GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE disappeared aka: The Great Dying

 System of chronological dating that relates  MESOZOIC ERA

geological strata (stratigraphy) to time o 252 – 66 million years ago
 Used by geologists, paleontologists, and other o Age of reptiles
Earth scientists to describe the timing and o Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event or
relationships of events that have occurred during K-pg Extinction Event
Earth’s history  CENOZOIC ERA
NICOLAS STENO o 66 million years ago – present
 Danish scientist o Rise of the mammals
 Published the first laws of stratigraphy (1669) o 40 million years ago – most of the
o STRATIGRAPHY - science of interpreting mammal groups appeared (whales, bats,
the strata or layers of rocks in Earth’s outer rodents, primates)
surface o 34 million years ago – climate started to
GIOVANNI ARDUINO shift again
 Italian geologist o 7 million years ago – species of ape
 Used Steno’s ideas and began to label the layers known as Sahelanthropus became the
of rocks first primate to walk upright
 Studied the Italian Alps (1760s) o 2.6 million years ago – the ice caps
 Quaternary - layers of softer alluvial extended, and the Earth entered a glacial
deposits period, the Ice Age
 Tertiary o 15,000 years ago – the climate started to
 Secondary - hard sedimentary rocks warm up
 Primary - lowest layer of metamorphic
and volcanic rocks  EONS ——>
WILLIAM SMITH ERAS ——>
 English geologist PERIODS ——>
 Figured out the solution to the problem of having EPOCHS ——>
no way to compared the strata: fossils AGES ——>

1. HADEAN EON
- 4.6 – 4 Billion years ago
- Begins with the very formation of
the Earth Itself
- Wracked by volcanic activities,
cosmic bombardments, raging
storms, and temperatures
- First life forms: small amount of
organic carbon (single-celled)
- Brought to an end by the cooling
of the Earth’s crust
2. ARCHEAN EON
- 4 -2.5 billion years ago
- Greek word “origin”
- Formed mats of microbes
 Stromatolites – fossils
that these microbes left
behind
3. PROTEROZOIC EON
- 2.5 billion years ago – 541 million
years ago
- First life forms that can undergo
photosynthesis (ex: eukaryotes)
- Oxygen was created
4. PHANEROZOIC EON
- 541 million years ago – present
- “Visible life”
 PALEOZOIC ERA
o 541 – 252 million years ago
o Cambrian explosion which means the
sudden explosion of life
o Trilobites – first of the new animals to
become widespread
o 370 million years ago – entire ecosystems
had developed on the primeval
continents
o 299 million years ago – pangaea had
formed with an enormous desert on its
center
o 252 million years ago – 70% of land
vertebrates, 96% of marine species
4.5 BYA
 Earth was bombared with rocks from outerspace
3.9 – 3.8 BYA
 Life begins
 Single cells
3.6 – 3.5 BYA
 Photoshynthesis starts
3.4 BYA
 Little green cells start making oxygen
2.3 BYA
 Oxygen starts building up in the atmosphere
0.8 BYA
 Little critters float around
0.6 BYA
 Ozone layer was created
 Sudden explosion of diveristy (fungi, sea
anemones, mollusks,
530 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Animals take their first few steps on land
 Plants, fish, insects, sharks, amphibians, etc.
176 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Stegosaurus dinosaurs
68 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Tyrannosaurus
66 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Mass extinction
55 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Armadillos
40 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Giant whales
35 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Wolves
15 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Great apes
5 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Hippopotamus
4.8 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Mammoths
4 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Lions
3.2 MILLION YEARS AGO
3 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Cattle
2.5 MILLION YEARS AGO
 Saber tooth tigers
200 THOUSAND YEARS AGO
 Humans