Deep Time Earth allows you to view what the Earth looked like over the last 540 million years.
Due to plate tectonics, the Earth's continents are in constant motion. While this is only a few millimetres a year, over millions of years it all adds up. The result is that the layout of land masses in the past were very different to today.
Deep Time Earth uses PALEOMAP Paleodigital Elevation Models (PaleoDEMS) which estimate land height at 5 million year intervals. This has been colour-coded to generate images which can be viewed on a globe.
The data used is available from EarthByte in a study by Christopher Scotese and Dr Nicky Wright.
Move the slider in the app to select different times. You can select at 5 million year increments up to 540 million years ago.
Use the forward and back play buttons to automatically move through time.
You can move the globe to see the changes from different points. The up arrow will move the north pole back to the top.
On the iPhone and iPad, you can move your device to move the globe. Use the little globe button to toggle this behaviour on and off.
This application works on iPhone, iPad, Mac (using the iPad version), and Apple Vision Pro.
Privacy Policy
The application Deep Time Earth does not collect, store, or share any data.