In geology, and paleontology, Giga-annum, abbreiviated Gya (for giga years ago) is often used as an unit of time to denote length of time before the present. Specifically, one Gya is equal to 109 years ago. A unit identical to Gya is bya (for "billion years ago"), which may be in more widespread use. However, some scientists prefer Gya because it uses the SI prefix giga- and thus avoids confusion over whether the short-scale (American) billion (109) or long-scale (former British) billion (1012)