|
Phanero
zoic EON
(544 mya to present)
|
ERA
|
Periods
|
EPOCH
|
Evolutionary Milestones
|
|
Cenozoic or Tertiary Era
(65 mya to today)
|
Quaternary (5 mya to
today) 5my
|
Holocene (11,000 years to
today) |
Modern humans alter the planet |
| Pleistocene (1.8
mya to 11,000 yrs) |
Neanderthals appears and disappear;
Homo erectus and Homo sapiens
appear 1.8my |
| Pliocene (5 to
1.8 mya) |
Ape-like ancestors of modern
humans (Hominids), the australopithecines 3.2my |
| Tertiary (65 to
5 mya) 60my |
Miocene (23 to 5 mya) |
Grazing horses, antelopes appear 18my |
| Oligocene (38 to
23 mya) |
Radiation of modern
animals 15my
|
| Eocene (54 to 37
mya) 17my |
First grasses appear,
a resource for herbovores; trees thrive. Some modern mammals appear:
advanced primates; camels, cats, dogs,
horses & rodents.
belemnites extinct
|
| Paleocene (65 to
54 mya) 11my |
Flowering plants begin
radiation extending through the Eocene. Small mammals |
Mesozoic Era
(245 to 65 mya) |
Cretaceous (146 to 65
mya) 81my
|
Divided
as:
Upper;
Middle;
Lower
|
Major extinction includes
dinosaurs
and ammonites (K-T), marine reptiles
Appearances include: flowering plants
(angiosperms); lizards; placental animals (early mammals); snakes;
social insects; marsupial and primitive placental animals. Modern
insects
|
| Jurassic (208 to 146 mya)
62my
|
Spirifers extinct
, Appearances include: birds; crabs; frogs and
salamanders
Dinosaurs
radiate to dominate the land |
|
Triassic (245 to 208 mya)
37my
225 mya dinosaurs &
mammals appear
|
Major extinction event:- conodonts disappear,
ammonoids, reptiles and amphibians decimated. Appearances include: dinosaurs; crocodiles; marine reptiles;
turtles and mammals
|
|
Paleozoic Era
(544 to 245 mya)
|
Permian (286 to 245 mya) 41my
|
Major extinction of
invertebrates (P-T). Trilobites ,
Eurypterids, Blastoids, hyolithids fade away forever.
All but articulate
crinoids disappear
Seed plants
producing large trees
|
|
Carboniferous
(360 to 286 mya) 74my
|
Pennsylvanian
(325 to 286mya) |
Conifers,
belemnites & many winged insects appear.
Graptolites
vanish
|
| Mississippian
(360 to 325mya) |
Reptiles most plants, myriapods appear.
Trilobites become scarce |
|
Devonian (410 to
360 mya) 50my
360 mya
tetrapods appear
|
Mass extinction (F-F), tentaculids, homolozoa, cystoids extinct.
Appearances include: insects (hexapods);
sharks; amphibians (tetrapods 320 mya), ammonites, placoderms, lung
fishes and earliest seed plants |
|
Silurian (440 to
410 mya) 30my
first land
animals and plants
|
Arachnids, Tentaculids, Blastoids, Jawed fish,
cartilaginous fish, and vascular plants appear. |
|
Ordovician (500 to 440
mya) 60my
land
colonies of algae & inescts
|
Mass extinction;
echinoids, eurypterids,
asterozoa, scaphopods, cystoids, bryozoans appear.
Trilobites begin to specialize. |
|
Cambrian (544 to
500 mya) 44my
535 mya Cambrian
"explosion" ;
oldest plants
|
Tommotian (530
to 527 mya) |
Appearance of hard parts - fossils become common. Appearances
include: vertebrates;
jawless fish; small shelly animals, graptolites, conodonts,
edrioasteroids, trilobites
radiate repeatedly and reach their peak
diversity. |
First major radiation of animals |
|
Precambrian
Time
(4,500 to 544 mya)
|
Proterozoic Era
(2500 to 544 mya) 1956my |
Vendian (650 to 544 mya)
or Ediacaran 106my
Macroscopic fossils of soft-bodied organisms. Clorophyta & Chromophyta algae, annelids,
scyphozoa, protista, oldest
metazoans - Ediacaran Fauna.
|
No Epochs
|
Extinction at end of
Vendian
|
|
Neoproterozoic
(900 to 544 mya) 356my- Late. 575 mya
oldest animals: sponges, jellies, sea pens, corals, Vendian fauna
(above)
|
Macroscopic fossils of
soft-bodied organisms. Stromatolite diminishes
|
|
Mesoproterozoic
(1600 to 900 mya) 700my- Middle
fungi appear, Sexual reproduction appears (about 1
billion years ago )
Earliest Eukaryotic cells appear
(1.6 bya) aerobic metabolism.
|
|
|
Paleoproterozoic
(2500 to 1600 mya) 900my- Peak of
stromatolite with cyanobacteria oxygenating the atmosphere; Red beds
& much free oxygen
1.8 bya oldest
multi-celled fossils
|
|
|
Archaean (3800 to 2500
mya) 1300my
simple cell forms
and stromatolites
Oldest sedimentary rocks
(3.8 bya)
Trace amounts of oxygen in atmosphere: 3.3 bya
first Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) - 3.6 bya
2.6 bya bacteria
on land
3.5 bya oldest fossils (cyanobacteria), Barberton (S Africa) &
Pilbara (Australia)
3.8 bya oldest chemical evidence of life
|
Photosynthesis. First
life appears - Heterotrophic, anerobic,
prokaryotic, Asexual
reproduction, oldest fossils - Apex Chert of
Australia (3.55 BYA) -
|
Hadean
(4500 to 3800 mya) 700my |
Earth's environment extremely hostile to life as we know it |
