Earth: Evolution of a Habitable Planet (Animated Poster)

This animated poster summarizes the evolution of the atmosphere, geology, and biology of Earth in the last 750 million years during its most habitable periods. The poster was constructed from data and images from the Visible Paleo-Earth project and other sources referenced at the end of this page. A video summary of the events of major extinctions is also included below.

Present 000 Ma 15°C 21% O₂0.04% CO₂ 29% Land 71% Ocean 68% Vegetation 11% Ice 21% Desert Humans•Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Early Neogene 020 Ma 15°C 23% O₂0.03% CO₂ 30% Land 70% Ocean 81% Vegetation 2% Ice 17% Desert Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Middle Paleogene 035 Ma 16°C 22% O₂0.05% CO₂ 29% Land 71% Ocean 85% Vegetation 1% Ice 14% Desert Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Early Paleogene 050 Ma 17°C 22% O₂0.09% CO₂ 28% Land 72% Ocean 88% Vegetation 1% Ice 11% Desert Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Cretaceous-Paleogene 065 Ma 18°C 22% O₂0.08% CO₂ 26% Land 74% Ocean 89% Vegetation 0% Ice 11% Desert Dinosaurs•Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life
Late Cretaceous 090 Ma 19°C 22% O₂0.12% CO₂ 23% Land 77% Ocean 95% Vegetation 0% Ice 5% Desert Dinosaurs•Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Early Cretaceous 105 Ma 19°C 22% O₂0.15% CO₂ 24% Land 76% Ocean 97% Vegetation 0% Ice 3% Desert Dinosaurs•Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Early Cretaceous 120 Ma 18°C 19% O₂0.17% CO₂ 26% Land 74% Ocean 95% Vegetation 0% Ice 5% Desert Dinosaurs•Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Late Jurassic 150 Ma 18°C 16% O₂0.21% CO₂ 25% Land 75% Ocean 96% Vegetation 0% Ice 4% Desert Dinosaurs•Birds•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Middle Jurassic 170 Ma 18°C 15% O₂0.24% CO₂ 26% Land 74% Ocean 89% Vegetation 0% Ice 11% Desert Dinosaurs•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life
Late Triassic 200 Ma 17°C 19% O₂0.15% CO₂ 27% Land 73% Ocean 82% Vegetation 0% Ice 17% Desert Dinosaurs•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Late Triassic 220 Ma 18°C 23% O₂0.16% CO₂ 28% Land 72% Ocean 84% Vegetation 0% Ice 16% Desert Dinosaurs•Mammals Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Middle Triassic 240 Ma 21°C 19% O₂0.19% CO₂ 27% Land 73% Ocean 83% Vegetation 0% Ice 17% Desert Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Late Permian 260 Ma 19°C 31% O₂0.05% CO₂ 26% Land 74% Ocean 79% Vegetation 13% Ice 8% Desert Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Early Permian 280 Ma 15°C 32% O₂0.04% CO₂ 25% Land 75% Ocean 81% Vegetation 10% Ice 9% Desert Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life
Late Carboniferous 300 Ma 14°C 30% O₂0.04% CO₂ 21% Land 79% Ocean 78% Vegetation 20% Ice 2% Desert Reptiles•Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Middle Carboniferous 340 Ma 16°C 23% O₂0.08% CO₂ 20% Land 80% Ocean 90% Vegetation 8% Ice 2% Desert Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Late Devonian 370 Ma 20°C 18% O₂0.23% CO₂ 19% Land 81% Ocean 96% Vegetation 0% Ice 4% Desert Insects•Plants Amphibians•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Early Devonian 400 Ma 19°C 22% O₂0.32% CO₂ 21% Land 79% Ocean 97% Vegetation 0% Ice 3% Desert Plants•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Middle Silurian 430 Ma 18°C 21% O₂0.48% CO₂ 19% Land 81% Ocean 95% Vegetation 0% Ice 5% Desert Plants•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life
Early Silurian 440 Ma 18°C 20% O₂0.47% CO₂ 19% Land 81% Ocean 79% Vegetation 0% Ice 21% Desert Plants•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Late Ordovician 450 Ma 17°C 18% O₂0.44% CO₂ 19% Land 81% Ocean 79% Vegetation 0% Ice 21% Desert Plants•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Middle Ordovician 470 Ma 20°C 16% O₂0.50% CO₂ 19% Land 81% Ocean 58% Vegetation 12% Ice 30% Desert Plants•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Late Cambrian 500 Ma 22°C 18% O₂0.53% CO₂ 23% Land 77% Ocean 47% Vegetation 0% Ice 53% Desert Plants•Fishes Arthropods•Molluscs Microbial Life	Early Cambrian 540 Ma —°C 19% O₂—CO₂ 27% Land 73% Ocean 0% Vegetation 0% Ice 100% Desert Arthropods•Molluscs Ediacaran Microbial Life
Late Ediacaran 560 Ma —°C — O₂— CO₂ 28% Land 72% Ocean 0% Vegetation 0% Ice 100% Desert Ediacaran Microbial Life	Early Ediacaran 600 Ma —°C — O₂— CO₂ 30% Land 70% Ocean 0% Vegetation 16% Ice 84% Desert Ediacaran Microbial Life	Late Cryogenian 660 Ma —°C — O₂— CO₂ 18% Land 82% Ocean 0% Vegetation 63% Ice 37% Desert Microbial Life	Late Cryogenian 690 Ma —°C — O₂— CO₂13% Land 87% Ocean 0% Vegetation 49% Ice 51% Desert Microbial Life	Middle Cryogenian 750 Ma —°C — O₂— CO₂18% Land 82% Ocean 0% Vegetation 37% Ice 63% Desert Microbial Life

Note: All values shown in this poster are approximations and there is some disagreement between different scientific sources. Additional data was obtained from the following references:

Berner, R. A. and Kothavala, Z. (2001). GEOCARB III: A revised model of atmospheric CO2 over Phanerozoic time. Am. J. of Science, 301, 2, 182.
Berner, R. A. (2006). Geological nitrogen cycle and atmospheric N2 over Phanerozoic time. Geology, 34, 5, 413.
Berner, R. A. (2009). Phanerozoic atmospheric oxygen: New results using the GEOCARBSULF model. American Journal of Science, 309, 7, 603.
Caldeira K, Kasting JF (1992) The life-span of the biosphere revisited. Nature, 360, 6406, 721–723.
Royer, D. L., Berner, R. A., Montañez, I. P., Tabor, N. J., and Beerling, D. J. (2004). CO2 as a primary driver of Phanerozoic climate. GSA Today, 14, 3, 4-10.
Williams, G. E. (1993). History of the Earth's obliquity. Earth-Science Reviews, 34, 1, 1-45.

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Earth: Evolution of a Habitable Planet (Animated Poster)

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