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A
geological timescale for life on
earth
By
Michael Jean Nystrom-Schut
How old is our home, the
earth? Would you believe that a best
guess from science would place it at
about 4.5 billion years old?
Four and a half billion
years…give or take a few hundred
million years, that is.
And our earth also no doubt
formed long after the universe itself
evolved, some eight to ten billion
years earlier!
Imagine that.
So, we’re not new.
We’re
old.
We
didn’t just get here, recently. We
have been here…we have been here
for a long, long time.
That’s the reality we know.
But when I say “we”
didn’t just get here, I don’t
mean “we” as in all of us…just
some part of us…some of the rocks
maybe, or the molten lava.
Now…what does this
mean to us?
The earth has been in
existence for a very long, long
time. Having emerged from a culture
that has taught me to think in terms
of a six to ten thousand year earth,
and getting used to those more
“cozy” numbers, I guess I was
pretty comfortable about it…until
I learned, that is.
All the solid evidence points
to the fact that these numbers were
totally erroneous.
Now that we have to try
completely new numbers on for size,
how can we get them to fit?
Were Adam and Eve Neanderthal
people? Where did they fit in, if
anywhere? Were they our
species of human – Homo sapiens?
We
have cause to be really confused
sometimes…just where did those
guys go, those Neanderthals, I mean?
Well…there’s still more
to consider, and now I would like to
share with you from the world of
science a best-guess geological
timescale for life on earth.
It’s insightful to consider
all of this in terms of a one-year
calendar. So we’ll talk about it
in these terms. Imagine, if you
will, the following (shocking!)
understandings of the lifespan of
our earth:
January 1 to December 31
represents one quick spin around the
sun, and 365.25 (or so) rotating
spins of the earth in the process.
Consider, then, that on
January 1, the earth was formed.
This, as I have suggested, is that
which took place some 4.5 billion
years ago.
Nothing happens for the rest
of January while the red-hot earth
begins to cool. It was very hot back
in those days…
In the sea, on the 10th
day of February, bacteria-like,
single-celled organisms begin to
appear. Life is underway.
This goes on for hundreds of
millions of years until, on May 18th
of our calendar year, the earth’s
landmasses are created.
More time creeps along.
Nothing much seems to be happening
still…
On August 8, more bacteria
evolve. They are purple in color,
and can actually metabolize oxygen.
It is not until September 17th
of our geological year that
single-celled plants finally find
conditions favorable enough on earth
to start to evolve.
On October 11th,
multicellular plants such as seaweed
are common and in abundance. Sexual
reproduction comes into being; a big
break for us all?
Life
now begins to team on the face of
the earth.
In the shallow seas of the
planet, complex animals with eyes,
legs and brains appear. This happens
on November 16, and ten days later
jawed fish evolve, while, on the
land, plants of all varieties
continue their evolutionary pathway.
We now come to the final
month of the geological year, and
it’s going to be a very busy one,
especially towards the end of it.
On the first day of December
or so, the forests are established,
and also, amphibians evolve.
Three days later, on the 4th,
winged insects appear. So, for
11/12ths of the time of the
existence of earth…no bugs!
Remember though, we’re
not here yet!
The next day, on the 5th,
reptiles evolve. We are still back several hundred million years ago.
On December 11th,
while crocodiles appear, there was a
great and massive extinction of land
and sea animals. In fact, far more
than 99% of all the species that
have ever lived on the earth
are now extinct.
Ninety-nine
plus percent! Think about that
staggering thought for a moment!
On
December 16th, flying
pterosaurs and giant sauropod
dinosaurs make the scene on our
earth.
Birds
evolve a few “days” later, on
the 18th.
On
December 21st, both
egg-laying mammals and flowering
plants are now on the face of our
ever-greening planet. We are finally
just now getting closer to the
emergence of Man…though not our
particular species of him!
The
“day” after Christmas, on the 26th,
the earliest primates begin to
appear, and at the same time, it’s
the final curtain call for our
extinct friends, the dinosaurs.
On
the next day, December 27th,
and now finally getting quite near
the end of our “year,” America
and Europe separate, doing so in the
wee hours before dawn.
In
the late afternoon of that day,
Lemurs, horses and bats all appear.
On
December 29th, and again
before dawn of that day, monkeys,
penguins, rhinos and true cats
appear. That afternoon, as the sun
is still rising, Whalebone whales
show up.
On
December 30th, in the
early afternoon, while grasslands
spread on the face of the earth, the
first apes appear.
Humans
are about to make their debut to the
living planet we know as earth.
…We
come to the final day of our year.
In the mid-morning of December 31st,
on New Year’s Eve, hominids
originate. They are not quite what
we are (Homo Sapiens) but we are now
very, very close.
Four
minutes before midnight, and on the final
day of our year, the first modern
humans evolve and appear on the face
of the earth.
Yes,
that’s right…at 11:56 P.M. or
so, on the final day of our year,
“we” show up.
Four
short “minutes” ago…
And
there it is, the thumbnail evolution
of life on earth. If God made it all
for just us, and with just us
in mind, it took Him quite a while
to get at the work of actually
bringing us into the picture.
Curious…right?
I’m
not really sure of my point in all
of this. Maybe it is just to suggest
something like the fact that it’s
not just about us humans. We,
the human-centric ones, sure have
the tendency to think
otherwise…but really now…
I
am trying to grasp the understanding
that if one of us is special then we
all must be. The values we place on
living things of earth are all seen
from a human perspective, the only
perspective we really know.
The
earth, in fact, is the only home we
can reference. Although this is a vast
and endless universe, earth
is all we know in it.
And
narrow, human perspective on earth
is all we know here…though by
making this statement, I am not
really sure what I am trying to
say…
Do
you?
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