ABSTRACT
Earth’s deepest history is challenging to study and even harder to imagine because its billion-year timescales are exceptionally difficult to grasp. As humans, our experiences are measured in years and decades, and we are thus inclined to discount the magnitude of slow things. The Earth evolves and transforms in profound ways that are imperceptibly slow and thus require us to to employ our imaginations to perceive might have been. The events of the ancient Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic Earth paved the way for complex life and provide a touchstone for understanding the future of Earth and other planets.
