Geological Time
Geological periods and time scale.
Periode - Epoch | Beginning - End (106 years) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Cenozoic era | ||||
Quaternary | Holocene | 0 - 0.0115 | ||
Pleistocene | 0.0115 - 1.81 | Homo erectus - the evolution of anatomically modern humans | ||
Tertiary | Pliocene | 1.81 - 5.3 | The first recognizable hominins, the australopithecines, appeared | |
Mioscene | 5.3 - 23 | Origin of grass | ||
Oligoscene | 23 - 34 | Rise of cats, dogs, pigs | ||
Eoscene | 34 - 56 | Hoofed animals | ||
Paleoscene | 56 - 65 | Primates | ||
Mesozoic era | Cretaceous | 645 - 145 | Demise of dinosaurs | |
Jurassic | 145 - 200 | First birds | ||
Triassic | 200 - 251 | Many major groups of dinosaurs emerged | ||
Paleozoic era | Permian | 251 - 299 | Flowers, insect polination | |
Carboniferous | 299 - 359 | First conifers | ||
Devonian | 359 - 416 | First vertebrates ashore | ||
Silurian | 416 - 444 | Spore-bearing plants | ||
Ordovician | 444 - 488 | Vertebrates appear | ||
Cambrian | 488 - 542 | Most animal life aquatic | ||
Pre-Cambrian | Pre-cambrian III (Proterozoic) | 542 - 2500 | The first advanced single-celled, eukaryotes and multi-cellular life, first plant, jellyfish | |
Pre-Cambrian II (Archean) | 2500 - 3850 | Photosyntetic bacteria | ||
Pre-Cambrian I (Hadean) | 3850 - 4600 | Earth formed 4600 million years ago |