Overberg Geoscientists Group
Our Earth
As you walk along our Earth-Age Display wall, please keep in mind that it is all to scale.
Every metre you walk is the equivalent of 100 million years!
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We start at the formation of the Earth 4,600 million years ago (mya).
There are a number of information panels along the wall. These are set at the appropriate place according to the age and dating of what they represent.
We have tried to show both items of ‘world’ significance, and much that explains our local Geology in southern Africa.
The ‘gaps’ between information panels represent periods when, perhaps, little was happening on Earth, or, at least not that impacts southern Africa.
From around 600mya things started to get very busy on Earth, at least comparatively.
Complex life forms evolved and there were rapid changes that developed into the world we see now.
Indeed, so much happened in this last period that we could not fit it all in the 6 metre interval that represents that time frame.
We thus set up the second wall, at a greater scale to show all that happened in this time.
Here we show in more detail all the wondrous stories of how it has all happened. Starting with the first multicellular creatures and ending with our present day ‘civilization’.
At the very end of the second wall, we have arranged a layout of all the rocks that one can see in the local area. There is a map and a diagram of the sequence in which they were formed. This will put all the local Geology in context.