EON ERA PERIOD EPOCH FOSSIL DOMINANCE GEOLOGIC EVENT Cenozoic Quarternary (1.6 mya) Holocene (10,000 y) Human Civilization Great Lakes Form, Wisconsin “Age of Mammels” “The Age of Man” Dominates Glaciation Pleistocene (1.6 mya) First humanoids evolve, Ice Age “Ice Age” mega fauna Tertiary (65 mya) Mammals dominate, Alps & Himalayas form, “Age of Mammels” modern birds appear Columbia Plateau Mesozoic Cretaceous (145 mya) K-T extinction (75%) Meteorite impacts Earth’s “Age of Reptiles” “Age of Dinosaurs” First flowering plants surface, Rocky Mountains form Jurassic (200 mya) Reptiles dominate, first “Age of Reptiles” birds appear Life” Triassic (251 mya) Dinosaurs and mammals Pangea Breaks apart “Age of Ammonites” first appear Visible Paleozoic Permian (300 mya) Largest mass extinction, Pangea Forms of “Age of Invertebrates” “Age of Amphibians” amphibians dominate Carboniferous (355 mya) Pennsylvanian Formation of coal Southern Glaciation, shallow “Coal Age” (314 mya) swamps and limestone North American seas deposits Mississippian (355 mya) Devonian (418 mya) Fish dominate, first Appalachian Mountains Phanerozoic “Age of Fishes” amphibians and trees form, cool climate appear Silurian (441 mya) Invertebrates dominate, All land masses are generally “Age of Eurypterids” first land plants and flat insects appear Ordovician (490 mya) First fish and fungus Global shallow seas, warm “Age of Graptolites” appear climate Cambrian (544 mya) Rhodinia breaks apart, “Age of Trilobites” Burgess Shale forms Proterozoic (2500 mya) “Age of Stromatolites” Continents merge into a supercontinent, Rhodinia, Oxygen builds up in the atmosphere Archeozoic (4000 mya) “Age of Ancient Life” Earliest recorded life, biological evolution begins Hadean (4600 mya) “The Rockless Eon” Formation of the Earth, chemical evolution begins Precambrian
EON ERA PERIOD EPOCH FOSSIL DOMINANCE GEOLOGIC EVENT Phanerozoic of Visible Life” Cenozoic “Age of Mammels” Quarternary (1.6 mya) Holocene (10,000 y) “The Age of Man” Human Civilization Dominates Great Lakes Form, Wisconsin Glaciation Pleistocene (1.6 mya) “Ice Age” First humanoids evolve, mega fauna Ice Age Tertiary (65 mya) “Age of Mammels” Mammals dominate, modern birds appear Alps & Himalayas form, Columbia Plateau Mesozoic “Age of Reptiles” Cretaceous (145 mya) “Age of Dinosaurs” K-T extinction (75%) First flowering plants Meteorite impacts Earth’s surface, Rocky Mountains form Jurassic (200 mya) “Age of Reptiles” Reptiles dominate, first birds appear Triassic (251 mya) “Age of Ammonites” Dinosaurs and mammals first appear Pangea Breaks apart Paleozoic “Age of Invertebrates” Permian (300 mya) “Age of Amphibians” Largest mass extinction, amphibians dominate Pangea Forms Carboniferous (355 mya) “Coal Age” Pennsylvanian (314 mya) Formation of coal swamps and limestone deposits Southern Glaciation, shallow North American seas Mississippian (355 mya) Devonian (418 mya) “Age of Fishes” Fish dominate, first amphibians and trees appear Appalachian Mountains form, cool climate Silurian (441 mya) “Age of Eurypterids” Invertebrates dominate, first land plants and insects appear All land masses are generally flat Ordovician (490 mya) “Age of Graptolites” First fish and fungus appear Global shallow seas, warm climate Cambrian (544 mya) “Age of Trilobites” Rhodinia breaks apart, Burgess Shale forms Precambrian Proterozoic (2500 mya) “Age of Stromatolites” Continents merge into a supercontinent, Rhodinia, Oxygen builds up in the atmosphere Archeozoic (4000 mya) “Age of Ancient Life” Earliest recorded life, biological evolution begins Hadean (4600 mya) “The Rockless Eon” Formation of the Earth, chemical evolution begins
Geologic%20Time%20Chart%20Answers.docx