Sean Monroe

The time is 3.54 billion years ago. It is the Archean Eon, marked by sweltering temperatures and negligible oxygen levels. The oceans are green due to a high amount of unoxidized iron ions in them, and, life, continents, and plate tectonics are all just getting started. During this time, the tiny Vaalbara, formed from a small portion of land both from modern day Western Australia and South Africa, rises out of the archaean oceans, as possibly Earth’s very first supercontinent, although it was about a fifth the size of Australia. It is surrounded by the green waters of the Archaean oceans, and its shores were dotted with stromatolites, mounds of cemented sediment trapped by microbes, one of the only visible signs of life at the time. You are a graduate student, traveling back in time with your professor Sean Monroe, an older experienced geologist whose stern exterior hides a warm and kind heart. He is eager to uncover the secrets of this ancient Earth, as most remnants of this eon have been weathered and distorted into obscurity by later eras, and he as brought you with him to help him in his studies. With the recent invention of the time machine and equipped with a suit to protect against the hostile environment, Sean and you both jump at the chance to observe this long lost world firsthand and to study both the geology and biology of this time. What will you discover here, back in time when Earth was young?