Historical geology

thumb|right|Bust of the paleontologist Georges Cuvier (left) and a cast skeleton of [[Palaeotherium magnum (named by Cuvier in 1804, right), Cuvier Museum of Montbéliard]]

evolution of Earth throughout times

thumb|upright=1.35|The supercontinent of Pangaea with the positions of the continents at the [[Permian-Triassic boundary, about 250 Ma. AR=Amuria; NC=North China; SC=South China; PA=Panthalassic Ocean; PT=Paleotethys Ocean; NT=Neotethys Ocean. Orogens shown in red. Subduction zones shown in black. Spreading centers shown in green.]] thumb|Although not a supercontinent, the current Afro-Eurasian landmass contains about 57% of Earth's land area.

thumb|upright=1.6|alt=Image of the Bering land bridge being inundated with rising sea level across time|Beringia sea levels (blues) and land elevations (browns) measured in metres from 21,000 years ago to present

thumb|upright=1.35|Cratons of South America and Africa during the Triassic Period when the two continents were joined as part of the [[Pangea supercontinent]]

thumb|Magnetic stripes are the result of reversals of the Earth's field and seafloor spreading. New oceanic crust is magnetized as it forms and then it moves away from the ridge in both directions. The models show a ridge (a) about 5 million years ago (b) about 2 million years ago and (c) in the present. Paleomagnetism (occasionally palaeomagnetism) is the study of prehistoric Earth's magnetic fields recorded in rocks, sediment, or archeological materials. Geophysicists who specialize in paleomagnetism are called paleomagnetists.

thumb|upright=1.35|Map of Doggerland at its near maximum extent c. 10,000 years Before Present (~8,000 BCE) (top left) and its subsequent disintegration by 7,000 BP (~5,000 BCE) Doggerland was a large area of land in Northern Europe, now submerged beneath the southern North Sea. This region was repeatedly exposed at various times during the Pleistocene epoch due to the lowering of sea levels during glacial periods. However, the term "Doggerland" is generally specifically used for this region during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. During the early Holocene following the glacial re

geologic formation with water

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academic discipline that uses the principles and techniques of geology to reconstruct and understand the geological history of Earth

thumb|''Hutton's Unconformity'' at [[Jedburgh, Scotland, illustrated by John Clerk in 1787 and photographed in 2003.]] An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval of time before deposition of the younger layer, but the term is used to describe any break in the sedimentary geologic record. The significance of angular unconformity (see below) was shown by James Hutton, who found examples of Hutton'

land form

thumb|400px|Sundaland during the [[Last Glacial Maximum]]

submarine landslide at the edge of Norway's continental shelf in the Norwegian Sea, approximately 6225–6170 BCE

boundary of a stage on the geologic time scale

A chronozone or chron is a unit in chronostratigraphy, defined by events such as geomagnetic reversals (magnetozones), or based on the presence of specific fossils (biozone or biochronozone). According to the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the term "chronozone" refers to the rocks formed during a particular time period, while "chron" refers to that time period.

tectonic plate

Precambrian craton that with four others makes up the modern continent of Africa

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In stratigraphy, paleontology, geology, and geobiology, an erathem is the total stratigraphic unit deposited during a certain corresponding span of time during an era in the geologic timescale.

hypothesis about migration of species between Africa and Eurasia

thumb|right|upright=1.35|Paleosols sequence, Tuscany, Italy thumb|Etched section of paleosol from the Atlantic, San Salvador Island, Bahamas, indicating the top of the [[Pleistocene Grotto Beach Formation (limestone)]]

natural phenomenon in which large groups of icebergs traverse the North Atlantic

old and stable part of the continental lithosphere located in Pilbara, Western Australia

geologic time

oceanic tectonic plate under the northern Pacific Ocean which has been subducted under the North American Plate

peninsula in Scottish Borders, Scotland

thumb|Sketch of trench wall right|thumb|Sandsheet thought to have resulted from the tsunami caused by an earthquake on January 26, 1700, river bank [[Oregon]] thumb|Seismite formed by liquefaction of sediments during a Late Ordovician earthquake (northern Kentucky, USA) Paleoseismology is the study of ancient earthquakes using geologic evidence, such as geologic sediments and rocks. It is used to supplement seismic monitoring to calculate seismic hazard. Paleoseismology is usually restricted to geologic regimes that have undergone continuous sediment creation for the last few thousand years, s

islands or continents supposedly existing during prehistory, having since disappeared

craton tectonic superprovince in Western Australia

study and analysis of groups of sedimentary deposits

core of the Baltica proto-plate and consists of the Fennoscandia, Volgo-Uralia and Sarmatia crustal segments

entirety of the layers of rock strata

large area of continental crust in the north-central part of Africa

thumb|Aerial view of Exhumation (geology)|exhumed fluvial palaeochannel, Emery County, Utah. The erosion of softer surrounding mudstone left this palaeochannel as a sandstone ridge.

Archaean craton in the north-western Canadian Shield, in Northwest Territories and Nunavut

area of ocean floor to the east of New Zealand, forming part of the Zealandia continent

mountain-building event in North America

Historical good listed by the Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage of the State of Rio Grande do Sul in the city of Mata

date of the oldest known fossil of a given species

name given to various notable geological sites in Scotland

thumb|222px|The nature of sediments can vary in a cyclic fashion, and these cycles can be displayed in the sedimentary record - here visible in the colouration and resistance of strata thumb|Milankovitch variations, solar forcing, and glacial cycles. Image by Robert A. Rohde, under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Cyclostratigraphy is a subdiscipline of stratigraphy that studies astronomically forced climate cycles within sedimentary successions.

oceanic trench that existed in the northern part of the Tethys Ocean during the middle Mesozoic to early Cenozoic eras

ancient oceanic tectonic plate that lay on the west coast of North America about 195 million years ago; surrounded by the Intermontane Islands

geological formation between the West African craton and the Saharan Metacraton in West Africa

mountains in Russia

large part of the continent of Australia