellular organisms. Atmospheric levels were fairly even, with days lasting about 20 hours and temperatures not changing much for several million years. In addition, more and more land became valuable.

Sponges, worms and sharks. Around 800 million years ago, things started to speed up. Algae and land plants dispersed, and life appeared in rocky places. Two glaciations occurred almost consecutively during the Cryogenic period, but evidence has also been found that the first animals inhabited the Earth about 650 million years ago. Essentially, they were sponges and worms.

The oceans began to acidify again and a lot of O2 was released into the atmosphere again, with concentrations of over 20% over millions of years. This formed a cocktail for the emergence of ever larger organisms (with fungi over nine meters tall) and, around 400 million years ago, the first fish, the first “modern” plants, the first prehistoric sharks, the first insects (which evolved from crustaceans) appeared. and the first animals capable of breathing on land.

Dinosaurs and mammals. The Paleozoic was a very eventful period, and 340 million years ago trees and amphibians began to appear, and insects are estimated to have undergone a major evolution: the appearance of wings. This allowed them to travel long distances, colonizing new territories in Pangea, which began to form. And if spiders scare you, they started appearing 300 million years ago.

The Mesozoic began 240 million years ago and after the great extinction, due to a 10-degree increase in temperature, the first “Saaurs” began to appear. They were no more than two meters in length, but soon turned into something more. The first mammals also appeared about 200 million years ago, but they were mostly small, nocturnal, and insectivorous.

What happened in the Cenozoic. In the Jurassic period everything exploded. Pangea broke up and continents began to form, the first snakes, the first crocodiles, the first bees, the first modern birds appeared, and 71 million years ago the famous movie dinosaurs appeared. There were tyrannosaurs, velociraptors and triceratops. Six million years later, they disappeared due to the Chicxulub, a huge meteorite that “finished off” the dinosaurs and gave rise to the Cenozoic era.

Two days ago, so to speak (45 million years ago in fact), the first cetaceans, the first bats and primates appeared. The continents were practically already in place, the average temperature had been regulated for millions of years without major changes, and the atmosphere was almost the same, with a very stable composition.

The two poles arose five million years ago, the rotation of the Earth around the Sun reached its current point and… here we are. 900,000 years ago we almost went extinct, 300,000 years ago Homo sapiens appeared, and at some point we evolved to reach the point where we can review the history of the planet in just 11 minutes.

In Hatak | Experts have been warning us about a “sixth mass extinction” for years. They have more and more evidence of their existence.