Geological Timescale
From EvoWiki
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Evolutionary Milestones
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Phanerozoic |
Cenozoic Era |
Quaternary (1.8 ma to today) |
Holocene (11,000 years to today) | |||
| Pleistocene (1.8 mya to 11,000 yrs) | Homo erectus and Homo sapiens appear | |||||
| Tertiary (65 to 1.8 mya) | Pliocene (5 to 1.8 mya) | Ape-like ancestors of modern humans (Hominids), the Australopithecines | ||||
| Miocene (23 to 5 mya) | Grazing horses, antelopes appear | |||||
| Oligocene (38 to 23 mya) |
Radiation of more modern animals: most modern bird forms have appeared; most modern mammals have appeared. First grasses appear. |
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| Eocene (54 to 37 mya) | Some modern mammals appear: advanced primates; camels, cats, dogs, horses & rodents | |||||
| Paleocene (65 to 54 mya) | Small mammals radiate | |||||
| Mesozoic Era (245 to 65 mya) |
Cretaceous (146 to 65 mya) |
Divided Upper; Middle; Lower |
Major extinction includes dinosaurs and ammonites (K-T) | |||
| Jurassic (208 to 146 mya) | Appearances include: birds; crabs; frogs and salamanders Dinosaurs radiate to dominate the land | |||||
| Triassic (245 to 208 mya) | Major extinction event: tabulate corals and conodonts disappear - ammonoids, reptiles and amphibians decimated Appearances include: dinosaurs; crocodiles; marine reptiles; turtles and mammals Major groups of seed plants appear | |||||
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Paleozoic Era |
Permian (286 to 245 mya) |
Major extinction of invertebrates (P-T). Trilobites fade away forever. |
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Carboniferous
(360 to 286 mya) |
Pennsylvanian (325 to 286 mya) | Conifers and many winged insects appear | ||||
| Mississippian (360 to 325 mya) | Reptiles appear Trilobites become scarce |
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| Devonian (410 to 360 mya) | Mass extinction (F-F) Appearances include: insects; sharks; amphibians (tetrapods); lung fishes and earliest seed plants |
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| Silurian (440 to 410 mya) | Jawed fish and vascular plants appear | |||||
| Ordovician (500 to 440 mya) | Mass extinction First land plants; bryozoans appear. Trilobites begin to specialize. |
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| Cambrian (544 to 500 mya) | Tommotian (530 to 527 mya) | Appearance of hard parts - fossils become common. Appearances include: vertebrates; jawless fish; small shelly animals; conodonts; trilobites radiate repeatedly and reach their peak diversity. | First major radiation of animals | |||
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Precambrian |
Proterozoic Era (2500 to 544 mya) |
No Epochs
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Extinction at end of Vendian Macroscopic fossils of soft-bodied organisms. |
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| Neoproterozoic (900 to 544 mya) - Late |
Macroscopic fossils of soft-bodied organisms. |
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| Mesoproterozoic (1600 to 900 mya) - Middle | Eukaryotic organisms proliferate Chloroplast endosymbiosis? |
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| Paleoproterozoic (2500 to 1600 mya) - Early | Eukaryotic organisms appear (acritarchs?) Mitochondrion endosymbiosis? Oxygen-releasing photosynthesizers appear, changing the atmosphere |
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Archean |
Early photosynthesis Three domains' ancestors diverge First life appears |
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| Hadean (4500 to 3800 mya) |
Earth possibly sterilized by heavy bombardment | |||||
