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Precambrian 4,600 MA
EVENT 1. There is very little plant life during this period. EVENT 11. Nearly half of the valuable mineral deposits in the world occur in the rocks of this period. -
Period: to
S.Shtaeinweis p4
Geological Timescale -
Cambrian 542 MA
EVENT 10.The presence of stromatolites indicates that shallow seas covered much of Earth during intervals in this period. EVENT 22.Trilobites appear. -
Ordovician 488 MA
EVENT 23. Shelled brachiopods appear. EVENT 30. Colonies of tiny invertebrates call graptolites florished and vertibrates appear, Fish did not have jaws or teeth and their bodies were covered with bony plates. -
Silurian 444 MA
EVENT 24. Eurypterids (sea scorpions), sea stars and coral become more common. EVENT 33. Vascular land plants and animals, such as scorpions begin to evolve on land. -
Devonian 416 MA
EVENT 31. Huge plants begin to develop, early amphibians form. EVENT 37. Age of Fishes, fish that can breath out of the water and spend time on land form. -
Carboniferous Mississippian 359 MA
EVENTS 2. Swamps and forests cover the land. EVENTS34 Ichthyosaurs are living in the ocean, new invertebrates call ammonite develop. -
Carboniferous Pennsylvanian 318 MA
EVENTS 4. Giant cockroaches appear. EVENT 15. Coal deposits form. -
Permian 299 MA
EVENTS 21. Early reptiles resembling large lizards appear. EVENTS 38. Environmental change causes mass extinction of sea invertibrates (trilobites & eurypterids) as the seas retreated. -
Triassic 251 MA
EVENTS 16. Welcome to the world of the Dinosaur! Enter the squirrel sized dinosaur & the first forest dwelling mammals appear. EVENTS 29. Small rodents evolve -
Jurassic 200 MA
EVENTS 3. Flying reptiles called pterosaurs are in the air now. EVENTS 13. Whoa those dinos are getting big & dominate the land - Lizard - hipped and bird - hipped appear - carnivores and herbivores have arrived. -
Cretaceous 146 MA
EVENTS 5. First flowering plants appear - angiosperm EVENTS 35. Impact hypothesis - dinosaur mass extinction. -
Paleocene 65.5 MA
EVENTS 6. Himalayas develop due to uplifting caused by the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian continents colliding. EVENTS 12. First primates evolve. -
Eocene 55.8 MA
EVENTS 17. Flying squirrels, whales and bats appear. EVENTS 26. First modern horses appear. -
Oligocene 33.9 MA
EVENTS 27. Many early mammal become extinct, clams and snails flourish. EVENTS 32. Antarctic icecaps begin to form. -
Miocene 23 MA
EVENTS 8. Appalachian Mountains are created because of the collision of tectonic plates & savannahs form. EVENTS 18. Various species migrated between continents across land bridges. -
Pliocene 5.3 MA
EVENTS 20. Species that did not evolve to survive extreme cold moved to warmer climate areas or became extinct (dire wolf & giant ground sloth). EVENTS 36. Mediterranean Sea dries up and refills several times due to tectonic forces and dropping sea levels. -
Pleistocene 1.8 MA
EVENTS 9. Homosapien (modern humans) appeared & are hunters. EVENTS 25. World wide temperatures drop about 4 degrees celsius (39.2 degrees fahrenheit). -
Holocene 0.0115 MA
EVENTS 19. The last glacial period ended and sea levels rose, Great Lakes formed. EVENTS 28. Modern human developed agriculture and used tools made of bronze and iron. -
Anthropocene (Present)
EVENTS 7. Some scientists believe that human kind has caused mass extinctions of plant and animal species, polluted the oceans and altered the atmosphere. EVENTS 14. This is argument as to when this epoch began, some scientist think it began with the industrial age in the early 1800's other think it began with the atomic age in the 1950's.
