© 2007 Chris Halvorson
© 2007 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
The Urantia Book offers an overview of the geologic history of our planet, Urantia (see Papers 57-61). Any systematic presentation of geologic history is constructed within the framework of a geologic time scale, a division of the entire span of geologic time into a set of hierarchical divisions linked to a sequence of absolute dates. The geologic time scale implied by the Urantia Book overview is shown in the table on the following page.
Some aspects of the division and nomenclature of geologic time scales are not universally accepted among geologists. The system used in this study is a harmonization of the Urantia Book system, and of commonly used systems, and is driven by an overriding desire for consistency. The Cryptozoic eon is often referred to simply as Precambrian time, and the Archaeozoic and Azoic eras mark the Archean and Hadean, respectively. In this table, all eons and eras are referred to by terms that take the suffix -zoic, meaning “life.” (The literal meaning of the names of eons, eras, and epochs is given in parentheses.) This choice makes the nomenclature uniform and emphasizes that the universe was created to be inhabited. Urantia geologic time expresses the history of life on this planet.
In common usage, the boundaries of the Cryptozoic periods are rather arbitrary. The overview of history in The Urantia Book provides the information needed to make these boundaries much more definitive. Accordingly, the Neoproterozoic is defined as equivalent to the Vendian, which is usually considered the most recent part of the Proterozoic. There are a few other minor boundary problems. The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian periods of the Paleozoic are, in The Urantia Book, aggregated into a single period, the Carboniferous, and the Paleocene epoch is included in the Eocene. Both of these approaches are also used by some geologists. In fact, there are many different sets of boundary definitions for the Cenozoic epochs. Most frequently, the upper boundary of the Pliocene is chosen as being more recent than in The Urantia Book, and the older ages are designated as late Miocene. The dates for the beginning of the Pleistocene and Holocene reflect the clarified chronology of the ice ages presented in The Urantia Book. Usually, the beginning of the Holocene period is fixed at about 10,000 years ago, which is roughly the beginning of the Neolithic, while 35,000 years ago is close to the Upper Paleolithic.
The biggest difference between the geological time scale of the
Urantia Book and the commonly used scales is that of the sequence of absolute dates. The dates in The Urantia Book are those that are historically actually recorded, but the dates in common use are the radiometric dates. In the table, the right column gives the approximate relationship between these two sequences of dates. The first clue to understanding why there is a difference between the actual dates and the radiometric dates is found in the chronological presentation of The Urantia Book, namely the fascicule 58, section 3.
It is no accident that this section (3 of Issue 58) is placed immediately before the Proterozoic overview, where the greatest changes in the dating relationship occur. This section deals with the “space environment,” in particular the presence of subelectronic energy activities in the environment (cf. UB 42:5.5) and how these energies, although not directly affecting evolution, are nevertheless essential to it. The usefulness of the decay of natural radioactivity as a method of precise dating depends on the commonly accepted assumption that the rate of decay is constant in time. This assumption is incorrect. Radioactivity is a reflection of the existence of the subelectronic domain of physical reality (UB 42:4.10); it is affected by the environment which is a function of both space and time. An atom is not an isolated physical system; there is no vacuum. (UB 42:4.6) Radioactivity is proportional to subelectronic activity. (473: 3 and 5) Therefore, both mutation and radiometric dating are affected by the space environment.
The Master Physical Controllers, and especially the energy transformers (UB 29:4.15-18) have regulated radioactivity (UB 42:4.8) throughout geological time according to the evolutionary plan of the Life Carriers. In the past, radioactive decay rates were higher than at present. Therefore, radiometric dates, which are determined by estimating the degree of decay, overestimate the crystallization age of minerals in a rock, especially if the mineral formed in the distant past. For the oldest rocks on the Earth’s surface, radiometric dates are approximately four times higher than actual dates. The oldest rocks discovered to date are the Acasta Gneiss in northwestern Canada near Great Slave Lake, which has a radiometric age of 4.03 billion years. Zircon grains in sedimentary rocks from west-central Australia have a radiometric age of 4.4 billion years. The oldest lunar rocks are 4.5 billion years old. (The moon reached its present size just before the earth.) The oldest lead deposits are 4.54 billion years old, and the oldest meteorites are 4.58 billion years old. These early radiometric dates correspond to effective dates ranging from 1.01 to 1.15 billion years old, consistent with the statement in The Urantia Book: “the surface of Urantia is more than a billion years old” (UB 57:7.3)
The Geological Time Scale
* Date Report: There is no single standardized set of radiometric dates and any given set has its own uncertainties; therefore the date report compares an average radiometric date to the current approximate date given by The Urantia Book. A precise comparison is not possible. (There are no radiometric dates that correspond to the beginnings of the Azoic periods.)
The sun was born 6 billion years ago; and 5 billion years ago it was an isolated variable star with a period of three and a half days. Within a million years, 4.5 billion years ago, the Angona system passed close to the sun and initiated the formation of the solar system. This event marks the beginning of the Azoic Era. And about 3 billion years ago the embryonic stage of development was completed and thus the solar system was recorded and given the name Monmatia, thus marking the beginning of the Middle Azoic. Monmatia literally means “the mother place of man,” which is related to the name Urantia, “your/our heavenly place.” For the next 1.5 billion years, meteors rained down on the earth and the moon. The transition from the meteor age to the volcanic age occurred 1.5 billion years ago, when the Earth was two-thirds of its present size and the Moon was nearly complete. This is the beginning of the Late Azoic.
About 1,000,000,000 years ago, having reached about its present size, the earth “…was entered upon the physical records of Nebadon and given its name…” (UB 57:8.1) This is the literal beginning of the history of Urantia, the beginning of the Archaeozoic Era. Approximately 950,000,000 years ago, “Urantia was attached to the Satania system for its planetary administration and entered upon the life record of Norlatiadek.” (UB 57:8.6) This life record indicates the beginning of the building of the material organizations for life by the Master Physical Controllers, and more especially for the Primary Associators (UB 29:4.32-35) who were the first beings to arrive on the planet. The ancient life on the planet was prokaryotic. Prokaryotes (bacteria, cyanobacteria, archaea, mitochondria and chloroplasts) are living machines, single-celled power stations, so their association with beings of power (namely: the Master Physical Controllers) is only natural. In fact, energy transformers and primary associators accumulate and release energy in a manner analogous to the accumulation and release of energy by prokaryotes by means of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Secondary dissociators (UB 29:4.35) also function in a manner very similar to bacteria which are involved in the decomposition of organic matter.
When the first Life Carriers arrived on Urantia 900,000,000 years ago, their presence activated the lifeless material forms of the original completed prokaryotes with vitality and life. (cf. UB 36:6.3) This vitality is the first phase of life animation. Prokaryotes cannot access the second phase, the reproductive spark, and therefore multiply by simple fission, DNA replication, and cell division, rather than by sexual reproduction, the meiosis and mitosis of eukaryotes. The oldest fossils of cyanobacteria are dated to 3.5 billion years ago, corresponding to an effective date of 875,000,000 years ago. The result of the activation of prokaryotic life was that Urantia was granted “full universe status.” Soon thereafter it was recorded in the records of the headquarters planets of the minor and major sectors of the superuniverse; and, before the end of that age, Urantia had been entered on the record of planetary life of Uversa._” (UB 57:8.10)
The Middle Archeozoic begins 850,000,000 years ago, with the true stabilization of a crust, global convection in the mantle, and a core of heavy elements at the center of the Earth. This date also marks the initial functioning of the magnetic poles. The beginning of the Late Archeozoic, 750,000,000 years ago, is marked by the beginning of the north-south and east-west breakup of the single continental mass, the beginning of continental drift. As the continents separated, large shallow seas formed at the breakup points. When these seas had reached an adequate state of development, they hosted “the inauguration of the evolutionary cycle.” (UB 58:1.2)
Eukaryotic life is designed for evolution, and 550,000,000 years ago the Life Carriers implanted the first single-celled eukaryotes in the seas of Urantia. This eukaryotic plant life was organized in situ and built upon the foundations of the prokaryotic life that had already been established on the planet; the chloroplasts in particular are prokaryotes. The establishment of eukaryotic life marks the beginning of the Proterozoic Era. The oldest fossil of a macroscopic organism has been radiometrically dated to 2.1 billion years old, corresponding to an effective age of 548,000,000 years. The oldest relatively clear evidence of eukaryotic life is about 1.8 billion years old, implying an effective age of 540,000,000 years. These two dates agree very well with the date given by The Urantia Book as the beginning of the Proterozoic. Furthermore, geologists date the beginning of the transition to an oxygen atmosphere at 2.2 billion years ago, which is precisely the actual date of 550,000,000 years ago.
Les Maitres contrôleurs Physiques ont commencéà aaire décroitre la radioactivité à la suite de l’implantation de la vie eucaryotique. Aux alentours de 500 000 000 d’années, la date radiométrique correspondante est de 1 milliard d’années plutôt que 2 milliards d’années. C’est le temps de la transition de la prédominance des cyanobactéries aux algues et autre vie végétale eucaryotique. Cette transition marque la fin du Paléoprotérozoïque et le début du Mésoprotérozoïque. La radioactivité a continué à décroitre jusqu’àl’arrivée de la vie animale il y a 450 000 000 ans qui marquait le début du Néoprotérozoïque. Il y eut, et il continue d’y avoir, de nombreuses formes de vie entre celles qui peuvent être classées soit comme plantes soit comme animales et ces formes de vie ont évolué graduellement à partir des plantes. Cependant, il y a eu une transition finale et soudaine jusqu’au protozoaire (littéralement « premier animal ») à partir d’un organisme frontière semblable à un animal. (LU 65:2.2-4)
The fact that there are “sudden” changes in evolution demonstrates that there is an intentional force behind the evolutionary process. Take a flexible plastic ruler that you hold in your hands. If you gently bring your hands together, the ruler initially bends “plastically.” This is analogous to a gradual phase of evolution. Eventually, however, the ruler breaks. This is analogous to a sudden evolutionary transition. Such two-phase behavior is the typical response of a physical system to the slow and gradual application of an external force or influence.
Based on the geologic time scale date ratio, energy transformers established control of the space environment before the first sudden evolutionary transition and then set that environment to a roughly uniform level of subelectronic activity for many ages to come. During the Paleozoic and well into the Mesozoic, the date ratio shows a small, perhaps steady, increase. Then, coinciding with the first experimental mammals, (UB 60:1.11; UB 60:3.21) the date ratio begins to decline. The decline continues until the date ratio reaches unity, before the evolution of modern-type mammals during the Oligocene Epoch of the Cenozoic. Other than that, radiometric dates agree fairly well with actual dates.
As a result of the clarification in The Urantia Book of the absolute dates of the geologic time scale, the role of the Master Physical Controllers and Life Carriers, and the existence of sudden transitions in evolution, the history of life on our planet can finally be viewed within a logical framework. Everything that comes from the First Source and Center of all things and beings is inherently logical. God and his “hosts of helpers” are behind the unfolding of life. Evolution is truly “creativity in time.” (UB 105:6.5)
Chris M. Halvorson
(Translation: Jean Royer)