Evolution of planet Earth.

The Evolution of Planet Earth.

In this blogsection, we will be dealing with the Evolution of planet Earth, and ergo; the emergence of life on Earth, starting from the very beginning:

THE PRECAMBRIAN ERA:(3.8 BILLION YEARS AGO to 544 MILLION YEARS AGO): Marked by unicellular life forms: divided into Hadean, Archaeozoic and Proterozoic.

HADEAN, CHAOTIAN or PRISCOAN ERA - 5 BILLION YEARS AGO TO 3.8 BILLION YEARS AGO): MARKED BY ABSENCE OF LIFE AND THE START OF THE FORMATION OF LAND, DIVIDED INTO ‘CRYPTIC=>EARLY IMBRIAN=>NECTARIAN’.

5 billion years ago, our solar system had just been formed around a young sun, about 100 small planets revolved around the sun. These planets were formed from the gravity around the sun, and they would later form bigger planets through amalgamation. The earth was an endless ocean of lava just boiling, it would incinerate anyone in seconds, then came the planet Thea (travelling at the speed of a bullet) hit the planet, creating such a blast wave that changed both planets so much, they scattered into so many pieces creating debris, but gravity would not rest for millions of years it pulled d debris back together to form a new Earth(about 4.5 billion years ago), some of the debris formed a celestial body that would one day be referred to as the Earth's moon. The moon was way closer to the earth then that its gravity influenced Earth so much that Earth spins so fast at this time that a day lasts for just 6 hours(3 days & 3 nights)..... 1 billion years into the future: 4 billion years ago, a hail of meteors hit the earth, the meteors were debris left over by d solar system formation that would normally hit all the planets around the sun randomly, but this was different, it was as if something had disturbed their routine and brought forth a new level of violence (it was to be the first of many), inside them were crystals that supposedly contained minute droplets of water. If they hadn’t hit the earth, water would never have found its way to our planet, as they continue bombarding the Earth, water keeps gathering on craters (every single drop of water on earth is millions of years old), subsequently cooling the surface of the planet, finally forming a foothold –the planet’s crust, but the core (innermost part) is still boiling. The closeness of the moon to earth had its effects, the moon’s gravity influenced earth creating huge tidal waves forming mega storms, the planet saw devastating weather effects in those years. Archaeozoic or Archean Eon: 700 million years after the birth of earth(3.8 billion years ago) molten rock from earth's core rises to the surface forming volcanic islands which would one day join together to form continents, although the earth now looks like it does today, the atmosphere can’t sustain anything, the temperature is scorching and the air is toxic. As change is the only constant thing in life, again comes the meteors, their assault has entered a violent new phase, these new meteors which already brought water now bring many minerals that dissolve to form substances from proteins to amino acids, on d surface it was a battle, but underwater about 3,800 metres deep, where the sun can’t reach, underwater stalactites are being formed as a result of sea water seeping into the core through cracks, then subsequently ooze out back into the ocean, gradually forming a chemical soup which over time(millions of years) allowed the formation of single celled microscopic bacteria, the defining moment for life has finally come – emergence of Life on Earth. 300 million years later(3.5 billion years ago), around the islands, the ocean had become shallow, and some organisms seems to grow out of the seabed, they are colonies of Bacteria, called Stromatolite, like plants they were the very first organisms that transformed carbondioxide and water with the power of sunlight into glucose (a monosaccharide sugar), these photosyntheses, produced Oxygen(arguably d most essential material for life on land), which filled all of the ocean, as with the nature of Oxygen, it starts turning traces of Iron in the Water into Rust(Yes Rusting of Iron was one of the few earliest activities on Earth) which deposit on the ocean floor.

Stromatolites. shutterstock image.

Someday humans would come to collect these deposits to make swords they kill each other with (Shame), and subsequently other things e.g. bridges. Proterozoic era: 2.5 billion years ago to about 544 million years ago: marked by ice ages, emergence of primitive multicellular life forms, and series of extinction level events. The oxygen ultimately filled the hydrosphere and occupy the atmosphere too, and for the next 2 billion years (1.5 billion years ago, 3 billion years after d planet's formation) the major activity that took place was the production of Oxygen, So when you take your next breath, thank these colonies of ancient Bacteria called Stromatolites. Complex life hadn’t even begun to be hinted at, the Earth's atmosphere wouldn’t allow it, however interesting things were going on in the sea which you will find out about next week.
The writer is a Zoology student of Obafemi Awolowo University.
The writer is a photographer with a flare for literary writing.
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