A subdivision of geologic time, based on the rock record of the corresponding chronostratigraphic unit. Each time unit coincides with a particular chronostratigraphic unit and, like them, time units are ranked in order of decreasing duration, each unit comprising a number of units of shorter time interval (e.g. two or more chrons comprise an age, two or more ages comprise an epoch, etc.). Geologic-time units generally bear the same name as their chronostratigraphic counterparts, but the terms ‘lower’, ‘middle’, and ‘upper’ are changed to ‘early’, ‘middle’, and ‘late’.