Ucharpli/Geological history

Ucharpli's geological history has caused the planet to vary in climate and countless other factors. Ucharpli formed about 5.2 billion years ago in an accretion disk.
It was initially molten until a large celestial mass collided with it, producing the moon Der'maan. Volcanic activity produced its early atmosphere, and eventually, the planet cooled off.
It was said that the planet repeated cycles of snow and jungle, but it is unknown how many of these occurred.
==Swampy era==
For most of Ucharpli's history, life was confined to the oceans as the surface was uninhabitable due to Szon's powerful ultraviolet radiation. Therefore, life in the sea became highly complex. Underwater flora would grow to immense sizes, and some were even carnivorous.
The first major climate shift occurred when Ucharpli captured another dwarf planet in orbit called Revlis'maan. This caused the day-night cycle to significantly lengthen, causing massive wind storms and oceans as well as higher tides. Ucharpli would enter an era where it was covered constantly in clouds with frequent rainstorms.
Soon enough, Szon's UV radiation became far more forgiving allowing plants and animals to clamber onto the warm, wet surface. The land was dominated by giant amphibians. The UV also allowed many creatures to take advantage of exotic forms of bioluminescence. Trees on the other hand were able to grow to enormous size with their canopies blocking sunlight.
During this time, Szon had far more oxygen in its atmosphere allowing insect-analogues to grow to enormous sizes.
==Desert era==
It is largely unknown what caused this mass extinction, but roughly 90% of species during this early era were wiped out. Along with the merging of all of Ucharpli's landmass into one supercontinent, the ozone layer is believed to have weakened causing most of the world to become desolate desert.
From this point, the continents begun to move towards their current position, diversifying life once more. Because the climate was drier than it was previously, reptiles became the dominant life form. With moderately high oxygen levels, some of these reptiles could grow to enormous sizes.
==Ice age==
The concentration of greenhouse gases dwindled from the dry climate. As less heat was trapped, temperatures got cooler, and Ucharpli's ice caps got significantly larger resulting in a drop in sea level. The landscape was now dominated by deserts, prairies and tundras. Rain became significantly more rare, and thus, a new breed of animal evolved that had a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic protists.
Roughly 7 million years ago, the earliest bipedal species with a leg configuration similar to the Vaikan appeared. The ice age prevailed, thus Vaikan would become short in stature and have short limbs.
==Vaikan civilization==
By the time early Vaikan civilization appeared, the planet had recovered a significant degree. However, the Second Age of the Vaikan would begin when a meteor known as Saskana collided with Ucharpli, blocking the sun and plunging the planet into another Ice Age. Fifty percent of all Vaikan were wiped out, but they pressed on. This event is known in Jamzezism mythology when the divine beast Saskana was enraged at the Vaikan for their sinful ways and rammed himself into the earth to bury himself in the core.
Eventually, the Vaikan would build a civilization along with large scale urbanization. In its prime during the Fourth Age of the Vaikan, the planet was home to 16 billion inhabitants and largely became overcrowded.
==Nuclear holocaust==
However, 4,000 years into the Fourth Age of the Vaikan, a war between the Ramusian Socialist Republic and the Children of the Dhragolon created a nuclear holocaust that destroyed most of the planet's cities. Not only did this lead to a major economic depression, but the planet's ecosystem was largely damaged enough to warrant another series of extinctions. Vaikan civilization on Ucharpli would be forced underground.
==Recovery==
After four hundred years of desolation, Ucharpli's surface became habitable again and civilization had begun to rebuild. Today, Ucharpli consists of mostly vast landscapes of wilderness.
Category:Articles by User:Krayfish
Category:Geological History articles