P651:1, 57:0.1 In presenting excerpts from the archives for the
records of Earth respecting its antecedents and early history, we are directed
to reckon time in terms of current usage -- the present leap-year calendar of
365¼ days to the year. As a rule, no attempt will be made to give exact years,
though they are of record. We will use the nearest whole numbers as the better
method of presenting these historic facts.
P651:2, 57:0.2 When referring to an event as of one or two
millions of years ago, we intend to date such an occurrence back that number of
years from the early decades of the twenty first century of the Christian era.
We will thus depict these far-distant events as occurring in even periods of
thousands, millions, and billions of years.
P651:3, 57:1.1 Earth is of origin in your sun, and your sun is one of the multifarious offspring of the Andronover nebula, which was onetime organized as a component part of the physical power and material matter of the local universe of Nebadon.
P651:4, 57:1.2 At the time of the beginning of this recital, the Primary Master Force Organizers of Paradise had long been in full control of the space-energies which were later organized as the Andronover nebula.
P651:5, 57:1.3 Billions of years ago associate force organizers and then acting inspectors of the Orvonton series who had traveled out from Uversa reported that space conditions were favorable for the initiation of materialization phenomena in a certain sector of the, then, easterly segment of Orvonton.
P651:6, 57:1.4 900,000,000,000 years ago, the Uversa archives testify, there was recorded a permit issued by the Uversa Council of Equilibrium to the superuniverse government authorizing the dispatch of a force organizer and staff to the region previously designated by inspector number 811,307. The Orvonton authorities commissioned the original discoverer of this potential universe to execute the mandate calling for the organization of a new material creation.
P652:1, 57:1.5
The recording of this permit signifies that the force organizer and staff had
already departed from Uversa on the long journey to that easterly space sector
where they were subsequently to engage in those protracted activities which
would terminate in the emergence of a new physical creation in Orvonton.
P652:2, 57:1.6 Only the presence of the force organizer and the
liaison staff was required to inaugurate the energy whirl that eventually grew
into this vast cyclone of space. Subsequent to the initiation of such nebular
revolutions, the living force organizers simply withdraw at right angles to the
plane of the revolutionary disk, and from that time forward, the inherent
qualities of energy insure the progressive and orderly evolution of such a new
physical system.
P652:3, 57:1.7 At about this time the narrative shifts to the
functioning of the personalities of the superuniverse. In reality the story has
its proper beginning at this point -- at just about the time the Paradise force
organizers are preparing to withdraw, having made the space-energy conditions
ready for the action of the power directors and physical controllers of the
superuniverse of Orvonton.
P652:4, 57:2.1 All evolutionary material creations are born of circular and gaseous nebulae, and all such primary nebulae are circular throughout the early part of their gaseous existence. As they grow older, they usually become spiral, and when their function of sun formation has run its course, they often terminate as clusters of stars or as enormous suns surrounded by a varying number of planets, satellites, and smaller groups of matter in many ways resembling your own diminutive solar system.
P652:5, 57:2.2 800,000,000,000 years ago the Andronover creation was well established as one of the magnificent primary nebulae of Orvonton. As the astronomers of near-by universes looked out upon this phenomenon of space, they saw very little to attract their attention. Gravity estimates made in adjacent creations indicated that space materializations were taking place in the Andronover regions, but that was all.
P652:6, 57:2.3 700,000,000,000 years ago the Andronover system was assuming gigantic proportions, and additional physical controllers were dispatched to nine surrounding material creations to afford support and supply co-operation to the power centers of this new material system which was so rapidly evolving. At this distant date all of the material bequeathed to the subsequent creations was held within the confines of this gigantic space wheel, which continued ever to whirl and, after reaching its maximum of diameter, to whirl faster and faster as it continued to condense and contract.
P652:7, 57:2.4 600,000,000,000 years ago the height of the Andronover energy-mobilization period was attained; the nebula had acquired its maximum of mass. At this time it was a gigantic circular gas cloud in shape somewhat like a flattened spheroid. This was the early period of differential mass formation and varying revolutionary velocity. Gravity and other influences were about to begin their work of converting space gases into organized matter.
P653:1, 57:3.1 The enormous nebula now began gradually to
assume the spiral form and to become clearly visible to the astronomers of even
distant universes. This is the natural history of most nebulae; before they
begin to throw off suns and start upon the work of universe building, these
secondary space nebulae are usually observed as spiral phenomena.
P653:2, 57:3.2 The near-by star students of that faraway era,
as they observed this metamorphosis of the Andronover nebula, saw exactly what
twenty-first-century astronomers see when they turn their telescopes spaceward
and view the present-age spiral nebulae of adjacent outer space.
P653:6, 57:3.6 500,000,000,000 years ago the first
Andronover sun was born. This blazing streak broke away from the mother gravity
grasp and tore out into space on an independent adventure in the cosmos of
creation. Its path of escape determined its orbit. Such young suns quickly
become spherical and start out on their long and eventful careers as the stars
of space. Excepting terminal nebular nucleuses, the vast majority of Orvonton
suns have had an analogous birth. These escaping suns pass through varied
periods of evolution and subsequent universe service.
P653:7, 57:3.7 400,000,000,000 years ago began the
recaptive period of the Andronover nebula. Many of the near-by and smaller suns
were recaptured as a result of the gradual enlargement and further condensation
of the mother nucleus. Very soon there was inaugurated the terminal phase of
nebular condensation, the period that always precedes the final segregation of
these immense space aggregations of energy and matter.
P654:1, 57:3.8 Almost immediately the architectural worlds of
Salvington and the constellation headquarters groups of planets were begun. It
required almost a million years to complete these clusters of specially created
worlds. The local system headquarters planets were constructed over a period
extending from that time to about five billion years ago.
P654:2, 57:3.9 300,000,000,000 years ago the Andronover solar circuits were well established, and the nebular system was passing through a transient period of relative physical stability. About this time the Uversa government of Orvonton extended physical recognition to the local universe of Nebadon.
P654:3, 57:3.10 200,000,000,000 years ago witnessed the
progression of contraction and condensation with enormous heat generation in the
Andronover central cluster, or nuclear mass. Relative space appeared even in the
regions near the central mother-sun wheel. The outer regions were becoming more
stabilized and better organized; some planets revolving around the newborn suns
had cooled sufficiently to be suitable for life implantation. The oldest
inhabited planets of Nebadon date from these times.
P654:4, 57:3.11 Now the completed universe mechanism of Nebadon
first begins to function, and is registered on Uversa as a universe of
inhabitation and progressive mortal ascension.
P654:5, 57:3.12 100,000,000,000 years ago the nebular apex of condensation tension was reached; the point of maximum heat tension was attained. This critical stage of gravity-heat contention sometimes lasts for ages, but sooner or later, heat wins the struggle with gravity, and the spectacular period of sun dispersion begins. And this marks the end of the secondary career of a space nebula.
P654:6, 57:4.1 The primary stage of a nebula is circular; the secondary, spiral; the tertiary stage is that of the first sun dispersion, while the quartan embraces the second and last cycle of sun dispersion, with the mother nucleus ending either as a globular cluster or as a solitary sun functioning as the center of a terminal solar system.
P654:7, 57:4.2 75,000,000,000 years ago this nebula had attained the height of its sun-family stage. This was the apex of the first period of sun losses. The majority of these suns have since possessed themselves of extensive systems of planets, satellites, dark islands, comets, meteors, and cosmic dust clouds.
P654:8, 57:4.3 50,000,000,000 years ago this first period of sun dispersion was completed; the nebula was fast finishing its tertiary cycle of existence, during which it gave origin to 876,926 sun systems.
P654:9, 57:4.4 25,000,000,000 years ago witnessed the completion of the tertiary cycle of nebular life and brought about the organization and relative stabilization of the far-flung starry systems derived from this parent nebula. But the process of physical contraction and increased heat production continued in the central mass of the nebular remnant.
P655:1, 57:4.5 10,000,000,000 years ago the quartan cycle of Andronover began. The maximum of nuclear-mass temperature had been attained; the critical point of condensation was approaching. The original mother nucleus was convulsing under the combined pressure of its own internal-heat condensation tension and the increasing gravity-tidal pull of the surrounding swarm of liberated sun systems. The nuclear eruptions that were to inaugurate the second nebular sun cycle were imminent. The quartan cycle of nebular existence was about to begin.
P655:2, 57:4.6 8,000,000,000 years ago the terrific terminal eruption began. Only the outer systems are safe at the time of such a cosmic upheaval. And this was the beginning of the end of the nebula. This final sun disgorgement extended over a period of almost two billion years.
P655:3, 57:4.7 7,000,000,000 years ago witnessed the height of the Andronover terminal breakup. This was the period of the birth of the larger terminal suns and the apex of the local physical disturbances.
P655:4, 57:4.8 6,000,000,000 years ago marks the end of
the terminal breakup and the birth of your sun, the fifty-sixth from the last of
the Andronover second solar family. This final eruption of the nebular nucleus
gave birth to 136,702 suns, most of them solitary orbs. The total number of suns
and sun systems having origin in the Andronover nebula was 1,013,628. The number
of the solar system sun is 1,013,572.
P655:5, 57:4.9 And now the great Andronover nebula is no more,
but it lives on in the many suns and their planetary families which originated
in this mother cloud of space. The final nuclear remnant of this magnificent
nebula still burns with a reddish glow and continues to give forth moderate
light and heat to its remnant planetary family of one hundred and sixty-five
worlds, which now revolve about this venerable mother of two mighty generations
of the monarchs of light.
P655:6, 57:5.1 5,000,000,000 years ago your sun was a
comparatively isolated blazing orb, having gathered to itself most of the
near-by circulating matter of space, remnants of the recent upheaval which
attended its own birth.
P655:7, 57:5.2 Today, your sun has achieved relative stability,
but its eleven and one-half year sunspot cycles betray that it was a variable
star in its youth. In the early days of your sun the continued contraction and
consequent gradual increase of temperature initiated tremendous convulsions on
its surface. These titanic heaves required three and one-half days to complete a
cycle of varying brightness. This variable state, this periodic pulsation,
rendered your sun highly responsive to certain outside influences that were to
be shortly encountered.
P655:8, 57:5.3 Thus was the stage of local space set for the
unique origin of Monmatia, that being the name of your sun's planetary
family, the solar system to which your world belongs. Less than one per cent of
the planetary systems of Orvonton have had a similar origin.
P655:9, 57:5.4 4,500,000,000 years ago the enormous
Angona system began its approach to the neighborhood of this solitary sun. The
center of this great system was a dark giant of space, solid, highly charged,
and possessing tremendous gravity pull.
P656:1, 57:5.5 As Angona more closely approached the sun, at
moments of maximum expansion during solar pulsations, streams of gaseous
material were shot out into space as gigantic solar tongues. At first these
flaming gas tongues would invariably fall back into the sun, but as Angona drew
nearer and nearer, the gravity pull of the gigantic visitor became so great that
these tongues of gas would break off at certain points, the roots falling back
into the sun while the outer sections would become detached to form independent
bodies of matter, solar meteorites, which immediately started to revolve about
the sun in elliptical orbits of their own.
P656:2, 57:5.6 As the Angona system drew nearer, the solar
extrusions grew larger and larger; more and more matter was drawn from the sun
to become independent circulating bodies in surrounding space. This situation
developed for about five hundred thousand years until Angona made its closest
approach to the sun; whereupon the sun, in conjunction with one of its periodic
internal convulsions, experienced a partial disruption; from opposite sides and
simultaneously, enormous volumes of matter were disgorged. From the Angona side
there was drawn out a vast column of solar gases, rather pointed at both ends
and markedly bulging at the center, which became permanently detached from the
immediate gravity control of the sun.
P656:3, 57:5.7 This great column of solar gases which was thus
separated from the sun subsequently evolved into the twelve planets of the solar
system. The repercussional ejection of gas from the opposite side of the sun in
tidal sympathy with the extrusion of this gigantic solar system ancestor has
since condensed into the meteors and space dust of the solar system, although
much, very much, of this matter was subsequently recaptured by solar gravity as
the Angona system receded into remote space.
P656:4, 57:5.8 Although Angona succeeded in drawing away the
ancestral material of the solar system planets and the enormous volume of matter
now circulating about the sun as asteroids and meteors, it did not secure for
itself any of this solar matter. The visiting system did not come quite close
enough to actually steal any of the sun's substance, but it did swing
sufficiently close to draw off into the intervening space all of the material
comprising the present-day solar system.
P656:5, 57:5.9 The five inner and five outer planets soon
formed in miniature from the cooling and condensing nucleuses in the less
massive and tapering ends of the gigantic gravity bulge which Angona had
succeeded in detaching from the sun, while Saturn and Jupiter were formed from
the more massive and bulging central portions. The powerful gravity pull of
Jupiter and Saturn early captured most of the material stolen from Angona as the
retrograde motion of certain of their satellites bears witness.
P656:6, 57:5.10 Jupiter and Saturn, being derived from the very
center of the enormous column of superheated solar gases, contained so much
highly heated sun material that they shone with a brilliant light and emitted
enormous volumes of heat; they were in reality secondary suns for a short period
after their formation as separate space bodies. These two largest of the solar
system planets have remained largely gaseous to this day, not even yet having
cooled off to the point of complete condensation or solidification.
P656:7, 57:5.11 The gas-contraction nucleuses of the other ten
planets soon reached the stage of solidification and so began to draw to
themselves increasing quantities of the meteoric matter circulating in near-by
space. The worlds of the solar system thus had a double origin: nucleuses of gas
condensation later on augmented by the capture of enormous quantities of
meteors. Indeed they still continue to capture meteors, but in greatly lessened
numbers.
P657:1, 57:5.12 The planets do not swing around the sun in the
equatorial plane of their solar mother, which they would do if they had been
thrown off by solar revolution. Rather, they travel in the plane of the Angona
solar extrusion, which existed at a considerable angle to the plane of the sun's
equator.
P657:2, 57:5.13 While Angona was unable to capture any of the
solar mass, your sun did add to its metamorphosing planetary family some of the
circulating space material of the visiting system. Due to the intense gravity
field of Angona, its tributary planetary family pursued orbits of considerable
distance from the dark giant; and shortly after the extrusion of the solar
system ancestral mass and while Angona was yet in the vicinity of the sun, three
of the major planets of the Angona system swung so near to the massive solar
system ancestor that its gravitational pull, augmented by that of the sun, was
sufficient to overbalance the gravity grasp of Angona and to permanently detach
these three tributaries of the celestial wanderer.
P657:3, 57:5.14 All of the solar system material derived from
the sun was originally endowed with a homogeneous direction of orbital swing,
and had it not been for the intrusion of these three foreign space bodies, all
solar system material would still maintain the same direction of orbital
movement. As it was, the impact of the three Angona tributaries injected new and
foreign directional forces into the emerging solar system with the resultant
appearance of retrograde motion. Retrograde motion in any astronomic
system is always accidental and always appears as a result of the collisional
impact of foreign space bodies. Such collisions may not always produce
retrograde motion, but no retrograde ever appears except in a system containing
masses that have diverse origins.
P657:4, 57:6.1 Subsequent to the birth of the solar system a period of diminishing solar disgorgement ensued. Decreasingly, for another five hundred thousand years, the sun continued to pour forth diminishing volumes of matter into surrounding space. But during these early times of erratic orbits, when the surrounding bodies made their nearest approach to the sun, the solar parent was able to recapture a large portion of this meteoric material.
P657:5, 57:6.2 The planets nearest the sun were the first to
have their revolutions slowed down by tidal friction. Such gravitational
influences also contribute to the stabilization of planetary orbits while acting
as a brake on the rate of planetary-axial revolution, causing a planet to
revolve ever slower until axial revolution ceases, leaving one hemisphere of the
planet always turned toward the sun or larger body, as is illustrated by the
planet Mercury and by the moon, which always turns the same face toward Urantia.
P657:6, 57:6.3 When the tidal frictions of the moon and the
earth become equalized, the earth will always turn the same hemisphere toward
the moon, and the day and month will be analogous -- in length about forty-seven
days. When such stability of orbits is attained, tidal frictions will go into
reverse action, no longer driving the moon farther away from the earth but
gradually drawing the satellite toward the planet. And then, in that far-distant
future when the moon approaches to within about eleven thousand miles of the
earth, the gravity action of the latter will cause the moon to disrupt, and this
tidal-gravity explosion will shatter the moon into small particles, which may
assemble about the world as rings of matter resembling those of Saturn or may be
gradually drawn into the earth as meteors.
P658:1, 57:6.4 If space bodies are similar in size and density,
collisions may occur. But if two space bodies of similar density are relatively
unequal in size, then, if the smaller progressively approaches the larger, the
disruption of the smaller body will occur when the radius of its orbit becomes
less than two and one-half times the radius of the larger body. Collisions among
the giants of space are rare indeed, but these gravity-tidal explosions of
lesser bodies are quite common.
P658:2, 57:6.5 Shooting stars occur in swarms because they are
the fragments of larger bodies of matter which have been disrupted by tidal
gravity exerted by near-by and still larger space bodies. Saturn's rings are the
fragments of a disrupted satellite. One of the moons of Jupiter is now
approaching dangerously near the critical zone of tidal disruption and, within a
few million years, will either be claimed by the planet or will undergo
gravity-tidal disruption. The fifth planet of the solar system of long, long ago
traversed an irregular orbit, periodically making closer and closer approach to
Jupiter until it entered the critical zone of gravity-tidal disruption, was
swiftly fragmentized, and became the present-day cluster of asteroids.
P658:3, 57:6.6 4,000,000,000 years ago witnessed the organization of the Jupiter and Saturn systems much as observed today except for their moons, which continued to increase in size for several billions of years. In fact, all of the planets and satellites of the solar system are still growing as the result of continued meteoric captures.
P658:4, 57:6.7 3,500,000,000 years ago the condensation nucleuses of the other ten planets were well formed, and the cores of most of the moons were intact, though some of the smaller satellites later united to make the present-day larger moons. This age may be regarded as the era of planetary assembly.
P658:5, 57:6.8 3,000,000,000 years ago the solar system was functioning much as it does today. Its members continued to grow in size as space meteors continued to pour in upon the planets and their satellites at a prodigious rate.
P658:6, 57:6.9 About this time your solar system was placed on the physical registry of Nebadon and given its name, Monmatia.
P658:7, 57:6.10 2,500,000,000 years ago the planets had
grown immensely in size. Earth was a well-developed sphere about one-tenth its
present mass and was still growing rapidly by meteoric accretion.
P658:8, 57:6.11 All of this tremendous activity is a normal
part of the making of an evolutionary world on the order of Earth and
constitutes the astronomic preliminaries to the setting of the stage for the
beginning of the physical evolution of such worlds of space in preparation for
the life adventures of time.
P658:9, 57:7.1 Throughout these early times the space regions of the solar system were swarming with small disruptive and condensation bodies, and in the absence of a protective combustion atmosphere such space bodies crashed directly on the surface of Earth. These incessant impacts kept the surface of the planet more or less heated, and this, together with the increased action of gravity as the sphere grew larger, began to set in operation those influences which gradually caused the heavier elements, such as iron, to settle more and more toward the center of the planet.
P659:1, 57:7.2 2,000,000,000 years ago the earth began
decidedly to gain on the moon. Always had the planet been larger than its
satellite, but there was not so much difference in size until about this time,
when the earth captured enormous space bodies. Earth was then about one fifth
its present size and had become large enough to hold the primitive atmosphere
which had begun to appear as a result of the internal elemental contest between
the heated interior and the cooling crust.
P659:2, 57:7.3 Definite volcanic action dates from these times.
The internal heat of the earth continued to be augmented by the deeper and
deeper burial of the radioactive or heavier elements brought in from space by
the meteors. The study of these radioactive elements will reveal that Earth is
more than one billion years old on its surface. The radium clock is your most
reliable timepiece for making scientific estimates of the age of the planet, but
all such estimates are too short because the radioactive materials open to your
scrutiny are all derived from the earth's surface and hence represent Earth's
comparatively recent acquirements of these elements.
P659:3, 57:7.4 1,500,000,000 years ago the earth was two
thirds its present size, while the moon was nearing its present mass. Earth's
rapid gain over the moon in size enabled it to begin the slow robbery of the
little atmosphere that its satellite originally had.
P659:4, 57:7.5 Volcanic action is now at its height. The whole
earth is a veritable fiery inferno, the surface resembling its earlier molten
state before the heavier metals gravitated toward the center. This is the
volcanic age. Nevertheless, a crust, consisting chiefly of the comparatively
lighter granite, is gradually forming. The stage is being set for a planet that
can someday support life.
P659:5, 57:7.6 The primitive planetary atmosphere is slowly evolving, now containing some water vapor, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen chloride, but there is little or no free nitrogen or free oxygen. The atmosphere of a world in the volcanic age presents a queer spectacle. In addition to the gases enumerated it is heavily charged with numerous volcanic gases and, as the air belt matures, with the combustion products of the heavy meteoric showers which are constantly hurtling in upon the planetary surface. Such meteoric combustion keeps the atmospheric oxygen very nearly exhausted, and the rate of meteoric bombardment is still tremendous.
P659:6, 57:7.7 Presently, the atmosphere became more settled
and cooled sufficiently to start precipitation of rain on the hot rocky surface
of the planet. For thousands of years Earth
was enveloped in one vast and continuous blanket of steam. And during
these ages the sun never shone upon the earth's surface.
P659:7, 57:7.8 Much of the carbon of the atmosphere was
abstracted to form the carbonates of the various metals which abounded in the
superficial layers of the planet. Later on, much greater quantities of these
carbon gases were consumed by the early and prolific plant life.
P660:1, 57:7.9 Even in the later periods the continuing lava
flows and the incoming meteors kept the oxygen of the air almost completely used
up. Even the early deposits of the soon appearing primitive ocean contain no
colored stones or shales. And for a long time after this ocean appeared, there
was virtually no free oxygen in the atmosphere; and it did not appear in
significant quantities until the seaweeds and other forms of vegetable life
later generated it.
P660:2, 57:7.10 The primitive planetary atmosphere of the
volcanic age affords little protection against the collisional impacts of the
meteoric swarms. Millions upon millions of meteors are able to penetrate such an
air belt to smash against the planetary crust as solid bodies. But as time
passes, fewer and fewer prove large enough to resist the ever-stronger friction
shield of the oxygen-enriching atmosphere of the later eras.
P660:3, 57:8.1
1,000,000,000 years ago is the date of the actual beginning of Earth
history. The planet had attained approximately its present size. And about this
time it was placed upon the physical registries of Nebadon and given its name, Earth.
P660:4, 57:8.2
The atmosphere, together with incessant moisture precipitation, facilitated the
cooling of the earth's crust. Volcanic action early equalized internal-heat
pressure and crustal contraction; and as volcanoes rapidly decreased,
earthquakes made their appearance as this epoch of crustal cooling and
adjustment progressed.
P660:5, 57:8.3
The real geologic history of Earth begins with the cooling of the earth's crust
sufficiently to cause the formation of the first ocean. Water-vapor condensation
on the cooling surface of the earth, once begun, continued until it was
virtually complete. By the end of this period the ocean was worldwide, covering
the entire planet to an average depth of over one mile. The tides were then in
play much as they are now observed, but this primitive ocean was not salty; it
was practically a fresh-water covering for the world. In those days, most of the
chlorine was combined with various metals, but there was enough, in union with
hydrogen, to render this water faintly acid.
P660:6, 57:8.4
At the opening of this faraway era, Earth should be envisaged as a water-bound
planet. Later on, deeper and hence denser lava flows came out upon the bottom of
the present Pacific Ocean, and this part of the water-covered surface became
considerably depressed. The first continental land mass emerged from the world
ocean in compensatory adjustment of the equilibrium of the gradually thickening
earth's crust.
P660:7, 57:8.5 950,000,000 years ago Earth presents the
picture of one great continent of land and one large body of water, the Pacific
Ocean. Volcanoes are still widespread and earthquakes are both frequent and
severe. Meteors continue to bombard the earth, but they are diminishing in both
frequency and size. The atmosphere is clearing up, but the amount of carbon
dioxide continues large. The earth's crust is gradually stabilizing.
P661:1, 57:8.7 900,000,000 years ago, after making a
painstaking survey of the planet, the Life Carriers were notified that they
would be granted permission to institute new patterns of mechanical, chemical,
and electrical mobilization at the time of their subsequent arrival with life
transplantation and implantation mandates.
P661:3, 57:8.9 In due course arrangements for the planetary
occupation were completed by the mixed commission and approved by the planetary
commission. These plans, proposed by the advisory counselors of the Life
Carriers, were finally accepted on Salvington. Soon thereafter the Nebadon
broadcasts carried the announcement that Earth would become the stage whereon
the Life Carriers would execute their experiment designed to amplify and improve
the Nebadon life patterns.
P661:4, 57:8.10 Shortly after Earth was first recognized on the
universe broadcasts to all Nebadon, it was accorded full universe status. Soon
thereafter it was registered in the records of the minor and the major sector
headquarters planets of the superuniverse; and before this age was over, Earth
had found entry on the planetary-life registry of Uversa.
P661:5, 57:8.11 This entire age was characterized by frequent
and violent storms. The early crust of the earth was in a state of continual
flux. Surface cooling alternated with immense lava flows. Nowhere can there be
found on the surface of the world anything of this original planetary crust. It
has all been mixed up too many times with extruding lavas of deep origins and
admixed with subsequent deposits of the early worldwide ocean.
P661:6, 57:8.12 Nowhere on the surface of the world will there
be found more of the modified remnants of these ancient pre-ocean rocks than in
northeastern Canada around Hudson Bay. This extensive granite elevation is
composed of stone belonging to the pre-oceanic ages. These rock layers have been
heated, bent, twisted, upcrumpled, and again and again have they passed through
these distorting metamorphic experiences.
P661:7, 57:8.13 Throughout the oceanic ages, enormous layers of
fossil-free stratified stone were deposited on this ancient ocean bottom.
(Limestone can form as a result of chemical precipitation; not all of the older
limestone was produced by marine-life deposition.) In none of these ancient rock
formations will there be found evidences of life; they contain no fossils
unless, by some chance, later deposits of the water ages have become mixed with
these older pre-life layers.
P662:1, 57:8.14 The earth's early crust was highly unstable,
but mountains were not in process of formation. The planet contracted under
gravity pressure as it formed. Mountains are not the result of the collapse of
the cooling crust of a contracting sphere; they appear later on as a result of
the action of rain, gravity, and erosion.
P662:2, 57:8.15 The continental land mass of this era increased
until it covered almost ten per cent of the earth's surface. Severe earthquakes
did not begin until the continental mass of land emerged well above the water.
When they once began, they increased in frequency and severity for ages. For
millions upon millions of years earthquakes have diminished, but Earth still has
an average of fifteen daily.
P662:3, 57:8.16 850,000,000 years ago the first real
epoch of the stabilization of the earth's crust began. Most of the heavier
metals had settled down toward the center of the globe; the cooling crust had
ceased to cave in on such an extensive scale as in former ages. There was
established a better balance between the land extrusion and the heavier ocean
bed. The flow of the sub-crustal lava bed became well nigh worldwide, and this
compensated and stabilized the fluctuations due to cooling, contracting, and
superficial shifting.
P662:4, 57:8.17 Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes continued to
diminish in frequency and severity. The atmosphere was clearing of volcanic
gases and water vapor, but the percentage of carbon dioxide was still high.
P662:5, 57:8.18 Electric disturbances in the air and in the
earth were also decreasing. The lava flows had brought to the surface a mixture
of elements that diversified the crust and better insulated the planet from
certain space-energies. And all of this did much to facilitate the control of
terrestrial energy and to regulate its flow, as is disclosed by the functioning
of the magnetic poles.
P662:6, 57:8.19 800,000,000 years ago witnessed the
inauguration of the first great land epoch, the age of increased continental
emergence.
P662:9, 57:8.22 With this increase in land elevation the first climatic differences of the planet appeared. Land elevation, cosmic clouds, and oceanic influences are the chief factors in climatic fluctuation. The backbone of the Asiatic land mass reached a height of almost nine miles at the time of the maximum land emergence. Had there been much moisture in the air hovering over these highly elevated regions, enormous ice blankets would have formed; the ice age would have arrived long before it did. It was several hundred millions of years before so much land again appeared above water.
P663:1, 57:8.23 750,000,000 years ago the first breaks in the continental land mass began as the great north-and-south cracking, which later admitted the ocean waters and prepared the way for the westward drift of the continents of North and South America, including Greenland. The long east-and-west cleavage separated Africa from Europe and severed the landmasses of Australia, the Pacific Islands, and Antarctica from the Asiatic continent.
P663:2, 57:8.24 700,000,000 years ago Earth was approaching the ripening of conditions suitable for the support of life. The continental land drift continued; increasingly the ocean penetrated the land as long fingerlike seas providing those shallow waters and sheltered bays that are so suitable as a habitat for marine life.
P663:3, 57:8.25 650,000,000 years ago witnessed the
further separation of the land masses and, in consequence, a further extension
of the continental seas. And these waters were rapidly attaining that degree of
saltiness that was essential to Earth life.
P663:4, 57:8.26 It was these seas and their successors that
laid down the life records of Earth, as subsequently discovered in
well-preserved stone pages, volume upon volume, as era succeeded era and age
grew upon age. These inland seas of olden times were truly the cradles of
evolution.