Geologic Time

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Geologic time is similar to the way we tell time by hours, minutes, days, weeks, months, and years. Geologic time, however, is a much larger expanse of time that involves thousands of years to billions of years. Geologic time can be broken down into five main components; however, many smaller geologic units of time also exist.

The five main components of Geologic time are:

Eons (lasting billions of years)

Eras (lasting 100's of millions to billions of years)

Periods (lasting 10's of millions of years to 100's of millions of years)

Epochs  (lasting millions of years to 10's of millions of years)

Stages (lasting thousands of years to millions of years)