Caption: A cartoon of the 4 stages of development of rocky planets and smaller rocky bodies and sometimes to the rocky-icy bodies.

The 4 stages:

1. chemical differentiation.
2. heavy bombardment (4.6--3.8 Gyr BP).
3. flooding of basins by lava and on Earth by water.
4. Continuing geological activity: e.g., impact geology, primordial-radiogenic heat geology, tidal force geology, volcanism, erosion, space weathering (NOT on Earth so much), plate tectonic (only on Earth it seems).

Credit/Permission: © David Jeffery, 2003 / Own work.
Image link: Itself.
Local file: local link: rocky_body_evolution_4_stages.html.
File: Solar System file: rocky_body_evolution_4_stages.html.