Prehistoric life
It was during the Archean era that life first arose on Earth. At this time there were no continents, just small islands in a shallow ocean. There was a vast amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but since the sun was much fainter back then, the combined effect did not raise Earth's temperature to an extreme. Such levels of carbon dioxide would be toxic to the majority of animals alive today - as would the low oxygen levels.
Began: 3.8 billion years ago
Ended: 2.5 billion years ago
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Toxic oxygen
A new gas, oxygen, almost killed the predecessors of all life on Earth.
A new gas, oxygen, almost killed the predecessors of all life on Earth.
Stuff of life
Three billion year old marble on Iona was created ultimately by bacteria.
Three billion year old marble on Iona was created ultimately by bacteria. This programme was first shown in 1997.
The Archean (pron.: /ɑrˈkiːən/, also spelled Archaean; formerly Archaeozoic /ɑrkiəˈzoʊɨk/), also spelled Archeozoic or Archæozoic) is a geologic eon before the Proterozoic Eon, before 2.5 Ga (billion years), or 2,500 million years ago.
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