For the Gnostic word, see aeon. For other uses, see Eon (disambiguation).

In general usage, an eon (sometimes spelled aeon) is a period of time arbitrarily designated by humans. Geologists refer to an eon as the largest subdivision of time on the geologic time scale. For example, the Phanerozoic Eon, which is about 550 million years long, covers the period of time during which animals with hard shells that fossilize would have been abundant.

An eon is composed of several geologic eras, which in turn are composed of geologic periods, which are composed of geologic epochs. We are currently in the Phanerozoic Eon, the Cenozoic Era, the Neogene Period, and the Holocene epoch. Formerly, only one eon existed besides the Phanerozoic: the Precambrian. More recently, the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic "eras" of Precambrian time have been considered eons. The geologic timescale in terms of eons, eras, and periods looks like this:

The term eon has sometimes been used informally as a synonym for millennium.

References

• International Stratigraphic Chart from the International Commission on Stratigraphy
• USA National Park Service
• Washington State University
• Web Geological Time Machine

Geologic time scale | Units of time

Eó | Æon | Äon (Geologie) | Eoon (geoloogia) | Éon | Éon xeolóxico | Eone | Eon (geologie) | Eon (geologi) | Eon | Éon geológico | Eon | Eon | Eon (geologija) | Eoni | Eon