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Saskatchewan's Geological Past

By aalyseg
  • 1 CE

    Archean Eon

    4600 million years ago (4,600,000,000 BCE) (Timetoast doesn't allow me to enter the date earlier than 50,000 BCE, hence the wrong date saying 1 CE) Earth formed 4600 million years ago. Earth cooled in temperature, allowing oceans to form and tectonic plates moved to create continents. Oxygen filled the oceans and the ozone layers were formed. The ozone layers were crucial in the role of life being created.
  • 2

    Proterozoic Eon

    2500 million years ago (2,500,000,000 BCE) -Saskatchewan is part of a large ancient continent.
    -Break up of the ancient continent, creation of a large ocean.
    -Volcanoes in SK.
    -Wathaman Batholith (an intrusion of magma under the surface)
    -Orogeny (mountain building) Trans-Hudson Orogen
    -Earth changed from an anoxygenic environment to an oxygenic environment
    -Martin Sandstone is deposited with Stromatolites (mounds created by blue-green algae)
    -Erosion of the mountains
    -Uranium deposited
  • 3

    Phanerozoic Eon

    544 million years ago (544,000,000 BCE)
  • 4

    Paleozoic Era

    544 million years ago (544,000,000 BCE)
  • 5

    Cambrian Period

    544 million years ago (544,000,000 BCE) -SK is covered by the epicontinental Sauk Sea
    -Hard shelled invertebrates including Trilobites
  • 6

    Ordovician Period

    489 million years ago (489,000,000 BCE) -Meteorite hits SK, leaving behind the Carswell Meteorite Crater
    -Tyndall Stone was deposited as massive limestone
  • 7

    Silurian Period

    433 million years ago (433,000,000 BCE)
  • 8

    Devonian Period

    418 million years ago (418,000,000 BCE) -Winnipegosis Reefs are deposited, later to become a trap for oil deposits
    -Potash is deposited in the shallow sea that covers SK
  • 9

    Carboniferous Period

    360 million years ago (360,000,000 BCE) -First amphibians
  • 10

    Permian Period

    300 million years ago (300,000,000 BCE)
  • 11

    Mesozoic Era

    253 million years ago (253,000,000 BCE)
  • 12

    Triassic Period

    253 million years ago (253,000,000 BCE)
    -Mass extinction in the oceans, 90% of the species disappear
    -First dinosaurs
    -First mammals
    -SK is again covered by a shallow sea
  • 13

    Jurassic Period

    200 million years ago (200,000,000 BCE)
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    Cretaceous Period

    144 million years ago (144,000,000 BCE) -Diamonds are brought to the surface of SK in volcanic pipes
    -Shallow sea begins to retreat
    -Swamps. rivers and lakes form the badlands.
    -Lignite (brown coal) is formed from the plants deposited in swamps.
    -Triceratops roam SK
  • 15

    Cenozoic Era

    65 million years ago (65,000,000 BCE) -Extinction of the dinosaurs
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    Tertiary Period

    65 million years ago (65,000,000 BCE)
  • 17

    Paleocene Epoch

    65 million years ago (65,000,000 BCE)
  • 18

    Eocene Epoch

    55 million years ago (55,000,000 BCE) -Climate changes, Saskatchewan plateau develops.
  • 19

    Oligocene Epoch

    34 million years ago (34,000,000 BCE)
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    Miocene Epoch

    23 million years ago (23,000,000 BCE)
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    Pliocene Epoch

    5 million years ago (5,000,000 BCE)
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    Quaternary Period

    2 million years ago (2,000,000 BCE)
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    Pleistocene Epoch

    2 million years ago (2,000,000 BCE) -The ice age begins, covering SK except for the Cypress Hills area
    -Diamonds covered by glacial till
    -Bison come to North America
    -Humans come to North America
  • 24

    Holocene Epoch

    0.01 million years ago (10,000 BCE) -Origin of the Prairies