Precambrian

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Precambrian environment
- Paleogeography
- Paleoclimate
  - Evolution of the atmosphere and ocean
    - Oxygenation of the atmosphere
    - Development of the ocean
  - Climatic conditions
    - Temperature and rainfall
    - Worldwide glaciations
Precambrian life
- Microfossils and stromatolites
- Ediacaran fossils
Precambrian geology
- Major subdivisions of the Precambrian System
- Oldest minerals and rocks
- Significant geologic events
  - Distinctive features
  - Archean crustal growth
  - Proterozoic plate movements
- Occurrence and distribution of Precambrian rocks
- Archean rock types
  - Greenstone-granite belts
    - Economic significance of Archean greenstone-granite deposits
    - Greenstone-granite rock types
    - Structure and formation of greenstone-granite belts
    - Age and occurrence of greenstone-granite belts
  - Granulite-gneiss belts
    - Economic significance of Archean granulite-gneiss deposits
    - Granulite-gneiss rock types
    - Structure and occurrence of granulite-gneiss belts
    - Age and correlation of granulite-gneiss belts
  - Sedimentary basins, basic dikes, and layered complexes
- Proterozoic rock types
  - Basic dikes
  - Layered igneous intrusions
  - Shelf-type sediments
  - Ophiolites
  - Greenstones and granites
  - Granulites and gneisses
  - Orogenic belts
  - Glacial sediments
- Correlation of Precambrian strata
- Establishing Precambrian boundaries

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Images

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Whaleback outcroppings of Precambrian granite of the basement complex in the Matopo Hills, southwestern Zimbabwe.

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Precambrian

geochronology

Also known as: Precambrian time, pre-Phanerozoic time

Written by Brian Frederick Windley

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 8, 2024 • Article History

Key People:: Jakob Johannes Sederholm

Related Topics:: Archean Eon; Proterozoic Eon; fossil; Ediacara fauna; Hadean Eon

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Precambrian, period of time extending from about 4.6 billion years ago (the point at which Earth began to form) to the beginning of the Cambrian Period, 541 million years ago. The Precambrian encompasses the Archean and Proterozoic eons, which are formal geologic intervals that lasted from 4 billion to about 541 million years ago, and the Hadean Eon, which is an informal interval spanning from 4.6 billion to 4 billion years ago. The Precambrian represents more than 80 percent of the total geologic record. All life-forms were long assumed to have originated in the Cambrian, and therefore all earlier rocks ...(100 of 10915 words)

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