1,9-0.

8 Billion years ago

The plate tectonics of the earth caused individual continents to come together and form a
supercontinent ‘Nuna’ which provided cyanobacteria a habitat in its lakes, rivers, wetlands and
estuaries. Cyanobacteria in the form of stromatolites changed the composition of the atmosphere
from 1% oxygen to 21% oxygen and led to the formation of ozone. They lived in colonies and
developed photosynthesis using sunlight and carbon dioxide where oxygen awas given off as a waste
product. Over time, the nuna supercontinent broke up into smaller subcontinents; However, they
once again joined to form a singular continent called Rodinia in the equatorial region. The slabs of
oceanic plates which were subducted under continental plates gradually accumulated in the mantle
transition zone and fell down into the core, cooling it and changing the flow turtiof electricity from
within. The dipole magnetic field of the earth changed into a weaker quadrupole one.

About 600-700 million years ago,

There was the Sturtian Glaciation when the milkyway galaxy collided into a dwarf galaxy and
underwent a change into starburst conditions. With time, the newly produced stars ended in
supernova explosions, submerging the earth in cosmic rays. The earth, which had a weakened
quadruple magnetic force, was deepely affected. It was entirely covered by clouds and its surface
with ice. There were a series of supernova explosions accompanied by long periods of extreme heat
and brief periods of extreme cold. In the exteme cold periods, oxygen levels fell in the atmosphere,
causing mass extinctions. These, however, created new opportunities for life to evolve into
something completely new. The repeated influx of cosmic rays and drastic oxygen level fluctuations
caused genetic mutations that accelerated the growth of a new species.

Over 600-700 million years ago, The starburst period ended, the earth’s core returned to a stronger
dipole magnetic field. Ongoing photosynthesis returned the amount to natural levels. At the same
time, the inner earth was gradually cooling down. When the inner earth is hot enough, the
components of water trapped in material under the oceanic plates are released to the surface
environment and the sea level water is unaffected. Although, if the mantle temperature drops beloe
650 degrees, minerals carry these water components down into the upper mantle. Meanwhile on
the surface, the ground levels decrease- known as the Leaking Earth phenomena (inevitable on a
cooling planet).3% of sea level was dropped intp the mantle. It dropped by 600 meters.

Therefore, surface land areas and continental shelf areas receiving sunlight grew, enabling a
possibility of future life on planet Earth. The rivers took nutrients from the inlands down to the
continental shelves. The stage was set for an explosive evolution of life forms.

640 Million Years Ago, there was the origin of molecular life. Extreme climate changes persisted,
putting life on a path to new evolution changes for survival. Life evolved with prokaryotes and
eukaryotes living together. Eukaryotes evolved in the new oxygen rich environment as stromatolites
declined. •These were the precursors of multicellular life –plants and animals.•Ozone layer shields
the earth surface from exposure to UV radiation making the surface more favourable for life.

Life forms grew to one millionth that of the size of the eukaryotes and one trillionth time the sizs of
prokaryotes. The appearan ce of multicellular life was an important leap for evolution.

580 Million Years Ago, the appearance of Ediacaran fauna

Life suffered a mass extinction after another glaciation period, With time, however, this glaciation
also passed, and the global climate warmed up. Phosphorus and other minerals which are essential
for life settled in the oceans. The animals of the Ediacaran period arrived at this time. For example,
Dickinsonia are iconic among the Ediacaran fauna. Some grew over 1 meter in length. They were soft
body creatures with no skeleton or shell.

550 years ago – Evolution responds to environmental change

The supply of nutrients from lands was ever increasing, as was atmospherci oxygen. The amount of
ferrous iron in the oceaans increased and It oxidized creating large bands of iron. Phosphorus and
Calcium levels in the ocean increased. Life evolved to use these minerals, becoming creatures with
skeletons, and shells. For instance, calcium helped protect microdictyon from other animals by
forming a covering of hard scales around their body.

540 Years Ago – The first Cambrian Organisms

The earth alternated between periods of extreme heat and extreme cold for tens of thousands of
years. These severe alterations killing off the Ediacaran fauna. But new species were about to
appear. Radition from within the earth plays a significant role in the evolution of life. A continental
rift is a place where a continent breaks open to expose erupting magma and radioactive elements. R
adiation hastens the creation of new species and new branches in the Tree of Life. T his is stem
evolution creating new species at continental rifts.

Each small continent had life evolving separately. After the recombination of small continents their
life forms cross bred. Different cross breeding created new forms of life enabling variations to thrive.
This was called Crown evolution.

The,”Cambrian Explosion” created 35 new phyla which became the foundation of the types of plants
and animals we see today.

There are three main ways that life evolves;

(i) Mass extinctions

(ii) Stem evolution

(iii) Crown evolution

600 million years ago: expending habitats

600 million years ago the ocean was 600 times as saline as it is today but it gradually became less
salty. Salt from see water was relocated to land in the form of rock salt. Decrease in salt water made
ocean more hospitable to diverse life form. Estuaries and open seas welcomed new life. An increase
in atmospheric level and the ozone layer formation which absorbed the UV rays of the sun, the land
became a more habitable environment.

540 million years ago: The co-evolution of plants and insects.

Algae was the first life form to transition out of water to the changing land environment. Hence
leading to gthe evolvement of Algae before animals. After the appearance of insects, they co-
evolved with plants.

550-540 millions years ago: The evolution of vertebrates

Fish appeared during the Cambrian explosion and was the first vertebrates, animals with backbones.
As fish continue to evolve, Ichthyostega appeared the ancestor of amphibians. Plants flourished,
providing the atmosphere with 1.5 times as much oxygen as it has today. The remains of these
plants would become sedimentary coal which would help fuel the remarkable breakthroughs for
human civilization starting with the industrial revolution.

Vertebrates equipped with lungs appeared and made their way on the surface.

260-250 million years ago: The largest mass extinction of the Phanerozoic Eon (Collision with the
Dark Nebula)

The solar system collided with a Dark Nebula and the earth was bombarded with cosmic rays leading
it into another frozen rays. Plants were affected in terms of the oxygen they supplied to the
atmosphere. The surface environment return to an Anaerobic state. No oxygen supply killed most
species of amphibians, reptiles and insects.

Life managed to continue evolving but faced lot of challenges. Anaerobic micro-organism had been
thriving in oxygen poor underground environment. The oxygen poor surface environment allowed
them to reemerge on land and in ocean expending their nature habitats across the world. As oxygen
level rose again these micro-organisms evolved to adapt to the new environmental conditions.

The emergence of new creatures who would evolve into human was closed at hand.