Nectarian

The Nectarian Period of the lunar geologic timescale

Lunar geologic timescale

The lunar geological timescale divides the history of Earth's Moon into five generally recognized periods: the Copernican, Eratosthenian, Imbrian , Nectarian, and Pre-Nectarian...

 runs from 3920 million years ago to 3850 million years ago. It is the period during which the Nectaris Basin and other major basins were formed by large impact event

Impact event

An impact event is the collision of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial object with the Earth or another planet. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant...

s. Ejecta from Nectaris forms the upper part of the densely cratered terrain found in lunar highlands.

Relationship to Earth's geologic time scale

Since little or no geological

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 evidence on Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 exists from the time spanned by the Nectarian period of the Moon, the Nectarian has been used by at least one notable scientific work as an unofficial subdivision of the terrestrial Hadean

Hadean

The Hadean is the geologic eon before the Archean. It started with the formation of the Earth about 4.7 Ga and ended roughly 3.8 Ga, though the latter date varies according to different sources. The name "Hadean" derives from Hades, Greek for "Underworld", referring to the "hellish"...

 eon.

Trivia

'The Nectarians' is also the name of a secret organisation, dedicated to preserving balance in the world, in the story 'The Rise of Raikasen'.