Your question concerns the geologic column, the stratigraphic reconstruction of the geologic history of the earth. In stratigraphy, the fundamental unit is the Formation, defined as a laterally mappable unit with a minimal extent and thickness and with distinct upper and lower bounds. Formations can be subdivided into Members and Beds, and may themselves belong to a Group of formations. The formation itself is without time implications. It is a physically defined entity, apart from interpretations with respect to its genesis.
When geologists adopted the "Law of Faunal Succession", and applied this to rock units, they superimposed an interpretive time on these units and generated what are called "Time-Stratigraphic Units". These units may or may not coincide with rock units, such as Formations, since they are dependent on the presence of unique clusters of fossils being contained in the units in question. The classification scheme used terminology as follows:
There are subdivisions of the Time Unit EPOCH (called Age), and of the time-stratigraphic Series (called Stage), as well.
Now to the question you pose. An EPOCH can be a very different amount of time depending upon your assumptions. The Pleistocene is assumed to be the shortest EPOCH by those who accept the uniformitarian principles. Yet for those who believe in a worldwide flood and catastrophic geological processes, the Pleistocene may well be the longest geological EPOCH. Even in uniformitarian thought there is no specific time period for an EPOCH. It is best described as a major subdivision of a Period. I hope this helps.
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