Precambrian
4.5 Ga – 541 Ma
The Precambrian spans nearly nine-tenths of Earth’s history — from the planet’s formation about 4.5 billion years ago to the first complex animals 541 million years ago. It covers the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic eons: a molten world cooling into oceans and continents, the origin of life, and the Great Oxidation Event that filled the air with oxygen.
No paleogeographic maps exist before 540 Ma, so the globe shows a stylized eon view across the Precambrian.
View the Precambrian on the globe →
Highlights
- Formation of the oceans and the first continental crust
- Origin of life and the first photosynthetic microbes
- The Great Oxidation Event and global “Snowball Earth” glaciations
- First eukaryotes and the soft-bodied Ediacaran biota