Deep Time – Josephine Anderson

Deep time refers to the vast expanse of time encompassing Earth’s 4.55-billion-year geologic history. The concept of deep time was developed in the 18th century by James Hutton, who, while observing rocks at Siccar Point, noticed that certain formations were only possible if the Earth was far older than initially postulated. He realized we needed a new perspective with which to view the age of our planet and our minute place within its timeline.

Scientists used the framework of deep time to develop the geologic time scale, the “calendar” for events in Earth’s history. The geological time scale gives scientists the temporal framework for understanding long-term patterns and changes in biodiversity, climate, tectonic activity, and other planetary systems. The time scale is broken into four eons, which can be further divided into eras, periods, epochs, and ages. This chronology is captured in deposited rock layers called strata. Different strata contain different rocks and fossilized organisms depending on the time and conditions of their deposition. This pattern tells the story of the evolution of Earth and life.

Deep time lets us contextualize time far beyond that which falls within the scope of human history. The utter magnitude of deep time is at once awe-inspiring and terrifying, a truth humanity has struggled to reckon with in the last few hundred years. The geologic evidence supporting deep time has undermined previous, often religious, ideas of the age of Earth. It is both difficult and necessary to understand how, as individuals and as a society, to navigate a temporality fundamentally beyond human comprehension.

References:

PBS Eons. (2017). A Brief History of Geologic Time. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWp5ZpJAIAE.

BBC News. (2023). The man who discovered the “abyss of time” – BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esqxYO5vsEI.