1. To comprehend this huge span of geologic time
Imagine a timeline 4,560 km long

2. Imagine a timeline 4,560 km long
It would stretch 2800 miles!
It would go from Seattle to Washington D.C!
Each kilometer would be equal to 1 million year of the Earth’s history

3. Events as you drive 3850 my – oldest rock
3500 my oldest fossil (cyanobacteria)
1100 my oldest evidence of complex life (worm?)
540 my Cambrian explosion

4. Imagine a time line as a trip cross-country
1100
3500
3850
540
Map of U.S. with these km marked
3850 first evidence if life (Detroit)
3500 first fossil (Chicago)
1100 First complex life (somewhere in Montana)
540 first aboundant life in rock record (WA-ID border)
250 million largest mass extinction (Ellensburg)
65 millions –Dinosaurs go extinct (North Bend)

5. The trip continues…
You’ve been driving for nearly two days without stopping. You’ve finally entered Washington State.
You start to see clams and other seafood you recognize (540 m.y.)
About Ellensburg you start to see dinosaurs (250 m.y.)
They die off at Snoqualmie pass – you are 45 minutes from arriving!
It isnt until you hit the outskirts of town that you see abundant mammals, grasses and flowering plants

6. The trip continues… 65
540
The trip continues (WA map)
250

7. Getting there! 30 km ~ Turn S on I-5 from I-90 1.8 km ~ Exit I-5
.04 km (campus entrance) First Humans
0.002 km (2 m or 6 feet) ~ Julius Caesar assassinated
20 years = 2 cm Your perspective on this whole thing