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Who the visit is for

Earth science

The history of the Earth

4.567 billion years, from the birth of the planet to today. Scroll down through fifteen chapters of Earth’s history: what happened, what was going on in Kazakhstan, and which exhibits in our hall date from that time.

Start the journey ↓A walk through time in the hall
  • 4.567 billion years of history
  • 15 chapters
  • 5 great extinctions
  • In the museum collection

Eon4.567 billion years ago — 4.031 billion years ago1

Hadean

The birth of the Earth and the Moon

lasted 536 million years · on the Earth’s clock 00:00:00–02:49:00

4.4 billion yearsthe age of Earth’s oldest mineral, a zircon2
  • Nearly all meteorites are fragments of asteroids; their oldest material formed about 4.567 billion years ago, as the Solar System was born. 34
  • The Moon most likely formed from the debris of a collision between the young Earth and a large body, perhaps the size of Mars. 56
  • The oldest known mineral from Earth is a zircon from the Jack Hills in Western Australia, about 4.4 billion years old. 2

In our hall

Rocks of this era on the map of Kazakhstan →

Eon4.031 billion years ago — 2.5 billion years ago1

Archean

The first rocks and the first life

lasted 1.531 billion years · on the Earth’s clock 02:49:00–10:51:44

3.48 billion yearsthe age of the earliest traces of life, the Pilbara stromatolites78
  • The Acasta Gneiss of north-western Canada, up to 4.03 billion years old, holds the oldest reliably dated rocks. 9
  • Stromatolites of the Pilbara in Western Australia, 3.48–3.43 billion years old, are among the earliest convincing traces of life. 78

In our hall

Eon2.5 billion years ago — 538.8 million years ago1

Proterozoic

Oxygen, iron and ice

lasted 1.961 billion years · on the Earth’s clock 10:51:44–21:10:06

2.46 billion yearsago the Great Oxidation Event began10
  • The Great Oxidation Event, the first significant build-up of oxygen in the atmosphere, began 2.46–2.43 billion years ago. 10
  • Most of the world’s iron ore lies in banded iron formations, many of which formed 3.5–1.8 billion years ago. 11
  • In the Cryogenian, about 720–635 million years ago, ice sheets reached sea level at every latitude, even in the tropics — “Snowball Earth”. 12
  • The Ediacaran biota includes some of the first large, complex multicellular organisms; the oldest finds are about 574 million years old (Newfoundland). 13

Minerals of this time in our catalogue

Banded iron formations are mostly hematite with magnetite and goethite, in layers with jasper or quartz.14

Period538.8 million years ago — 486.9 million years ago1

Cambrian

An explosion of life in the seas

lasted 52 million years · on the Earth’s clock 21:10:06–21:26:29

10–20 million yearswas enough for many animal groups to appear1516
  • The “Cambrian explosion”: early in the Cambrian, within roughly 10–20 million years, many major animal groups appeared. 1516
  • Trilobites appeared about 521 million years ago and died out at the end of the Permian. 1617

In our hall

Rocks of this era on the map of Kazakhstan →

Period486.9 million years ago — 443.1 million years ago1

Ordovician

Seas full of life; plants reach the land

lasted 44 million years · on the Earth’s clock 21:26:29–21:40:17

×3the growth in the diversity of sea life19
  • During the Ordovician the diversity of marine life roughly tripled — the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. 19
  • The earliest traces of land plants are spores from Argentina, about 470 million years old. 20

In our hall

Mass extinction2324. About 445–443 million years ago a glaciation killed some 85% of marine species. 24

Period443.1 million years ago — 419.6 million years ago1

Silurian

The first vascular plants and jawed fishes

lasted 23 million years · on the Earth’s clock 21:40:17–21:47:41

430 million yearsago the first vascular plants appeared25
  • The first vascular plants, such as Cooksonia, are known from the mid-Silurian, about 430 million years ago. 25
  • Jawed fishes were already diverse in the early Silurian, about 436 million years ago (China). 26

Period419.6 million years ago — 358.9 million years ago1

Devonian

The Age of Fishes and the first forests

lasted 61 million years · on the Earth’s clock 21:47:41–22:06:50

375 million yearsago lived Tiktaalik, a fish with features of four-legged animals2728
  • The Devonian is called the “Age of Fishes” for the many kinds of fish in its seas. 29
  • The oldest known fossil forest, about 390 million years old, was found in south-west England. 30
  • Tiktaalik, a fish with features of four-legged animals, lived about 375 million years ago in Arctic Canada. 2728

In our hall

Mass extinction2324. About 372 million years ago, at the Frasnian–Famennian boundary, came one of the largest extinctions. 33

Period358.9 million years ago — 298.9 million years ago1

Carboniferous

The forests that became coal

lasted 60 million years · on the Earth’s clock 22:06:50–22:25:45

70 cmthe wingspan of Meganeura34
  • Carboniferous swamps were dominated by tree-sized club mosses — Lepidodendron and Sigillaria — and Calamites; coal formed mainly from the club mosses. 35
  • The wingspan of Meganeura, a giant relative of dragonflies, reached about 70 cm. 34
  • The oldest reptiles, such as Hylonomus from Nova Scotia, lived about 316–313 million years ago. 36

In our hall

Period298.9 million years ago — 251.9 million years ago1

Permian

Pangaea and the Great Dying

lasted 47 million years · on the Earth’s clock 22:25:45–22:40:34

81–90%of marine species died at the end of the Permian4041
  • By the start of the Permian most of the land had joined into the supercontinent Pangaea. 42
  • The period is named after the Perm Governorate: Roderick Murchison defined the Permian System in 1841. 43

Minerals of this time in our catalogue

The Permian salt of the Upper Kama deposit is rock salt, sylvinite and carnallite.44

In our hall

Mass extinction2324. About 251.9 million years ago came the most severe extinction: 81–90% of marine species died; the likely trigger was the Siberian Traps eruptions. 464041

Period251.9 million years ago — 201.4 million years ago1

Triassic

The first dinosaurs and mammals

lasted 51 million years · on the Earth’s clock 22:40:34–22:56:29

230 million yearsago the first dinosaurs appeared47
  • The earliest dinosaurs lived about 230 million years ago, in the Late Triassic, in what is now Argentina. 47
  • The first mammals in the broad sense appeared in the Late Triassic, about 225 million years ago. 48
Rocks of this era on the map of Kazakhstan →

Mass extinction2324. About 201.4 million years ago the extinction coincided with the onset of eruptions of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. 49

Period201.4 million years ago — 143.1 million years ago1

Jurassic

The age of giants

lasted 58 million years · on the Earth’s clock 22:56:29–23:14:52

190 million yearsago the Atlantic Ocean began to open50
  • In the Jurassic, dinosaurs were the dominant land animals. 51
  • Pangaea was breaking apart: the central Atlantic Ocean began to open about 190 million years ago. 50
  • Archaeopteryx, one of the earliest known birds, lived 149–145 million years ago in what is now Germany. 52

In our hall

Period143.1 million years ago — 66 million years ago1

Cretaceous

Flowers, chalk and an asteroid

lasted 77 million years · on the Earth’s clock 23:14:52–23:39:11

66 million yearsago the Chicxulub asteroid struck5859
  • Flowering plants are reliably known from the Early Cretaceous: their pollen appears about 137–133 million years ago. 6061
  • Chalk is made mostly of coccoliths — the calcite plates of microscopic algae — and foraminifera shells; the period’s name comes from Latin creta, “chalk”. 6263

Minerals of this time in our catalogue

The purest chalk is almost entirely calcite — up to 99%.63

In our hall

Mass extinction2324. 66 million years ago the Chicxulub asteroid impact triggered an extinction: non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites disappeared. 5859

Period66 million years ago — 23.04 million years ago1

Paleogene

The Age of Mammals

lasted 43 million years · on the Earth’s clock 23:39:11–23:52:44

59 million yearsago India began to collide with Asia66
  • After the dinosaurs died out, placental mammals rapidly diversified. 67
  • About 59 million years ago India began to collide with Asia; by 56 million years ago the Himalayas were rising. 66
  • The early Eocene, 56–48 million years ago, was far warmer than today; permanent Antarctic ice sheets appeared about 34 million years ago. 6869
Rocks of this era on the map of Kazakhstan →

Period23.04 million years ago — 2.58 million years ago1

Neogene

Grasslands and the first human ancestors

lasted 20 million years · on the Earth’s clock 23:52:44–23:59:11

7 million yearsago lived Sahelanthropus, one of the first hominins7172
  • Between 8 and 3 million years ago, grasses with C4 photosynthesis rose to dominance in grasslands. 73
  • Sahelanthropus from Chad is one of the earliest known hominins, 7.2–6.8 million years old. 7172
  • The giant shark megalodon died out about 3.6 million years ago, in the early Pliocene. 74

In our hall

Period2.58 million years ago — today1

Quaternary

Ice ages and people

lasted 2.58 million years · on the Earth’s clock 23:59:11–24:00:00

315 thousand yearsthe age of the oldest remains of Homo sapiens75
  • In the Pleistocene, glaciations repeatedly alternated with warm interglacials. 76
  • The oldest known remains of Homo sapiens, from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, are about 315,000 years old. 75
  • Woolly mammoths were animals of the ice age; on Wrangel Island the last of them were still living 7,000–4,000 years ago. 77

In our hall

The Earth’s day

Let’s squeeze 4.567 billion years into a single day: midnight is the birth of the Earth, the next midnight is today. Pick an event and the hand will show what time it happened.

HadeanArcheanProterozoicCambrianOrdovicianSilurianDevonianCarboniferousPermianTriassicJurassicCretaceousPaleogeneNeogeneQuaternaryProterozoicCambrianOrdovicianSilurianDevonianCarboniferousPermianTriassicJurassicCretaceousPaleogeneNeogeneQuaternary03691215182121:0022:0023:00

23:59:54

Homo sapiens

The last three hours, enlarged

  1. 4
  2. 2
  3. 9
  4. 8
  5. 10
  6. 12
  7. 13
  8. 16
  9. 20
  10. 2728
  11. 36
  12. 47
  13. 52
  14. 61
  15. 5859
  16. 69
  17. 7172
  18. 75

And if the Earth’s history were as tall as the Baiterek tower (105 m78): the 300,000 years of our species would take up the top 7 mm, and everything since the dinosaurs the top 1.5 m.

A walk through time in the hall

The exhibits in our hall, from the oldest to the youngest. Find each one in the hall and tick it off. Those you have already identified with the camera are ticked automatically.

  1. Hadean

    СИХОТЕ- АЛИНСКИЙ МЕТЕОРИТ

    a meteorite: material of the early Solar System34

    In the museum collection

  2. Hadean

    ЧЕЛЯБИНСКИЙ МЕТЕОРИТ

    a meteorite: material of the early Solar System34

    In the museum collection

  3. Archean

    ГНЕЙС САРХЕЙ 2,7 МЛРД ЛЕТ, О. КОСТЬЯН

    on the label: 2.7 billion years

    In the museum collection

  4. Cambrian

    ФОСФОРИТ

    Koksu, a Karatau phosphorite deposit: Early Cambrian18

    In the museum collection

  5. Ordovician

    ТРИЛОБИТ

    the Volkhov area: Ordovician layers rich in trilobites2122

    In the museum collection

  6. Devonian

    Брахиопода spirifeer

    on the label: 410 million years

    In the museum collection

  7. Devonian

    ТРИЛОБИТ

    an Early Devonian (Emsian) trilobite from Morocco32

    In the museum collection

  8. Carboniferous

    Сигиллярия (отпечаток коры)

    on the label: 350 million years

    In the museum collection

  9. Carboniferous

    ЛЕПИДОДЕНДРОН

    Lepidodendron: a tree of the Carboniferous coal swamps35

    In the museum collection

  10. Carboniferous

    БОРНИТ

    Zhezkazgan ores lie in Upper Carboniferous sandstones39

    In the museum collection

  11. Carboniferous

    ДРЕВОВИДНЫЙ ХВОЩ

    on the label: 300 million years

    In the museum collection

  12. Permian

    КАЛИЙНАЯ СОЛЬ

    the Upper Kama deposit: Kungurian salt, Early Permian44

    In the museum collection

  13. Jurassic

    Моллюск Allocosmia

    on the label: 200 million years

    In the museum collection

  14. Jurassic

    УГОЛЬ

    Shubarkol: Jurassic coal55

    In the museum collection

  15. Cretaceous

    ЯЙЦО ДИНОЗАВРА

    Gobi dinosaur egg clutches come from Late Cretaceous deposits65

    In the museum collection

  16. Neogene

    ЗУБ АКУЛЫ

    megalodon died out about 3.6 million years ago74

    In the museum collection

  17. Quaternary

    БИВЕНЬ МАМОНТА

    mammoths: animals of the ice ages7776

    In the museum collection

  18. Quaternary

    Каменный нож эпоха неолита

    on the label: 5th–4th millennium BC

    In the museum collection

What came first?

Two events — tap the one that happened first. Eight rounds.

What next

Sources

Names, boundaries and colours of the chapters: the International Chronostratigraphic Chart (ICS). Every statement on this page carries the number of its source. “On the label” marks the museum’s own wording on the exhibit’s label.

  1. International Commission on Stratigraphy. International Chronostratigraphic Chart v2026/06, CC BY 4.0. Cohen K. et al. 2025. Episodes 48:105
  2. Wilde S.A. et al. 2001. Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago. Nature 409:175
  3. Natural History Museum, London. Meteorites: windows into our solar system’s beginnings
  4. Connelly J.N. et al. 2012. The Absolute Chronology and Thermal Processing of Solids in the Solar Protoplanetary Disk. Science 338:651
  5. Canup R.M., Asphaug 2001. Origin of the Moon in a giant impact near the end of the Earth’s formation. Nature 412:708
  6. NASA Science. Moon Formation
  7. Allwood A.C. et al. 2006. Stromatolite reef from the Early Archaean era of Australia. Nature 441:714
  8. Djokic T. et al. 2017. Earliest signs of life on land preserved in ca. 3.5 Ga hot spring deposits. Nat Commun 8:15263
  9. Bowring S.A., Williams 1999. Priscoan (4.00-4.03 Ga) orthogneisses from northwestern Canada. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 134:3
  10. Gumsley A.P. et al. 2017. Timing and tempo of the Great Oxidation Event. PNAS 114:1811
  11. CSIRO 2024. Banded iron formations: oceans, algae and iron oxide
  12. Hoffman P.F. et al. 2017. Snowball Earth climate dynamics and Cryogenian geology-geobiology. Sci. Adv. 3:e1600983
  13. Matthews J.J. et al. 2021. A Chronostratigraphic Framework for the Rise of the Ediacaran Macrobiota: New Constraints from Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland. GSA Bulletin 133:612
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  15. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Cambrian explosion
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  17. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Trilobite
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  21. Hansen T., Nielsen 2003. Upper Arenig trilobite biostratigraphy and sea-level changes at Lynna River near Volkhov, Russia. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 50:105
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  25. Edwards D., Feehan 1980. Records of Cooksonia-type sporangia from late Wenlock strata in Ireland. Nature 287:41
  26. Zhu Y.a. et al. 2022. The oldest complete jawed vertebrates from the early Silurian of China. Nature 609:954
  27. Daeschler E.B. et al. 2006. A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan. Nature 440:757
  28. Nature News, 5 April 2006. Fossil fish sheds light on the transition to land
  29. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Devonian Period
  30. Davies N.S. et al. 2024. Earth’s earliest forest: fossilized trees and vegetation-induced sedimentary structures from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) Hangman Sandstone Formation, Somerset and Devon, SW England. Journal of the Geological Society 181:jgs2023-204
  31. Weber L.J. et al. 2003. Stratigraphy, Lithofacies, and Reservoir Distribution, Tengiz Field, Kazakhstan. SEPM Special Publication 78 (Permo-Carboniferous Carbonate Platforms and Reefs):351
  32. The Paleobiology Database. Hollardops: occurrences (after Chatterton et al. 2006)
  33. Percival L.M.E. et al. 2018. Precisely dating the Frasnian–Famennian boundary: implications for the cause of the Late Devonian mass extinction. Sci Rep 8:9578
  34. Nel A. et al. 2018. Palaeozoic giant dragonflies were hawker predators. Sci Rep 8:12141
  35. University of California Museum of Paleontology. Life of the Carboniferous
  36. Mann A. et al. 2019. Carbonodraco lundi gen. et sp. nov., the oldest parareptile, from Linton, Ohio, and new insights into the early radiation of reptiles. R. Soc. open sci. 6:191191
  37. Горная энциклопедия (М.: Советская энциклопедия, 1984–1991). Карагандинский угольный бассейн
  38. Горная энциклопедия. Экибастузский угольный бассейн
  39. Box S.E. et al. 2012. Dzhezkazgan and associated sandstone copper deposits of the Chu-Sarysu basin, central Kazakhstan. USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-E
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  42. University of California Museum of Paleontology. The Permian Period
  43. Большая советская энциклопедия. Пермская система
  44. Роснедра. 85 лет со дня открытия Верхнекамского месторождения солей
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  50. Labails C. et al. 2010. An alternative early opening scenario for the Central Atlantic Ocean. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 297:355
  51. University of California Museum of Paleontology. The Jurassic Period
  52. Natural History Museum, London. Dino Directory: Archaeopteryx
  53. Averianov A. et al. 2015. The paleoenvironments of azhdarchid pterosaurs localities in the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan. ZooKeys 483:59
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  57. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Belemnoid
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  66. Hu X. et al. 2016. The timing of India-Asia collision onset – Facts, theories, controversies. Earth-Science Reviews 160:264
  67. O’Leary M.A. et al. 2013. The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals. Science 339:662
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  69. Coxall H.K. et al. 2005. Rapid stepwise onset of Antarctic glaciation and deeper calcite compensation in the Pacific Ocean. Nature 433:53
  70. Deng T. et al. 2021. An Oligocene giant rhino provides insights into Paraceratherium evolution. Commun Biol 4:639
  71. Brunet M. et al. 2002. A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa. Nature 418:145
  72. Lebatard A.E. et al. 2008. Cosmogenic nuclide dating of Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Australopithecus bahrelghazali: Mio-Pliocene hominids from Chad. PNAS 105:3226
  73. Edwards E.J. et al. 2010. The origins of C4 grasslands: integrating evolutionary and ecosystem science. Science 328:587
  74. Boessenecker R.W. et al. 2019. The Early Pliocene extinction of the mega-toothed shark Otodus megalodon: a view from the eastern North Pacific. PeerJ 7:e6088
  75. Hublin J.J. et al. 2017. New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature 546:289
  76. University of California Museum of Paleontology. The Pleistocene Epoch
  77. Vartanyan S.L. et al. 1993. Holocene dwarf mammoths from Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic. Nature 362:337
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