Educator

The History of Life on Earth

• It’s comforting to think of the Earth as a quiet and stable platform. The experience of an earthquake or a volcano might make us think twice, however. These events hint at the powerful forces beneath the surface of the Earth that drive the reshuffling of the continents over the course of millions of years.

• Other physical phenomena affect conditions on the Earth’s surface in equally significant ways.

• All life has been profoundly affected by the physical changes that the Earth has undergone throughout time. In this Lesson, we’ll examine the connections between the conditions on the Earth and the macroevolution of organisms.

• We’ll also explore the geological time scale, and we’ll find out when some important events in the history of life occurred.