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541 BCE
Cambrian Period
Trilobites were the dominant species, many of the species where marine. The dramatic burst of evolutionary changes in life on Earth also known as the "Cambrian Explosion". -
485 BCE
Ordovician
The area North of the tropics was almost entirely of ocean. Most of the world's land was collected into the southern supercontinent Gondwana, A mass extinction of ice -
443 BCE
Silurian
Continental land masses were low and sea levels were rising. A mass extinction of dinosaurs, Brachiopods display the effects of this extinction well. -
419 BCE
Devonian
Plants began to colonize the land, Lycophytes, horsetails and ferns grew to large sizes and formed Earth's first forests. Extinction events primarily affecting the marine communities. -
358 BCE
Carboniferous
Famous for its vast swamp forests, the rainforest collapsed was a minor extinction. -
298 BCE
Permian
The merge of the super continent of Pangaea presented severe extremes of climate. All of the marine species went extinct during this period, Amphibians and reptiles were the dominant land species during this time period and gymnosperms replaced ferns, clubmosses, and horsetails as the dominant plants. -
251 BCE
Triassic
Life outside of the ocean began to diversify, the first true mammals, themselves a specialized subgroup of therapsids, evolved during this period. -
201 BCE
Jurassic
The supercontinent Pangaea was split during this time period. Conifers dominated the landscape, most of the stegosaurid and enormous sauropod dinosaurs died out. -
145 BCE
Cretaceous
A mass extinction that wiped out three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth. -
65 BCE
Tertiary
The Ice Age started to form during this time period, and the extinction of the plants and animals species carried on into this period time as well. -
2 BCE
Quaternary
Is subdivided into the Pleistocene Epoch, and is also known as the Great Ice Age.
