What time period lasted for more than half of the hypothesized history of the earth?
a. carboniferous
c. paleozoic
b. cretaceous
d. precambrian

The Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old. Of the four periods listed, the Carboniferous lasted approximately 60 million years, the Paleozoic lasted 291 million years, and the Cretaceous lasted 79 million years. Finally, the Precambrian period lasted approximately 4 billion years and thus lasted more than half (more than 80%) of the Earth's entire history.