The evolution of the world can be compared to a display of
fireworks that has just ended: some few red wisps, ashes and smoke.
Standing on a cooled cinder, we see that slow fading of the suns,
and we try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds.
- G. Lemaitre
Basic types of life
prokaryoteEarly evidence of life
eukaryote
Where did the life come from?
Stanley Millerbanded iron formations (no free oxygen in atmosphere or oceans)
methane (CH4)amino acids
ammonia (NH3)
water (H2O)
primoidal soup
hydrothermal vents (black smokers)
red bed deposits (atmospheric free oxygen)
end of banded iron deposits at 1.8 Bya
Bitter Springs formation - first eukaryotes
Ediacara fauna (metazoan worms and such)
Cambrian explosion of organisms with hard parts
Useful links:
Earth Science Picture of the Day
Return to Historical Geology syllabus