About EARTHTIME

EARTHTIME is an organized, community-based international scientific initiative aimed at sequencing Earth history through the integration of high-precision geochronology and quantitative chronostratigraphy. Our main goal is the development of the geochronological techniques necessary to produce temporal constraints with uncertainties approaching 0.1 percent of the radioisotopic ages.

There are many fundamental problems in Earth's history that can be addressed with a highly-resolved, calibrated time scale because temporal relations are often keys to causality arguments in Earth history, and our understanding of these processes depends on precise knowledge of both dates and rates. For example, a better calibrated time scale will provide insight into biological evolution, adaptive radiations, extinctions and recoveries, climate change, catastrophes, and a better understanding of how Earth as a complete system evolved. Additionally, a deeper appreciation of the importance of geological time and the timescales at which biologic and climatic processes occur is crucial for our continued stewardship of Earth.

http://earth-time.org/
NSF logo Funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF)