Earth history, as a scientific topic, encompasses the reconstruction and analysis of the planet’s physical, chemical, and biological evolution from its formation ~4.54 billion years ago to the present. It integrates evidence from stratigraphy, geochronology, paleontology, geochemistry, and tectonics to delineate major intervals (eons, eras, periods, epochs) and events, such as crust formation, supercontinent cycles, ocean–atmosphere evolution, biotic radiations, and mass extinctions. Research in earth history focuses on quantifying rates and magnitudes of processes (e.g., plate motions, climate shifts, biogeochemical cycles) and constraining cause–effect relationships that link Earth’s interior, surface environments, and biosphere through deep time.
Earth's temperature has been much cooler in the past than previously thought, meaning it could be moving toward the warmest it's ever been.
Earth Sciences
12 hours ago
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An interdisciplinary team from Florida State University's Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science has uncovered new evidence about processes that may have contributed to ancient mass-extinction events, some of ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 8, 2026
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An international expedition including University of Sydney researchers has pieced together the clearest picture yet of how the Great Barrier Reef responded to dramatic environmental change over the past 30,000 years. Multiple ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 29, 2026
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A study led by geoscientists at the University of Sydney has revealed why some ancient continental edges became fertile sites for major mineral deposits, while others with apparently similar geology did not.
Earth Sciences
Jun 25, 2026
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In the Pilbara of Western Australia, some of Earth's oldest rocks lie beneath the sky, as they have for billions of years. They are dark, weathered volcanic rocks, close to 3.5 billion years old, cut by veins and stewed by ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 24, 2026
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Curtin University researchers have determined the most precise age yet for the oldest known impact crater on Earth, providing new insight into how meteorite strikes shaped the planet during its earliest history.
Earth Sciences
Jun 23, 2026
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Vegetarians need not worry yet—plants will be on Earth for a long time to come. But not forever. The sun will ultimately determine the long-term existence of life on Earth. Its total energy output, called luminosity, has ...
The first few billion years of Earth's history saw the rise of life, the atmosphere and the oceans. Still, that time is shrouded in mystery: Not many rocks remain that preserve a record of those early iterations of our modern ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 9, 2026
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Asteroids and planetesimals regularly bombarded Earth between about 4.6 billion and 3.5 billion years ago, during the Hadean and Archean eons. Because few rocks today are more than 4 billion years old, our understanding of ...
Astrobiology
Jun 8, 2026
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Earth was mostly devoid of oxygen for much of its 4.5 billion year lifetime. That is, until certain processes started to allow for the eventual buildup of oxygen up to the levels we have now (around 21% of the atmosphere). ...
