Geological Timeline

By Alejandro Bauer
  • 541 BCE

    Paleozoic ERA

    Age of invertebrates
  • Period: 541 BCE to 485 BCE

    Cambrian

    It produced the most intense burst of evolution ever known.
  • Period: 485 BCE to 444 BCE

    Ordovician

    Ordovician rocks have the distinction of occurring at the highest elevation on Earth—the top of Mount Everest.
  • Period: 444 BCE to 419 BCE

    Silurian

    First land plants (Kooksonia)
  • Period: 417 BCE to 354 BCE

    Devonian

    It's known as the Age of Fisches, as it spawned a remarkable variety of fish.
  • Period: 359 BCE to 299 BCE

    Carboniferous

    The appearance of the first extensive forests on the Earth.
  • Period: 299 BCE to 252 BCE

    Permian

    It ended in the largest mass extinction the Earth has ever known.
  • 252 BCE

    Mesozoic ERA

    It was the Age of the Dinosaurs.
  • Period: 252 BCE to 201 BCE

    Triassic

    There appeared the first Dinosaurs.
  • Period: 201 BCE to 145 BCE

    Jurassic

    During this period, Earth's climate changed from hot and dry to humid and subtropical.
    There appeared the first flying and aquatic reptiles, and birds.
  • Period: 145 BCE to 66 BCE

    Cretaceous

    It was a very warm period, the Dinosaurs extinct at the end of the period.
  • 66 BCE

    Cenozoic ERA

    It follows the Mesozoic Era and extends from 66 million years ago to the present day.
  • Period: 66 BCE to 2

    Tertiary

    the Tertiary period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, at the start of the Cenozoic era, and lasted to the beginning of the most recent Ice Age at the end of the Pliocene epoch.
  • Period: 2 BCE to 20

    Quaternary

    The Quaternary Period has involved dramatic climate changes, which affected food resources and brought about the extinction of many species.