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Hadean Eon 4.6 BYA - 3.8 BYA
-Solar System formed
-Earth formed
-First rocks
-First eon in Earth's history
-Sun formed
-Elements form
-4.6 billion years ago -
Period: to
History of the Earth
-
Archean Eon 3.8 BYA - 2.5 BYA
-First life
-First bacteria
-Oldest fossils(microscopic bacteria)
-Continental plates formed
-Water forms on Earth -
Proterozoic Eon 2.5 BYA - 570 MYA
-First large oxygen supply(created by cyanobacteria)
-First fossils visible to the naked eye
-Life grows tremendously and thrives
-First animals evolve
-First stable continents
-First multi-celled organisms
-High oxygen levels kill many organisms -
Phanerozoic Eon 570 MYA - Present day
-Major development of plants and animals
-Multicellular life is common
-First mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, plants,etc.
-Leads into present times
-Humans first appear -
Paleozoic Era 570 - 225 MYA
-Multicell animal "explosion" in diversity
-Mountain building
-First life out of the sea
-First plants
-First major extinctions
-Formation of Pangea -
Cambrian Period 570 MYA - 500 MYA
-First period in the Phanerozoic Eon
-Major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record
-"Cambrian explosion" happened, when animals diversified in the Cambrian
-First predators
-First trilobites
-Low oxygen levels
-World climates are mild
-Plants had not yet evolved -
Ordovician 500 MYA - 400 MYA
-Most of Earth's land located in Gondwana, a supercontinent
-Diverse marine invertebrates
-Warm and moist weather
-Mass extinction
-Oldest complete vertebrate fossils
-Major glaciation in early Ordivician -
Silurian 400 MYA - 395 MYA
-Melting of large glacial formations
-Rising of sea levels
-Stabilization of Earth's climate
-First coral reefs
-Big step in fish evolution
-First life on land
-Evolution in vascular plants
-Major orogenic events -
Devonian 395 MYA - 345 MYA
-Some of the earliest vascular plants
-First trees
-First forests
-First land-living vertebrates
-First terrestrial arthropods
-3 major continental masses
-Rapid diversification of fish
-Raising of Appalachian Mountains
-Extensive reef building -
Carboniferous 345 MYA - 280 MYA
-Rich deposits of coal and coal beds
-First amniote egg
-Split up into Mississipian and Pennsylvanian
-Increase in tree ferns
-More tropical and humid climate than today
-First reptiles
-Many very large insects
-Creation of Ural mountains in Russia
-Larger oxygen supply than today -
Permian 280 MYA - 225 MYA
-Last period of the Paleozoic Era
-Largest mass extinction in history
-Forests of ferns were replaced by drought-resistant plants
-Massive areas of land and water
-Formation of Pangea
-Dry conditions
-First mammal-like reptiles(therapsids)
-First large reptiles -
Mesozoic 225 MYA - 65 MYA
-Age of the dinosaurs
-First mammals
-First birds
-Unusual plants
-First angiosperms
-Dinosaurs and mammals evolve
-Extinction that destroyed the dinosaurs -
Triassic 225 MYA - 190 MYA
-First dinosaurs
-First mammals
-Pangea exists
-First conifers
-Lower sea level
-Areas of forests and arid land -
Jurassic 190 MYA - 136 MYA
-First giant dinosaurs
-Many pterosaurs
-First birds
-Ocean full of life
-Vicous carnivores
-Largest dinosaurs lived in this period
-Abundant land plants
-Oceanic icthyosaurs lived in the seas
-Ferns and cycads
-Break-up of Pangea -
Cretaceous 136 MYA - 65 MYA
-First ceratopsians
-First pachycephalosaurids
-First flowering plants
-Extinction of dinosaurs 65 MYA at the end of the Cretaceous
-More break-up of Pangea
-Diverse life and many dinosaurs
-Mammals still survived after the extinction
-Large scale geographic isolation
-Asteroid caused estinction -
Cenozoic 65 MYA - Present Day
-Major evolution of mammals; Age of mammals
-Largest land mammals of all time
-First humans
-Evolution of humans
-Continents form to modern day shapes -
Tertiary 65 MYA - 3 MYA
-Continents shift into shapes and places similar to today's continents
-India collided with the Eurasian plate
-Major volcanic activity
-Mammals replace dinosaurs as the dominant animals -
Paleocene 65 MYA - 59 MYA
-World is recovering from mass extinction
-Subtropical climate
-First epoch in Cenozoic Era
-Mammals evolve and diversify
-Large amounts of methane in the seafloor sediment
-Ocean temperatures were high
-Ice caps where absent -
Eocene 59 MYA - 38 MYA
-Oldest known fossils of modern-known mammals
-Highest mean annual temperatures of the entire Cenozoic Era
-High precipitation
-Ice-free world
-Important time of plate boundary rearrangement
-Global cooling event at the end of the Eocene
-Open savannah-like vegetation
-Reduction in forests
-First horses -
Oligocene 38 MYA - 26 MYA
-First elephants
-Appearance of many grasses
-Huge diversity of mammals
-Decline in total number of marine species
-First primates
-"Grand Coupure" happened, where there was a huge diversification and evolution of mammals
-Expansion of grasslands and praires
-First huge mammals -
Miocene 26 MYA - 12 MYA
-Hoofed mammals underwent rapid evolution
-Warmer global climate than Oligocene or Pliocene
-Expansion of grasslands
-Many morphological changes in mammals
-Rise of the Andes mountains in South America
-First kelp forests underwater
-First sea otters
-Antarctica becomes isolated -
Pliocene 12 MYA - 3 MYA
-Expansion of grassland and savannah
-Rapid diversification of grazing mammals
-Period of global cooling after the Miocene before it
-Change in vegetation
-Accumulation of ice at the poles
-Shifting in tectonic plates created similar continents to today's
-Formation of the Himalayas
-Global climate got cooler and more arid
-Many mountain ranges in Europe were built up
-First human-like apes in late Pliocene
-Medditerranean Sea dried up completely -
Quaternary 3 MYA - Present Day
-Ice age
-First humans
-Continues into present day
-Continents reach present day outlines
-Sea levels rise
-Ice sheets cover much of the world
-Age of Humans
-Major human evolution
-Major extinction of large mammals -
Pleistocene 3 MYA - 10,000 YA
-Major ice age
-Great Lakes form
-Many modern mammals live
-Evolution of humans, Homo Sapiens
-Pleistocene fossils can be dated very precisely
-Extinction in Pleistocene wiped out many mammals;cause unknown
-Most recent ice age -
Holocene 10,000 YA - Present Day
-Humans start first civilizations
-First technology
-The epoch that we're currently in
-Earth warms and ice age ends
-Sea levels rose
-Animals and plants have not evolved much since Pleistocene
