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4600 BCE
Formation of Earth
4600 MYA (Million Years Ago) -
Period: 4600 BCE to 570 BCE
Precambrian Era
4600-570 MYA (Million Years Ago)
covers the vast bulk of the Earth's history, starting with the planet's creation about 4.5 billion years ago and ending with the emergence of complex, multicelled life-forms almost four billion years later. -
3800 BCE
Hadean Eon
Priscoan Period; 3800 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-Atmosphere and oceans form, -Oldest rocks form as earth cools -
2500 BCE
Archean Eon
2500 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-Photosynthesizing cyanobacteria appear,
-First unicellular life appear -
570 BCE
Proterozoic Eon
570 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-First soft-bodied animals appear
-First multicellular life appear -
Period: 570 BCE to 245 BCE
Paleozoic Era
570-245 MYA (Million Years Ago) -
505 BCE
Ordovician and Cambrian period
Age of Invertebrates; 570-505 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-Ordovician: *Silurian extinction event, *First vertebrates appear
-Cambrian: *End botomian extinction event, *First fungi appear, *Triblobites are dominants -
438 BCE
Silurian Period
438 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-First land plant appear, - First jawed fishes appear, -First insects appear -
408 BCE
Devonian period
Age of fishes; 408 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-Late devonian extinction event, -First land animals appear, -First amphibians appear -
360 BCE
Carboniferous Period
360 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-First reptiles appear, -First large cartilaginous fishes appear -
286 BCE
Permian Period
Age of amphibians; 286 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-Triassic extinction event, -Pangaea forms -
245 BCE
Triassic Period
Fist Dinosaurs Era; 245 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-Pangaea cracks, -First mammals appear, -Reptiles are dominant -
Period: 245 BCE to 65 BCE
Mesozoic Era (Age of reptiles)
245-65.5 MYA (Million Years Ago) -
208 BCE
Jurassic Period
208 MYA (Million Years Ago)
-First birds appear, -Pangaea splits into Laurasia, Gondwanna, -Dinosaurs are dominant -
144 BCE
Cretaceous Period
Extinction of dinosaurs; 144 MYA (Million Years Ago)
*K-T extinction event, *Earth looks closer to prsent-day, *Flowering plants appear -
65 BCE
Tertiary Period
65.5-1.6 MYA (Million Years Ago)
*Paleocene (65.5 MYA): First large mammals appear;
*Eocene (57.8MYA): oligocene extinction event;
*Oligocene (36.6 MYA): Mammals are dominant;
*Miocene (23.7 MYA): Grass becomes widespread;
*Pliocene (5.3 MYA): Hominicids (human ancestors) appear -
Period: 65 BCE to 2020 BCE
Cenozoic Era (Age of mammals)
65.5 MYA (Million Years Ago) - Present Day -
1 CE
Quaternary Period
1.6 MYA (Million Years Ago) - Today
*Pleistocene (1.6 MYA): -Earliest humans appear, -Ice age begins
*Holocene (0.01 MYA-Today): -Ice age ends, -Humans are dominant