Learn with the Times: How Meghalaya Named the 4,200 Years of the Earth's Age | News from India

Stalagmites on the floors of the Krem Mawmluh caves at Meghalaya provide evidence of a distinct step in the geological clbadification of the Earth's age, say the researchers who called this most recent period in the history of 4.6 years of the planet Meghalayan age & # 39;. These time slices retrace the key events in the history of the evolution of our planet and the life forms that occupy it. A glance…

WHAT IS GEOLOGICAL TIME?

The time recorded by the written history that describes important events of human civilization is tiny compared to the general history of the planet that is known as geological time. The enumeration by geologists, paleontologists and other Earth scientists of geological time units is done by studying rock layers and fossil forms trapped in it. Scientists determine when they were trained to understand the Earth at that time. In general, each geological period is divided into different units based on the occurrence in their duration of unique plants and animals as well as in major events of evolution or extinction. The longest unit of this geological time scale is called eon. The total age of the Earth is divided into three formal eons and an informal one.

HOW ARE EONS MORE SUBDIVED?

The eon, a very large amount of time, is subdivided into eras which are then decomposed into periods. The periods are divided into epochs which are then divided into ages. These divisions are made by studying the rocks formed during these periods and the fossil forms trapped within. The Phanerozoic Eon is divided into two Paleozoic (541 to 252 million years), Mesozoic (252 to 66 million years) and Cenozoic (66 million years to the present day), divided into twelve periods.

WHAT IS MEGHALAY'S AGE?

Based on the difference between the resulting animal and plant forms, the geological periods are further divided into series (epochs) which are again divided into stages / ages. The Quaternary period is divided into two series (epochs): the Pleistocene and the Holocene. The Holocene series which covers about 11,700 years in the history of the Earth coincides with the end of the Stone Age. The Holocene series is divided into three stages of which the Meghalayan age is the last. It begins 4200 years ago when agricultural societies around the world experienced a steep and critical mega-drought that resulted in the collapse of civilizations and resulted in human migration to Egypt, Greece, Syria, Palestine , in Mesopotamia, in the Indus Valley and the Yangtze. Valley.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, International Stratigraphy Research Commission: Atul Thakur, Graphic: Karthic R Iyer