-
500 BCE
Cambrian Period 570-500 MYA
-
500 BCE
Ordovician Period 500 MYA
echinoderms
invertebrates
earliest fish (abundant) -
435 BCE
Silurian Period 435 MYA
Earliest terrestrial plants and animals -
395 BCE
Devonian Period 395 MYA
armored fish extinct
earliest amphibians and ammonites -
345 BCE
Carboniferous 345 Period MYA
abundant sharks and amphibians
Large swamp lands
coal-forming forests
earliesgt reptiles
scale trees & seed ferns -
280 BCE
Permian Period 280 MYA
Volcanic eruptions ( 1st mass extinction )
95% al species extinct ( including trilobites) -
225 BCE
Triassic Period 225 MYA
earliest dinosaurs
abundant cycads and conifers -
195 BCE
Jurassic Period 195 MYA
earliest birds & mammals
abundant dinosaurs & ammonites -
136 BCE
Cretaceous Period 136 MYA
earliest flowering plants
climax of dinosaurs
decline o/ brachiopods
abundance o/ bony fish
meteor extinction (65%) -
65 BCE
Tertiary Period 65 MYA
earliest placental mammals & large running -
1 BCE
Quaternary Period 1.8 MYA- Present
Large carnivores
Neanderthals
mastodons