|
Phanerozoic
EON
(544 mya to present)
"The
age of visible life" |
ERA |
Periods |
EPOCH |
Evolutionary
Milestones |
|
Cenozoic
Era
(65 mya to today) |
Quaternary
(1.8 mya to today) |
Holocene
(11,000 years to today) |
Modern
man radiates, "science" appears and eventually
computers and the Internet become ubiquitous; domestic plants
and animals 13,000 years ago. |
| Pleistocene
(1.8 mya to 11,000 yrs) |
Neandertals
appear and disappear; Homo erectus and Homo sapiens appear;
Homo sapien speech 75,000 years ago. |
| Tertiary
(65 to 1.8 mya) |
Pliocene
(5 to 1.8 mya) |
Ape-like
ancestors of modern humans (Hominids), the australopithecines |
| Miocene
(23 to 5 mya) |
Grazing
horses, antelopes appear |
| Oligocene
(38 to 23 mya) |
Radiation
of more modern animals: most modern bird forms have appeared;
most modern mammals have appeared. |
| Eocene
(54 to 37 mya) |
First
grasses appear, a resource for herbovores; trees thrive.
Some modern mammals appear: advanced primates; camels, cats,
dogs, horses & rodents |
| Paleocene
(65 to 54 mya) |
Flowering
plants begin radiation extending through the Eocene. Small
mammals radiate |
Mesozoic
Era
(245 to 65 mya) |
Cretaceous
(146 to 65 mya)
|
Divided
as:
Upper;
Middle;
Lower
|
Major
extinction includes dinosaurs and ammonites (K-T)
Appearances include: flowering plants (angiosperms); lizards;
placental animals (early mammals); snakes; social insects;
marsupial and primitive placental animals
Modern insect forms radiate |
| Jurassic
(208 to 146 mya)
| Appearances
include birds; crabs; frogs and salamanders
Dinosaurs radiate
to dominate the land |
| Triassic
(245 to 208 mya)
| Breakup
of Pangaea begins
Major extinction event: tabulate corals and conodonts disappear
- ammonoids, reptiles and amphibians decimated
Appearances include: dinosaurs; crocodiles; marine reptiles;
turtles; Pterosauria
and
mammals
Major groups of seed plants appear |
|
Paleozoic
Era
(544 to 245 mya) |
Permian
(286 to 245 mya)
|
Major
extinction of invertebrates (P-T). Trilobites fade away
forever. All
but articulate crinoids dissapear
Seedplants producing
large trees |
|
|
Pennsylvanian
(325 to 286 mya) |
Conifers
& many winged insects appear |
| Mississippian
(360 to 325 mya) |
Amniotic
egg and reptiles appear. Trilobites
become scarce |
| Devonian
(410 to 360 mya) |
Mass
extinction (F-F)
Land colonized by plants and animals
Appearances include: insects; sharks; amphibians (tetrapods);
lung fishes and earliest seed plants.
Extensive radiation of fishes. |
| Silurian
(440 to 410 mya) |
Jawed
fish, cartilaginous fish and vascular plants appear. Primitive
terrestrial predators: Arachnids. |
| Ordovician
(500 to 440 mya) |
Mass
extinction
First land plants; bryozoans appear. Trilobites begin to
specialize. |
| Cambrian
(544 to 500 mya) |
Tommotian
(530 to 527 mya) |
Appearance
of hard parts and vision - fossils become common. Appearances
include: vertebrates; jawless fish; small shelly animals;
conodonts; trilobites
radiate repeatedly and reach their peak diversity. |
Cambrian
Explosion, the First major radiation of animals |
|
Precambrian
Time
(4,500 to 544 mya)
"deep
time on earth" |
Proterozoic
Era
(2500 to 544 mya) |
Vendian
(650 to 544 mya) or Ediacaran |
No
Epochs |
Extinction
at end of Vendian
Appearance of Tommotian
fauna at 560-570 MA - the small shelly animals
Macroscopic, soft-bodied organisms radiating.
Oldest
metazoans (multicellular animals) - Ediacaran Fauna. |
| Neoproterozoic
(900 to 544 mya) - Late |
Macroscopic
fossils of soft-bodied organisms.
Chloroblasts arise from cyanobacteria through endosymbiosis.
Stromatolites
diminishing. |
| Mesoproterozoic
(1600 to 900 mya) - Middle |
Sexual
reproduction appears (about 1 billion years ago)
First land fungi |
| Paleoproterozoic
(2500 to 1600 mya) - Early |
More
complex
single-celled life with aerobic metabolism begin diversification
Rusting of earth, depletion of oceanic Fe in banded
iron formations
Peak of stromatolites
with cyanobacteria oxygenating the atmosphere |
|
Archaean
(3800 to 2500 mya) |
Primitive
Eukarya appear
Photosynthesis appears
Oldest fossils - Apex Chert of Australia (3.55 BYA)
Prokaryotes
dominate (Eubacteria
and Archaea); simple cell forms form extensive stromatolites
systems
First life appears - Chemotrophic,
anerobic, Asexual
Oldest sedimentary rocks (3.8 BYA)
|
Hadean
(4500 to 3800 mya) |
Earth's
environment extremely hostile to life as we know it |
