B.A. (Hons.

) Geography 3rd Year, 5th Semester

Paper 505. Biogeography
Unit 2. Evolution of Plants and Animals and Biogeographical Processes
Topic 2.1. Brief History of the Evolution of Plants and Animals
Format:

Inside the Earth

The Earth is made of many different and

distinct layers. The deeper layers are composed
of heavier materials. They are hotter, denser
and under much greater pressure than the outer
layers. These layers are as follows:
Layer Characteristics
Crust The crust is mainly made up of silica and aluminium
the Earth. It consists of plates which make up the co
plates float on the mantle. The Earth's surface is com
basalt and granite. Oceans cover about 70% of Earth
up to 3.7 km deep.

The crust is constantly being created and destroyed.

than continental crust. Oceanic crust (the thin crust u
and denser than continental crust.

The average thickness of continental Crust is 20-80

is 3 billion years and is mainly composed of granite.
The average thickness of oceanic Crust is 10 kilome
100 million years old and is mainly composed of bas
Mantle Under the crust is the rocky
mantle. It is composed of silicon,
oxygen, magnesium, iron,
aluminum, and calcium. The
asthenosphere is a part of the upper
mantle that exhibits plastic
properties. It is located below the
lithosphere (the crust and upper
mantle), between about 100 and
250 kilometers deep.
The mantle is about 1,700 miles
(2,750 km) thick. It gets warmer
with depth. The top of the mantle is about 1,600
bottom of the mantle, the temperature is about 4,000
The mantle contains most of the mass of the Earth.
 The upper mantle is rigid and is part of the lithosphere (together with the crust).
The lower mantle flows slowly, at a rate of a few centimeters per year.
Convection (heat) currents carry heat
from the hot inner mantle to the cooler
outer mantle.
The Gutenberg discontinuity separates
the outer core and the mantle.

Core Composed of iron-nickel. It is about 2,100 miles in radius. Divided into 2 parts-
inner core and outer core.
The inner core may have a temperature up to about 13,000°F (7,200°C = 7,500
K), which is hotter than the surface of the Sun. It has a radius of about 750 miles
(1,228 km) is solid.
The outer core is in a liquid state and is about 1,400 miles (2,260 km) thick.
Theory of Continental Drift
In 1915, the German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) first
proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that parts of the Earth's crust slowly
drift atop a liquid core. The fossil record supports and gives credence to the theories of
continental drift and plate tectonics. Wegener published this theory in his 1915 book, On
the Origin of Continents and Oceans. In it he also proposed the existence of the
supercontinent Pangaea, and named it (Pangaea means "all the land" in Greek).
Wegener hypothesized that there was an original, gigantic supercontinent 200 million
years ago, which he named Pangaea, meaning "All-earth". Pangaea was a supercontinent
consisting of all of Earth's land masses. It existed from the Permian through Jurassic
periods.
It began breaking up during the Jurassic period, forming continents Gondwanaland and
Laurasia, separated by the Tethys Sea. By the end of the Cretaceous period, the
continents were separating into land masses that look like our modern-day continents.
Fossil Evidence in Support of the Continental Drift Theory
Eduard Suess was an Austrian geologist who first realized that there had once been a land
bridge between South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica. He named this
large land mass Gondwanaland (named after a district in India where the fossil plant
Glossopteris was found). This was the southern supercontinent formed after Pangaea
broke up during the Jurassic Period. He based his deductions on the plant Glossopteris,
which is found throughout India, South America, southern Africa, Australia, and
Antarctica.
Fossils of Mesosaurus (one of the first marine reptiles, even older than the dinosaurs)
were found in both South America and South Africa. These finds, plus the study of
sedimentation and the fossil plant Glossopteris in these southern continents led Alexander
duToit, a South African scientist, to bolster the idea of the past existence of a
supercontinent in the southern hemisphere, Suess’s Gondwanaland. This lent further
support to A. Wegener's Continental Drift Theory.

Glossopteris, a tree-like plant from the Permian through the Triassic Period. It had
tongue-shaped leaves and was about 12 ft (3.7 m) tall. It was the dominant plant of
Gondwana.

Earth’s plates and continental drift

The Earth's rocky outer crust solidified billions of years
ago, soon after the Earth formed. This crust is not a solid
shell. It is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop
the soft, underlying mantle.

The plates are made of rock and drift all over the globe.
They move both horizontally (sideways) and vertically
(up and down). Over long periods of time, the plates also
change in size as their margins are added to, crushed
together, or pushed back into the mantle. These plates are from 50 to 250 miles (80 to
400 km) thick.
Not only are the underlying plates moving, but the plates change in size. Also, the sea
level changes over time (as the temperature on Earth varies and the poles melt or freeze
to varied extents), covering or exposing different amounts of crust.

Earth's Major Plates:

The current continental and oceanic plates include: the Eurasian plate, Australian-Indian
plate, Philippine plate, Pacific plate, Juan de Fuca plate, Nazca plate, Cocos plate, North
American plate, Caribbean plate, South American plate, African plate, Arabian plate, the
Antarctic plate, and the Scotia plate. These plates consist of smaller sub-plates.
The theory of plate tectonics (meaning "plate structure") was developed in the 1960's.
This theory explains the movement of the Earth's plates (which has since been
documented scientifically) and also explains the cause of earthquakes, volcanoes, oceanic
trenches, mountain range formation, and many other geologic phenomena.

The plates are moving at a speed that has been estimated at 1 to 10 cm per year. Most of
the Earth's seismic activity (volcanoes and earthquakes) occurs at the plate boundaries as
they interact.

Types of plate movements

At the plate boundaries, various deformations occur as the plates interact. They separate
from one another (seafloor spreading), collide (forming mountain ranges), slip past one
another (subduction zones, in which plates undergo destruction and remelting), and slip
laterally.

Divergent Plate Movement: Seafloor Spreading

Seafloor spreading is the movement of two oceanic plates away from each
other (at a divergent plate boundary), which results in the formation of new
oceanic crust (from magma that comes from within the Earth's mantle) along
a a mid-ocean ridge. Where the oceanic plates are moving away from each
other is called a zone of divergence. Ocean floor spreading was first suggested by Harry
Hess and Robert Dietz in the 1960's.

Convergent Plate Movement:

When two plates collide (at a convergent plate boundary), some crust is
destroyed in the impact and the plates become smaller. The results differ,
depending upon what types of plates are involved.
Oceanic Plate and Continental Plate - When a thin, dense
oceanic plate collides with a relatively light, thick continental
plate, the oceanic plate is forced under the continental plate;
this phenomenon is called subduction.
Two Oceanic Plates - When two oceanic plates collide, one
may be pushed under the other and magma from the mantle

Lateral Slipping Plate Movement:

When two plates move sideways against each other (at a transform plate
boundary), there is a tremendous amount of friction which makes the
movement jerky. The plates slip, then stick as the friction and pressure build
rises, forming volcanoes in the
up to incredible levels. When the pressure is released suddenly, and the plates
suddenly jerk apart, this is an earthquake.
Geological History of the Earth

The geological history of the Earth follows the major events in Earth's past based on the
geologic time scale (GTS), a system of chronological measurement based on the study of
the planet's rock layers (stratigraphy).

The geological time scale (GTS) is a system of chronological measurement that relates
stratigraphy to time, and is used by geologists, paleontologists, and other Earth scientists
to describe the timing and relationships between events that have occurred throughout
Earth's history.
Origins of a GTS
The first people who understood the geological relationships of different rock units were
miners. Mining had been of commercial interest since at least the days of the Romans,
but it wasn't until the 1500s and 1600s that these efforts produced an interest in local rock
relationships.

By noting the relationships of different rock units, Nicolaus Steno in 1669 described two
basic geologic principles. The first stated that sedimentary rocks were laid down in a
horizontal manner, and the second stated that younger rock units were deposited on top of
older rock units. To envision this latter principle think of the layers of paint on a wall.
The oldest layer was put on first and is at the bottom, while the newest layer is at the top.
An additional concept was introduced by James Hutton in 1795, and later emphasized by
Charles Lyell in the early 1800s. This was the idea that natural geologic processes were
uniform in frequency and magnitude throughout time, an idea known as the "principle of
uniformitarianism."

Steno's principles allowed workers in the 1600s and early 1700s to begin to recognize
rock successions. However, because rocks were locally described by color, texture, or
even smell, comparisons between rock sequences of different areas were often not
possible. Fossils provided the opportunity for workers to correlate between
geographically distinct areas. This contribution was possible because fossils are found
over wide regions of the Earth's crust.

The next major contribution to the geologic time scale was by William Smith, a surveyor,
canal builder, and amateur geologist from England. In 1815 Smith produced a geologic
map of England in which he successfully demonstrated the validity of the principle of
faunal succession. This principle simply stated that fossils are found in rocks in a very
definite order. This principle led others that followed to use fossils to define increments
within a relative time scale.

Geological Time Scale Divisions

The first geologic time scale was proposed in 1913 by the British geologist Arthur
Holmes (1890 - 1965). This was soon after the discovery of radioactivity, and using it,
Holmes estimated that the Earth was about 4 billion years old - this was much greater
than previously believed.
The geologic history of the Earth is broken up into hierarchical chunks of time. From largest to
smallest, this hierarchy includes eons, eras, periods, epochs and ages.

Eon: Two or more geological eras form an Eon, which is the largest division of geologic
time, lasting many hundreds of millions of years.

Era: Two or more geological periods comprise an era, which is hundreds of millions of
years in duration.

Period: The period is the basic unit of geological time in which a single type of rock
system is formed, lasting tens of millions of years.

Epoch: An epoch is a division of a geologic period; it is the smallest division of geologic

time, lasting several million years.

Age: An age is a unit of geological time which is distinguished by some feature (like an
Ice Age). An age is shorter than epoch, usually lasting from a few million years to about
a hundred million years.

Earth’s History in Brief:

Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago (BYA) by accretion from the solar nebula (a
disk-shaped mass of dust and gas left over from the formation of the Sun), which also
created the rest of the solar system.

Earth was initially molten due to extreme volcanism and frequent collisions with other
bodies. Eventually, the outer layer of the planet cooled to form a solid crust when water
began accumulating in the atmosphere. The Moon formed soon afterwards, possibly as
the result of a Mars-sized object about 10% of the Earth's mass colliding with Earth in a
glancing blow. Some of this object's mass merged with the Earth, significantly altering its
internal composition, and a portion was ejected into space. Some of the material survived
to form an orbiting moon. Outgasing and volcanic activity produced the primordial
atmosphere. Condensing water vapour, augmented by ice delivered from comets
produced the oceans.

As the surface continually reshaped itself over hundreds of millions of years, continents
formed and broke apart. They migrated across the surface, occasionally combining to
form a supercontinent. Roughly 750 million years ago (MYA), the earliest-known
supercontinent Rodinia began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form
Pannotia (600-540MYA). Pannotia finally broke up to form Pangaea, which broke apart
180 MYA.

The present pattern of Ice Ages began about 40 MYA, then intensified at the end of the
Pliocene. The polar regions have since undergone repeated cycles of glaciation and
deglaciation, repeating every 40,000-100,000 years. The last glacial period of the current
ice age ended about 10,000 years ago.

Eon Era Period Epoch

Pre-Cambrian: Hadean -- -- --

Pre-Cambrian: Archean Eoarchean -- --

or Archeozoic
Paleoarchean -- --

Mesoarchean -- --

Neoarchean -- --

Pre-Cambrian: Paleoproterozoic -- --
Proterozoic
Mesoproterozoic -- --

Neoproterozoic -- --

Phanerozoic “Visible Paleozoic Cambrian --

life”
Ordovician --

Silurian --

Devonian --

Carboniferous Mississippian &

Pensylvanian

Permian --

Phanerozoic Mesozoic Triassic --

Jurassic --

Cretaceous Lower & Upper

Phanerozoic Cenozoic Tertiary- Paleocene

Paleogene
Eocene

Oligocene

Tertiary- Miocene
 Neogene Pliocene

Quaternary Pleistocene

Holocene/Recent
Pre-Cambrian Eon:

It is an informal name for the vast expanse of time prior to the Phanerozoic Eon (which
includes the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras). The Precambrian includes
approximately 90% of geologic time. It extends from 4.6 billion years ago to the
beginning of the Cambrian Period (about 541 MYA). It includes the Hadean, Archean
and Proterozoic Eons.

During the Precambrian, the most important events in biological history took place. The
Earth formed from the Sun. Life evolved and the first tectonic plates formed and began to
move. Eukaryotic cells like multicellular algae evolved. The atmosphere became enriched
in oxygen due to the photosynthetic activity of cyanobacteria. Complex multicellular
organisms including the first animals evolved before the end of the Precambrian.

Hadean Eon:

Pivotal Events of Hadean Eon (4.6-3.9 billion years ago).

Formation of the Sun from a supernova.
"Rockless Eon".
Formation of planetesimals which later formed planets. Asteroids and
comets were also formed.
Formation of Earth and the solidifying of the Earth's crust. Formation of the Moon.
Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Presence of water
vapour in the primordial atmosphere and formation of oceans.

Archean Eon:

Pivotal Events of Archeozoic or Archean Eon (3.9 to 2.5 BYA).

Formation of continental and oceanic crusts. Formation of volcanoes and later volcanic
islands.
The Earth's magnetic field was established. This field helped prevent the planet's
atmosphere from getting dicipated into space.
Atmosphere composed of methane, mmonia and other gases except oxygen.
Ancient Life: The first life forms evolve – single celled organisms. Appearance of
stromatolites (cyanobacteria or blue-green algae) in the sea.
Release of oxygen into the atmosphere.
Rock strataare often heavily metamorphized deep-water sediments such as graywacks,
mudstones, volcanic sediments and banded iron formations. Formation of Greenstone
belts (alternating high-grade and low-grade metamorphic rocks). The high-grade rocks
were derived from volcanic island arcs while the low-grade metamorphic rocks represent
deep-sea sediments eroded from the neighboring island arcs and deposited in a forearc
basin. In short, greenstone belts represent sutured protocontinents.

Photo by Former UCMP grad students Allen Collins (left) and Chris Meyer stand among
living stromatolites in Shark Bay, at the westernmost point of Australia.

Proterozoic Eon:

Pivotal Events of Proterozoic (2.5 BYA to 542 MYA).

Tectonics: The volcanic islands formed continents which merged into a single
supercontinent called Rodinia (Russian word, rodina meaning "motherland"). This later
formed Pannotia (from Greek: pan "all", and nótos "south" meaning "all southern land"),
or Greater Gondwana or Vendian supercontinent or Pan-African supercontinent. It was a
relatively short-lived Neoproterozoic supercontinent that formed at the end of the
Precambrian during the Pan-African orogeny (650–500 MYA).

Paleoclimate: The first-known glaciations occurred during the Proterozoic, one began
shortly after the beginning of the eon, while there were at least four during the
Neoproterozoic, climaxing with the snowball Earth of the Varangian glaciation. In the
beginning of Mesoproterozoic, there were evidences of the first oxygen built-up in the
atmosphere. This was due to the photosynthetic activity of cyanobacteria.
Stratigraphy: Sediments laid down in extensive shallow epicontinental seas. Many of
these rocks are less metamorphosed than Archean-age ones and plenty are unaltered.
Study of these rocks show that the Proterozoic featured massive, rapid continental
accretion, supercontinent cycles and modern orogenic activity.

First multicellular life: In the beginning, stromatolite diversity increased. Later on, it
decreased because of eukaryotic herbivorous organisms. Several types of fossil that
appear to represent simple multicellular forms of life are found by the end of the
Paleoproterozoic. These fossils, known as carbon films, are small, dark compressions
resembling circles, ribbons or leaves. They are most common and widespread in the
Neoproterozoic. Some resemble seaweeds and may represent eukaryotic algae. Red and
green algae appeared in this Eon.

Toward the end of the Proterozoic, the first animals appeared, mostly bacteria and
archaeans.

The time from 635 MYA to 542 MYA , known as the Ediacaran Period (or the Vendian),
saw the origin and first diversification of soft-bodied organisms. The period and the fauna
are named after the Ediacara Hills of southern Australia, where the first abundant and
diverse fossils of this kind were found.

Extinction: A mass extinction occurred in the end of this Eon. This was due to the
Snowball Earth of the Varangian glaciation.

Proterozoic fossil localities are Bitter Springs Formation (central Australia) highlight the
oldest known eukaryotic fossils. Ediacara Hills (Australia) represent the place where the
oldest known fossils of animals were discovered in 1946. Mistaken Point
(Newfoundland). Nopah Range (southern California) contain the oldest sedimentary rock
are 1.5 billion years old and younger deposits are rich in stromatolites. White Sea
(northern Russian coast) has been a site of active research by UCMP into the Vendian
fauna.

Phanerozoic Eon:

The Phanerozoic Eon is the current eon in the geologic timescale. It covers roughly
542 MYA. During this period continents drifted about, eventually collected into a
single landmass known as Pangaea and then split up into the current continental
landmasses.

The Phanerozoic Eon represents the time during which the majority of macroscopic
organisms such as algae, fungi, plants and animals lived. The beginning of the
Phanerozoic was thought to coincide with the beginning of life.
 Phaneros means visible. In reality, this eon coincides with the appearance of animals
that evolved external skeletons, like shells, and the somewhat later animals that
formed internal skeletons, such as the bony elements of vertebrates. The time before
the Phanerozoic is usually referred to as the Precambrian.

The Phanerozoic Eon is subdivided into three major divisions namely, (1) the
Paleozoic, (2) the Mesozoic and (3) the Cenozoic Eras. The "-zoic" suffix comes from
the root "zoo," meaning animal. This is the same root as in the words zoology and
zoological park (or zoo). "Paleo” means ancient, “Meso” means middle and Cen"
means recent. These divisions reflect major changes in the composition of ancient
faunas, each era being recognized by its domination by a particular group of animals.
The Paleozoic is called the "Age of Fishes”, the Mesozoic the "Age of Dinosaurs,"
and the Cenozoic as the "Age of Mammals". But this is an overly simplified view and
sometimes misleading. For instance, other groups of animals lived during the
Mesozoic. In addition to the dinosaurs, animals such as mammals, turtles, crocodiles,
frogs, and countless varieties of insects also lived on land. Additionally, there were
many kinds of plants living in the past that no longer live today. Ancient floras went
through great changes too, and not always at the same times that the animal groups
changed.

Paleozoic Era:

The Paleozoic Era is part of the Phanerozoic Eon and spanned from roughly 542-251
MYA. It is subdivided into 6 geologic periods. From the oldest to the youngest they are
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian.

Tectonics: Geologically, the Paleozoic starts shortly after the breakup of a supercontinent
called Pannotia and at the end of a global ice age. Throughout the early Paleozoic, the
Earth's landmass was broken up into a substantial number of relatively small continents.
Toward the end of the era the continents gathered together into a supercontinent called
Pangaea.

During the Paleozoic there were six major continental land masses, each of these
consisted of different parts of the modern continents. These Paleozoic continents
experienced tremendous mountain building along their margins, and numerous incursions
and retreats of shallow seas across their interiors.

Stratigraphy: Many Paleozoic rocks are economically important. For example, much of the
limestone quarried for building and industrial purposes, as well as the coal deposits of western
Europe and the eastern United States, were formed during the Paleozoic.
Life in the Paleozoic: The Paleozoic is bracketed by two of the most important events in
the history of animal life. At its beginning, multicelled animals underwent a dramatic
“explosion” in diversity. This is called the Cambrian explosion. Almost all living animal
phyla appeared within a few millions of years. The Cambrian seas were dominated by
trilobites, inarticulate brachiopods, monoplacophoran molluscs, hyolithids, "small shelly
fossils" of uncertain systematic position, and archaeocyathids. Although all of these
except the archaeocyathids survived past the Cambrian, their diversity declined after the
Ordovician. Later Paleozoic seas were dominated by crinoid and blastoid echinoderms,
articulate brachiopods, graptolites, and tabulate and rugose corals.

By the end of the Ordovician, life was no longer confined to the seas. Plants had begun to
colonize the land, closely followed by invertebrates in the Silurian and in the Upper
Devonian by vertebrates. The early tetrapods of this time were amphibian-like animals
that eventually gave rise to the reptiles and synapsids by the end of the Paleozoic. One of
the earliest terrestrial tetrapod faunas known in the world is from Joggin’s Nova Scotia.

Land plants evolved rapidly into the vacant niches present on land. By the end of the
Devonian, forests of progymnosperms, such as Archaeopteris dominated the landscape.
By the end of the Paleozoic, cycads, glossopterids, primitive conifers, and ferns were
spreading across the landscape.

Extinction: There were 2 major extinctions in this Era. One was in the Cambrian-
Ordovician boundary and the second was in the Permian. These 2 extinctions wiped out
many marine fauna.
 Paleozoic fossil localities are Aldan River (Siberia), Burgess Shale (British
Columbia), Canning Basin (Australia), Glass Mountains (Texas), House Range
(Utah), Joggins (Nova Scotia), Lake Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada), Marble Mountain
(California) Olenellid trilobites are plentiful in the Latham Shale, here in the Mojave
Desert, Mazon Creek (Illinois), Rhynie Chert (Scotland) and White-Inyo Mountains
(California).

Cambrian Period: It follows the Ediacaran Period. The Period was established as
Cambrian series by Adam Sedgwick who named it after Cambria (Welsh name for
Wales)

Pivotal Events of Cambrian Period (542 MYA-500 MYA). The Cambrian Period is a part
of Paleozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: Rodinia, which was formed during the Ediacaran Period, split up and then
joined to form Pannotia. As the Cambrian began, Pannotia began to fragment into smaller
continents and land masses were scattered, which did not always correspond to the
present day shapes and locations of continents. Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia separated
from Gondwana and formed isolated land masses. Gondwana started to drift toward the
South Pole.

Baltica (present day Scandinavia, eastern Europe and European Russia).

Laurentia (North America).

The reconstruction below shows the rifting of Rodinia during the second stage
(Tommotian) of the Cambrian . Green represents land above water at this time, red
indicates mountains, light blue indicates shallow seas of the continental shelves, and dark
blue denotes the deep ocean basins. (For clarity, the outlines of present-day continents
have been superimposed on the map).
During the early Cambrian, most of North America lay in warm tropical and temperate
latitudes in the southern hemisphere. Siberia was located east and Baltica lay to the south
of North America. Rest of the continents (South America, Africa, Antarctica, India and
Australia) were joined together in the supercontinent Gondwana. Present day China and
east Asia were fragmented at that time, which were located north and west of Australia.
Western Europe was also in pieces, with most of them lying northwest of present day
coastline of north Africa. Present day southeastern U.S. was wedged between South
America and Africa. Tectonism affected regions of Gondwana, primarily in what are now
Australia, Antarctica, and Argentina. The continental plate movement and collisions
during this period generated pressure and heat, resulting in the folding, faulting, and
crumpling of rock and the formation of large mountain ranges.

The waters of the Cambrian period appear to have been widespread and shallow.
Panthalasa covered most of the southern hemisphere, and minor oceans included the
Proto-Tethys Ocean, Iapetus Ocean and Khanty Ocean.

With the retreat of Proterozoic ice, the sea level rose significantly. Lowland areas such as
Baltica were flooded and much of the world was covered by epeiric seas.

Paleoclimate: During the early Cambrian, the Earth was generally cold. It became
warmer towards the end of the Period. World climate was mild and there was no
glaciation. This was because the continents were located near the equator.

Stratigraphy: Stratigraphic boundaries are normally defined by the presence or absence of

groups of fossils, called assemblages. For instance, the trace fossil Treptichnus pedum
marks the base of the Cambrian. During this Period, the first undoubted fossil annelids,
arthropods, brachiopods, echinoderms, molluscs, onychophorans, poriferans, and
priapulids show up in rocks all over the world.

Flora: Plants had not yet evolved. The terrestrial world was devoid of vegetation and
inhospitable to life. Biofilms and microbial mats were well developed on Cambrian tidal
flats and beaches. Photosynthesis and primary production were carried out by bacteria
and algal protists that populated the world's shallow seas. This period also saw the
appearance and diversification of mineralized algae of various types, such as the coralline
red algae and the dasyclad green algae.

Fauna: The Cambrian Period marks an important point in the history of life on Earth. It is
the time when most of the major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record. This
event is sometimes called the "Cambrian Explosion," because of the relatively short time
over which this diversity of forms with hard shells appeared.

It was during the Cambrian that the oceans became oxygenated. Although there was
plentiful atmospheric oxygen by the beginning of the period, it wasn't until the Cambrian
that there was a sufficient reduction in the number of oxygen-depleting bacteria to permit
higher oxygen levels in the waters. This dissolved oxygen may have triggered the
"Cambrian Explosion".

Cambrian echinoderms were predominantly unfamiliar and strange-looking types such as

early edrioasteroids, eocrinoids, and helicoplacoids. The more familiar starfish, brittle
stars, and sea urchins had not yet evolved, and there is some controversy over whether
crinoids (sea lilies) were present or not. Even if present, crinoids were rare in the
Cambrian, although they became numerous and diverse through the later Paleozoic.
Jjawless vertebrates were present in the Cambrian.

During the early Cambrian, most of North America lay in warm southern tropical and
temperate latitudes, which supported the growth of extensive shallow-water trilobite
archaeocyathid reefs (relatives of sponges that were restricted to the Lower Cambrian),.
Siberia then a separate continent, also supported abundant reefs. Many Early Cambrian
invertebrates are known only from "small shelly fossils" — tiny plates, scales, spines,
tubes, and so on.

Important fossil localities: Aldan River (Siberia) gives us knowledge about the early
evolution of animals with skeletons. Burgess Shale (British Columbian Rocky
Mountains) has thousands of soft-bodied animal fossils reflecting early marine life. Sites
in (House Range) Utah, southern China, Siberia and north Greenland are also noted for
their unusually good preservation of non-mineralized fossils from the Cambrian.
Ordovician Period: It was named by Charles Lapworth (1879) after the Welsh Celtic tribe
of the Ordovices.
Pivotal Events of Ordovician Period (488.3 -443.7 MYA). Ordovician Period belongs to
the Paleozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: During the Ordovician, the southern continents were collected into a single
supercontinent called Gondwana. In the beginning of the period, it was positioned near
the equator and, as the period progressed, drifted toward the South Pole. Early in the
Ordovician, the continents Laurentia, Siberia and Baltica were still independent
continents (due to the break-up of the supercontinent Pannotia). But Baltica began to
move toward Laurentia later in the period, causing the Iapetus Ocean to shrink between
them. Also, Avalonia broke free from Gondwana and began to head north toward
Laurentia. As a result of this movement, the Rheic Ocean was formed. By the end of the
period, Gondwana had neared or approached the pole and was largely submerged and
glaciated. During this period, the area north of the tropics was almost entirely ocean.

In the Lower Ordovician, North America roughly straddled the equator and almost all of
that continent lay underwater. By the Middle Ordovician North America had shed its seas
and a tectonic highland (roughly corresponding to the later Appalachian Mountains),
formed along its eastern margin. Also at this time, western and central Europe were
separated and located in the southern tropics.

Increased sea floor spreading accompanied by volcanic activity occurred in the early part
of Middle Ordovician. Ocean currents changed as a result of lateral continental plate
motions causing the opening of the Atlantic Ocean.

Europe shifted towards North America from higher to lower latitudes, resulting in the
closure of the Atlantic Ocean. During the Middle Ordovician, latitudinal plate motions
appear to have taken place, including the northward drift of the Baltoscandian Plate
(northern Europe).

In the Middle Ordovician, uplifts took place in most of the areas that had been under
shallow shelf seas. These uplifts are seen as the precursor to glaciation. There were global
sea level regression and transgression. Due to sea level transgression, flooding of the
Gondwana craton occurred. There was also regional drowning which caused carbonate
sedimentation to stop. During the upper Ordovician, there was a major glaciation in
Africa.

Paleoclimate: At the beginning of the Period, it was very hot due to very high
concentration of CO2. From the Lower to Middle Ordovician, the Earth experienced a
milder climate. The weather was warm and the atmosphere contained a lot of moisture.
During the upper Ordovician, The climate cooled due to the southward positioning of
Gondwana at the south pole. Climatic fluctuations were extreme as glaciation continued
and became more extensive. Cold climates with floating marine ice developed as the
maximum glaciation was reached.

Stratigraphy: The Ordovician was named by the British geologist Charles Lapworth in
1879. He took the name from an ancient Celtic tribe, the Ordovices, renowned for its
resistance to Roman domination. For decades, the epochs and series of the Ordovician
each had a type location in Britain, where their characteristic faunas could be found, but
in recent years, the stratigraphy of the Ordovician has been completely reworked.
Graptolites and extinct planktonic organisms have been and still are used to correlate
Ordovician strata.

Ordovician rocks in most of the areas are typified by a considerable thickness of lime and
other carbonate rocks that accumulated in shallow subtidal and intertidal environments.
Quartzites are also present. Rocks formed from sediments deposited on the margins of
Ordovician shelves are commonly dark, organic-rich mudstones which bear the remains
of graptolites and may have thin seams of iron sulfide.

Ordovician strata are characterized by numerous and diverse trilobites and conodonts
(phosphatic fossils with a tooth-like appearance) found in sequences of shale, limestone,
dolostone, and sandstone. In addition, fossils of blastoids, bryozoans, corals, crinoids,
many kinds of brachiopods, snails, clams and cephalopods have been found. Remains of
ostracoderms (jawless, armored fish) from Ordovician rocks comprise some of the oldest
vertebrate fossils.

Flora: Green algae were common. Terrestrial plants probably evolved from green algae, first
appearing as tiny non-vascular forms resembling liverworts. Colonisation of land was limited to
shorelines. Among the first land fungi, arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi were crucial in facilitating
the colonisation of land by plants through mycorrhizal symbiosis. Recently, tetrahedral spores
that are similar to those of primitive land plants have been found, suggesting that plants
invaded the land at this time.

Fauna: The Ordovician is best known for its diverse marine invertebrates, including
graptolites, trilobites, brachiopods, and the conodonts (early vertebrates). A typical
marine community consisted of these animals, plus red and green algae, primitive fish,
cephalopods, corals, crinoids and gastropods.

Despite the appearance of coral fossils during this time, reef ecosystems continued to be
dominated by algae and sponges, and in some cases by bryozoans. However, there
apparently were also periods of complete reef collapse due to global disturbances.

The major global patterns of life underwent tremendous change during the Ordovician.
Shallow seas covering much of Gondwana became breeding grounds for new forms of
trilobites. Many species of graptolites went extinct by the close of the period, but the first
planktonic graptolites appeared.

In the late Lower Ordovician, the diversity of conodonts decreased in the North Atlantic
Realm, but new lineages appeared in other regions. Seven major conodont lineages went
extinct. They were replaced by nine new lineages that resulted from a major evolutionary
radiation. These lineages included many new and morphologically different taxa.

The Ordovician is marked by the appearance of the oldest complete vertebrate fossils.
These were jawless, armored fish informally called ostracoderms, but more correctly
placed in the taxon Pteraspidomorphi. Typical Ordovician fish had large bony shields on
the head, small, rod-shaped or platelike scales covering the tail, and a slitlike mouth at the
anterior end of the animal. Such fossils come from nearshore marine strata of Ordovician
age in Australia, South America, and western North America.

The most "groundbreaking" occurrence of the Ordovician was colonization of the land by
early terrestrial arthropods.

Extinction: During the Upper Ordovician, Gondwana finally settled on the South Pole.
This resulted in the occurrence of massive glaciers, causing shallow seas to drain and sea
levels to drop. This glaciation contributed to ecological disruption and mass extinctions.
Sixty percent of all marine invertebrate genera and 25% of all families went extinct.
Nearly all conodonts disappeared in the North Atlantic Realm while only certain lineages
became extinct in the Midcontinental Realm. Some trilobites, echinoderms, brachiopods,
bryozoans, graptolites, and chitinozoans also became extinct.

Important fossil localities: Emanuel Formation (Canning Basin, western Australia) A

great diversity of fossil gastropods has been uncovered. Lake Winnipeg (Manitoba,
Canada) The limestones of this region have preserved many spectacular fossils of
Ordovician macroalgae. Other good examples of Ordovician sequences are found in
Yangtze Gorge area (Hubei Province, China), La Chilca Formation (San Juan Province,
Argentina), Bear River Range (Utah, U.S.A) and Survey Peak Formation (Alberta,
Canada).

Silurian Period: It was first identified by the British geologist, Sir Roderick Impey
Murchison in early 1830s. It was named after a Welsh Celtic tribe, the Silures.
This naming does not indicate any correlation between the occurrence of the Silurian
rocks and the land inhabited by the Siluress.

Pivotal Events of Silurian Period (443.7- 416.0 MYA). Silurian Period belongs to
the Paleozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: During the Silurian, Gondwana continued to drift slowly towards high
southern latitudes. Other cratons and continent fragments drifted together near the
 equator, starting the formation of a second supercontinent known as Euramerica.
The ocean basins between Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia closed substantially.
The modern Philippine Islands were near the Arctic Circle, while Australia was in
the tropics.

Although there were no major periods of volcanism during the Silurian, the period
is marked by major orogenic events in eastern North America and in northwestern
Europe (the Caledonian Orogeny), resulting in the formation of the mountain
chains there. This was brought about by the collision of Proto-Europe with North
America. This collision folded coastal sediments that had been accumulating since the
Cambrian off the east coast of North America and the west coast of Europe.

Panthalassa covered most of the northern hemisphere. Other minor oceans

included 2 phases of the Tethys (Proto-Tethys and Paleo-Tethys), Rheic Ocean, a
seaway of Iapetus Ocean (in between Avalonia and Laurentia), and newly formed
Ural Ocean.

There was melting of large glacial formations. This contributed to a substantial

rise in the levels of the major seas. The Silurian ice caps were less extensive than
those of the late Ordovician glaciation. Evidence of rise in sea levels is seen from
the Silurian sediments that overlie eroded Ordovician sediments, forming an
unconformity.

Paleoclimate: The Silurian witnessed a relative stabilization of the Earth's general

climate, ending the previous pattern of erratic climatic fluctuations. The Earth
entered a long greenhouse phase with high CO2 levels.

Stratigraphy: The Silurian's stratigraphy is subdivided into four epochs (from oldest to
youngest) namely, (1) the Llandovery, (2) the Wenlock, (3) the Ludlow and (4) the
Pridoli. Each epoch is distinguished from the others by the appearance of new species of
graptolites. These are a group of extinct colonial, aquatic animals that first appeared in
the Cambrian and continued into the early Carboniferous.

Silurian Stratigraphy
Epoch Stages Rocks Fossils
The Rhuddanian, Shale, Appearance of the graptolites
Llandovery Aeronian and sandstone and Parakidograptus acuminatus and
Telychian. gray mudstone Akidograptus ascensus.
sediments.
The Sheinwoodian Siltstone and Appearance of Cyrtograptus
Wenlockian and Homerian. mudstone centrifuges. Also fossils of brachiopod,
under coral, trilobite, clam, bryozoan and
limestone. crinoids.
The Ludlow Gorstian and Siltstone and Appearance of Neodiversograptus
 Ludfordian. limestone nilssoni.
strata.
The -- Platy Appearance of the index fossil
Pridolian limestone Monograptus parultimus and two new
strata. species of chitinozoans (marine
planktons)-Urnochitina urna and
Fungochitina kosovensis. Cephalopods
and bivalves also found.

Flora: The most striking of all biological events in the Silurian was the evolution
of small bryophyte-like and vascular plants that grew beside lakes, streams and
coastlines. Most Silurian plant fossils have been assigned to the genus Cooksonia
(a collection of branching-stemmed plants which produced sporangia at their tips)
from northern hemisphere. None of these plants had leaves, and some appear to
have lacked vascular tissue. From Australia comes a controversial fossil of
Baragwanathia (a lycophyte). If such a complex plant with leaves and a fully-
developed vascular system was present by this time, then surely plants must have been
around by the Ordovician. Silurian strata have provided ascomycete fossils (a group of
fungi).

Cooksonia, on the left, has usually been considered the oldest known land plant. Fossils
assigned to several species are known from North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and
from both the Late Silurian and Early Devonian. The lycophyte Baragwanathia, on the
right, is structurally more complex than Cooksonia, but Silurian fossils of this plant have
been found in Australia, significantly earlier than in the Northern Hemisphere.

Fauna: Low continental elevations, deglaciation accompanied with a high global

stand in sea level created many new marine habitats.

The shallow seas ranged from tropical to subtropical in climate. In the oceans,
there was a widespread radiation of crinoids, brachiopods, and the oldest known
fossils of coral reefs with associated carbonate sediments. Other marine fossils
commonly found throughout the Silurian record include trilobites, graptolites,
conodonts, stromatoporoids and mollusks.

The Silurian was also a remarkable time in the evolution of fishes. Not only does
this time period mark the wide and rapid spread of jawless fish, but also the highly
significant appearances of both the first known freshwater fish and the first jawed
fish. It is also at this time that our first good evidence of life on land is preserved,
such as relatives of spiders and centipedes.

Devonian Period: It is named after Devonshire (England).

Pivotal Events of Devonian Period (419-359 MYA). Devonian Period is a part of

Paleozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: Gondwana was in the south, Siberia to the north and the small continent
of Euramerica (Laurussia) in between. Euramerica was created in the early
Devonian by the collision of Laurentia and Baltica, which rotated into the natural
dry zone along the Tropic of Capricorn. In these near-deserts, the old red
sandstone sedimentary beds formed, made red by the oxidized iron (hematite)
characteristic of drought conditions.

The world's land was collected into two supercontinents, Gondwana and
Euramerica. These vast landmasses lay relatively near each other in a single
hemisphere surrounded on all sides by subduction zones. These zones initiated a
major collision process. Panthalasa covered the rest of the globe. Other minor
oceans were Paleo-Tethys, Proto-Tethys, Rheic Ocean and Ural Ocean (which was
closed during the collision with Siberia and Baltica).

Near the equator, collision of North America and Europe resulted in the formation
of the northern Appalachian mountains and the Caledonian mountains. The
southern continents remained tied together in the supercontinent of Gondwana.
The remainder of modern Eurasia lay in the Northern Hemisphere.

Sea levels were high worldwide, and much of the land lay submerged under
shallow seas. Large shallow seas in North America, central Asia, and Australia
became basins in which great quantities of rock salt, gypsum, and other minerals
precipitated.

Paleoclimate: The Devonian was a relatively warm period, and probably lacked
any glaciers. The temperature gradient from the equator to the poles was not as
large as it is today. The weather was also very arid, mostly along the equator
where it was the driest.
Flora: Before the Devonian, there was no organic accumulation in the soils, resulting in a
reddish colour. This is indicative of the underdeveloped landscape, probably colonized
only by bacterial and algal mats.

By the start of the Devonian, early terrestrial vegetation had begun to spread. These
plants did not have roots or leaves like most plants today, and many had no vascular
tissue at all. They probably spread vegetatively, rather than by spores or seeds, and did
not grow much more than a few centimeters tall. These plants included the now extinct
zosterophylls and trimerophytes.

By the Late Devonian, the first seed plants, like lycophytes, sphenophytes, ferns,
horsetails and progymnosperms had evolved. Most of these plants had true roots
and leaves, and many grew quite tall, forming the first trees and the first forests.
The progymnosperm Archaeopteris was a large tree with true wood. It was the
oldest known tree until the identification of Wattiesa in 2007. This rapid
appearance of so many plant groups and growth forms has been called the
"Devonian Explosion”.
At left, the fern-like leaves of Archaeopteris, one of the first tree-like plants. It grew to an
average height of about 10 meters, produced spores, and had a global distribution. At right, a
beautifully pyritized Devonian brachiopod, Paraspirifer bownockeri, from Ohio.

The Rhynie Chert in Scotland is a Devonian age deposit containing fossils of both
zosterophylls and trimerophytes, some of the earliest vascular plants. This
indicates that prior to the start of the Devonian, the first major radiations of plants
had already happened. The oldest known vascular plants in the Northern
Hemisphere are from the Devonian Period.

Fauna: In the oceans, brachiopods (such as the spiriferids) flourished. Crinoids, other
echinoderms, tabulate and rugose corals and ammonites were also common. Tabulate and
rugose corals built large reefs in shallow waters. Encrusting red algae also contributed to
reef building. The reef complexes were built in the equatorial seas between the
continents. In the Lower Devonian, ammonoids appeared which left large limestone
deposits from their shells. Bivalves, crinoid and blastoid echinoderms, graptolites, and
trilobites were all present, though most groups of trilobites disappeared by the close of
the Devonian.

The Devonian is also notable for the rapid diversification in fish. By the lower Devonian,
the first sharks, ray-finned bony fish, benthic, jawless and armored fish were common.
By the Middle Devonian, placoderms, the first sarcopterygians (the lobe-finned bony
fish) and the first jawed fish appeared. Many of these grew to large sizes and were
fearsome predators.

During the Devonian, two major animal groups colonized the land. The first tetrapods
(land-living vertebrates) and the first terrestrial arthropods, including wingless insects
and the earliest arachnids appeared. The ancestors of all tetrapods began adapting to walking
on land, their strong pectoral and pelvic fins gradually evolved into legs. There was a
diversification of the arthropods, which was a result of the diversification in vegetation.
First amphibians and new insects, like springtails, wingless insects and the
earliest arachnids appeared.

Extinction: Near the end of the Devonian, a mass extinction event occurred. Reasons
attributed are (1) glaciation and lowering of the global sea level, (2) meteorite impacts
and (3) changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide due to the evolution and spread of forests.

Important fossil locality: Rhynie Chert (Scotland) is an important source of fossils of

early land plants and terrestrial arthropods. The anatomy of specimens is preserved in
three-dimensional detail.
Carboniferous Period: Carboniferous means "coal-bearing," and is derived from the Latin
word, ‘carbo’ meaning coal and ‘fero’ meaning to bear. The term was coined by
geologists, William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822. This is a time when
extensive coal beds were formed around the world.
This Period is divided into 2 sub-systems in North America as Mississippian and
Pensylvanian. The Mississippian is named for the upper Mississippi River valley, not the
state of Mississippi, which has very few rocks of this age. the Pennsylvanian is named for
the state of Pennsylvania.

The Carboniferous is separated from the Devonian by the appearance of the conodont
Siphonodella sulcata or Siphondella duplicata. Conodonts are fossils that resemble the
teeth or jaws of primitive eel- or hagfish-like fish. The Carboniferous-Permian boundary
is distinguished by the appearance of the fusulinid foram Sphaeroschwagerina fusiformis
in Europe and Pseudoschwagerina beedei in North America. Fusulinids are giants among
protists and could reach a centimeter in length. They were abundant enough to form
sizable deposits known as "rice rock" because of the resemblance between fusulinids and
rice grains.

Pivotal Events of Carboniferous Period (359.2- 299 MYA). Carboniferous Period belongs
to Paleozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: The supercontinent Pangea was formed as Gondwana collided with

Euramerica (Laurasia) along the present line of eastern North America. This
continental collision resulted in the Hercynian orogeny (UK) and the Alleghenian
orogeny (North America). It also extended the newly uplifted Appalachians
southwestward as the Ouachita Mountains. A further collision of Siberia and eastern
Europe created the Ural Mountains of Russia.

There were two major oceans in the Period, the Panthalassa and Paleo-Tethys (inside
the Carboniferous Pangaea). Other minor oceans were shrinking and eventually
closed. The Rheic Ocean (closed by the assembly of South and North America). The
small, shallow Ural Ocean was closed by the collision of Baltica and Siberia
continents, creating the Ural Mountains and Proto-Tethys Ocean (closed by collision
of North China and Siberia).

A global drop in sea level at the end of the Devonian,reversed in early Carboniferous.
This created the widespread epicontinental seas and carbonate deposition of the
Mississippian. Shallow, warm, marine waters often flooded the continents.

Uplifting near the end of the Mississippian resulted in increased erosion, with an increase
in the number of flood plains and deltas.
Two large ice sheets at the southern pole locked up large amounts of water as ice. With
so much water taken out of the water cycle, sea levels dropped, leading to an increase in
terrestrial habitat. Increases and decreases in glaciation during the Pennsylvanian resulted
in sea level fluctuations that can be seen in the rocks as striped patterns of alternating
shale and coal layers.

Paleoclimate: The beginning of the Carboniferous generally had a more uniform,

tropical, and humid climate than exists today. This uniformity in climate may have
been the result of the large expanse of ocean that covered the entire surface of the
globe, except for a localized section where Pangea was coming together. Seasons if
any were not distinct. These observations are based on comparisons between fossil
and modern-day plant morphology.

There was also a drop in south polar temperatures. Southern Gondwana was glaciated
throughout the period, though it is uncertain if the ice sheets were a holdover from the
Devonian or not.

Stratigraphy: The term "Carboniferous" comes from England, in reference to the rich
deposits of coal. These deposits of coal occur throughout northern Europe, Asia, and
midwestern and eastern North America. The term "Carboniferous" is used throughout the
world to describe this period, although in the United States it has been separated into the
Mississippian (early Carboniferous) and the Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous)
Subsystems.

Carboniferous Stratigraphy
Characteristics Mississippian sub-system (early
Carboniferous)
Stages Tournaisian, Visean and
Serpukhovian.
Environmental Heavily marine, with seas covering
conditions parts of the continent.
Rock Shallow-water limestone composed of
composition the remains of crinoids.
Lime mudstones composed of the
carbonate mud produced by green
algae.
Olithic limestones, composed of
calcium carbonate in concentric
spheres produced by high wave
energy.
Pensylvanian sub-system (late
Carboniferous)
Bashkirian, Moscovian,
Kasimovian and Gzhelian.
Alternately terrestrial and
marine, with the transgression
and regression of the seas caused
by glaciation.
Transformation of plant material
into coal.
Marine transgression leading to
formation of sandstone, silty
shale, siltstone, freshwater
limestone (lagoon), underclay
and coal (swampy forest).
Marine regression leading to
 Sandstones (sedimentary rock
composed of quartz sand and
cemented by silica or calcium
carbonate) and siltstones (rock
composed of hardened silt).
Fossils Appearance of the conodont
Declinognathodus noduliferus, the
ammonoid genus Homoceras, and
the foraminifers Millerella pressa
and Millerella marblensis.
Solitary corals and Syringopora,
tubular colonial corals,
stelechophyllum and
Siphonodendron.
formation of shale, limestone
(shallow marine) and black shale
(deep marine).
Appearance of the fusulinid
Pseudostaffella antiqua.
Fusulinid foraminifers and the
pollen and spores from the coal
forests prevalent during that
time.
Three ammonoid cephalopod
genera-Gastrioceras,
Daiboloceras and Paralegoceras.

Flora: The Carboniferous Period is famous for its vast swamp forests. Such swamps
produced the coal from which the term Carboniferous, or "carbon-bearing," is
derived. Carboniferous glaciations in the southern pole apparently had little effect in
the deep tropics, where lush coal swamps flourished within 30 degrees of the
northernmost glaciers.

Due to prevalence of mild temperatures there was increase in tree ferns. The
Carboniferous plants resemble present day plants in the tropical and mildly temperate
areas. Many of them lack growth rings, which suggests a uniform climate.

Though many spectacular plant forms dominated the Carboniferous, most of them
disappeared before the end of the Paleozoic. On the left, Neuropteris, a leaf form
associated with the cycad-like seed-ferns. On the right, terminal branches from
Lepidodendron sternbergii, one of the great scale trees, most of which went extinct in the
 late Middle Pennsylvanian.

The uplift of the continents caused a transition to a more terrestrial environment during
the Pennsylvanian Subsystem. Swamp forests were widespread. In these forests, seedless
plants such as lycopsids flourished and were the primary source of carbon for the
formation of coal. The lycopods underwent a major extinction event after a drying trend,
most likely caused by increased glaciation. During the later part of the Period, ferns and
sphenopsids became more important, and the earliest relatives of the conifers appeared.

Fauna: The greatest evolution of the Carboniferous was the amniote egg for reproduction,
which allowed for the further exploitation of the land by certain tetrapods. It gave the
ancestors of birds, mammals, and reptiles the ability to lay their eggs on land without fear
of desiccation. The earliest amniote fossil was the lizard-like Hylonomus, which was
lightly built with deep, strong jaws and slender limbs.

The first land snails appeared and insects with wings that couldn’t fold back, such as
dragonflies and mayflies flourished and radiated. These insects, as well as millipedes,
scorpions and spiders became important in the ecosystem.

Anthracosaurs (basal tetrapods) and amniotes with deep skulls and a less sprawling body
(that afforded greater agility) appeared and were quickly followed by diapsids which
divided into two groups (1) the marine reptiles, lizards, and snakes, and (2) the
archosaurs (like crocodiles, dinosaurs and birds). The synapsids and presumably the
anapsids made their first appearance.

Filter feeders such as bryozoans, particularly fenestellids, were abundant in shallow,

warm marine waters that flooded the continents. The sea floor was dominated by
brachiopods. Foraminifers were abundant. The heavily armored fish from the
Devonian became extinct, being replaced with more modern-looking fish fauna. There
was a diversity in sharks and bony fish.

The deltaic environment (produced as a result of uplift at the end of the Mississippian),
supported fewer corals, crinoids, blastoids, cryozoans, and bryzoans. Freshwater clams
made their first appearance and there was an increase in gastropod diversity. As the
continents moved closer to forming Pangea, there was a net decrease in coastline, which
in turn affected the diversity of marine life in the shallow continental waters.

Extinction: A mid-Carboniferous drop in sea level precipitated a major marine

extinction, that hit crinoids and ammonites especially hard. Climatically, there was a
trend towards mild temperatures during the Carboniferous, as evidenced by the
decrease in lycopods and large insects.
Important fossil localities: Joggins (Nova Scotia, Canada), a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. This was home to early tetrapods such as Dendrerpeton. Mazon Creek (Illinois,
USA) is famous for its iron concretions preserving both plants and marine invertebrates.

Permian Period: The term was introduced by Sir Roderick Murchison in 1841, who
named it after the city of Perm (Ural Mountains, Russia).

Pivotal Events of permean Period (299-251 MYA). The Permean Period belongs to
Paleozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: By the beginning of the Permian, the motion of the Earth's crustal plates
had brought much of the total land together, fused in a supercontinent known as
Pangea. It straddled the equator and stretched towards the poles. Only Asia was
broken up at the time. Most of the rest of the surface area of the Earth was occupied
by a corresponding single ocean, known as Panthalassa, with a smaller sea to the east
of Pangea known as Paleo-tethys (between Gondwana and Asia). Location of Pangaea
had a corresponding effect on ocean currents in the Panthalasa and Paleo-Tethys
oceans.

The Cimmeria continent rifted away from Gondwana and drifted north to Laurasia,
causing the Paleo-Tethys to shrink. The Tethys ocean was growing on its southern
end.

Paleoclimate: The climate in the Permian was quite varied. In the beginning of the Period, the
Earth was still in an Ice Age (began in the Carboniferous). Glaciers receded around the Mid-
Permian period as the climate gradually warmed, drying the interior of continent's. This led to
the evolution of continental and monsoon types of climates. In the late Permian, the drying trend
continued leading to the widespread emergence of deserts on Pangaea.

Stratigraphy: Until the later 1990s, there was little consensus on the order of strata in
the late Permian. Since the upper strata of various Permian locations tend to be
relatively fossil deficient, correlation using index fossils has been difficult.
Correlation was attempted using fossils that were in some cases native only to the
local regions where they were found.

Permian Stratigraphy
Stages: Older classifications relied on the Ural Mountains stratigraphy.

Jin et al. (1994) proposed four epochs: the Uralian, the Chihsian, the Guadalupian and
the Lopingian.

According to the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the current classification

has three epochs: the Cisuralian, Guadalupian and Lopingian.
Environmental condition: Sea level fluctuations.
Rock composition: Shales, sandstones, siltstones, limestones, sand, marls and dolostones.
Fossils: Brachiopods, ammonoids, fusilinids, conodonts and other marine invertebrates.

Flora: The dry conditions of continental interiors favoured the growth of gymnosperms over
plants such as ferns. The first modern trees (conifers, ginkgos and cycads) appeared in this
Period.

The Permian began with the Carboniferous flora still flourishing. About the middle of the
Permian a major transition in vegetation began. The swamp-loving lycopod trees of the
Carboniferous (such as lepidodendron and sigillaria) were progressively replaced in the
continental interior by the more advanced seed ferns and early conifers. At the close of the
Permian, lycopod and equisete swamps (reminiscent of Carboniferous flora) survived only on a
series of equatorial islands in the Paleo-Tethys Sea (present day South China). The Permian saw
the radiation of many important conifer groups, including the ancestors of many present-day
families. Rich forests were present in many areas, with a diverse mix of plant groups. The
southern continent saw extensive seed fern forests of the glossopteris flora.

Fauna: Oceans were rich in molluscs, echinoderms, brachiopods, fusulinids and ammonoids.
Several groups of insects appeared during the Permian like primitive relatives of cockroaches,
primitive forms of dragon flies, beetles and true bugs. Ancestors of amphibians, reptiles and
early mammals appeared. There were no aerial vertebrates (with the exception of gliding
lizards).

Extinction: There was a mass extinction at the end of the Period in which 90% to 95% of marine
biota disappeared and 70% of all terrestrial organisms and also, the mass extinction of insects.
Nautiluses, a species of cephalopods, surprisingly survived this occurrence.Reasons for
extinction are attributed to (1) outpouring of magma in the form of flood basalt, (2) reduction of
coastlines due to formation of Pangaea and (3) highly increased aridity due to continental climate
and ejection of CO2, hydrogen sulphide gas (H2S) and release of frozen methane.

Important fossil localities: The Ural Mountains, China and the Glass Mountain
(Texas, USA) has fossils which indicate shallow, warm-water marine life.

Mesozoic Era:

The Mesozoic (252-65.5 MYA) is divided into three time periods namely, the Triassic
(251-199.6 MYA), the Jurassic (199.6-145.5 MYA) and the Cretaceous (145.5-65.5
MYA).

Mesozoic means "middle animals," and is the time during which the world fauna changed
drastically from that of the Paleozoic. Dinosaurs, which are perhaps the most popular
organisms of the Mesozoic, evolved in the Triassic, but were not very diverse until the
Jurassic. Except for birds, dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Some of
the last dinosaurs to have lived are found in the late Cretaceous deposits of Montana in
the United States.
After the vigorous convergent plate mountain-building of the late Paleozoic, Mesozoic
tectonic deformation was comparatively mild. The era featured the dramatic rifting of the
supercontinent Pangaea. It gradually split into a northern continent, Laurasia and a
southern continent, Gondwana. This created the Atlantic coastline of today, such as east
coast of the U.S.

The Mesozoic was also a time of great change in the terrestrial vegetation. The early Mesozoic
was dominated by ferns, cycads, ginkgophytes, bennettitaleans, and other unusual plants.
Modern gymnosperms, such as conifers, first appeared in their current recognizable forms in the
early Triassic. By the middle of the Cretaceous, the earliest angiosperms had appeared and began
to diversify, largely taking over from the other plant groups.

Mesozoic fossil localities are: the Blue Nile Gorge (Ethiopia), Clayton Lake (New
Mexico), Ischigualasto (Argentina), Karoo Basin (South Africa), PT Loma Formation
(California) and Solnhofen Limestone (Southern Germany).

Triassic Period: It was named in 1834 by Friedrich von Alberti, after the three distinct rock
layerss found throughout Germany and NW Europe (red beds capped by marine limestone,
followed by a series of teresstrial mud and sandstone).

Pivotal Events in Triassic Period (251.0-199.6 MYA). Triassic Period belongs to

Mesozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: During this period, almost all the Earth's land mass was concentrated into a
single supercontinent, Pangaea, centered more or less on the equator. This spanned from
pole to pole. The Tethys sea penetrated into the supercontinent from the east and along
the equator. This caused the Paleo-Tethys ocean to be closed. In the mid-Triassic, a
similar sea penetrated Pangaea from the west along the equator. The remaining shores
were surrounded by Panthalasa.

Pangaea started rifting during the mid Triassic, forming Gondwana (South America,
Africa, India, Antarctica and Australia) in the south and Laurasia (North America and
Eurasia) in the north. The movements of the 2 supercontinents was caused by sea floor
spreading at the midocean ridge lying beneath the Tethys Sea.

While Pangea was breaking apart, mountains were forming on the west coast of North
America by subduction of the ocean plates beneath the continental plates. Throughout the
Middle to Upper Triassic, mountain-forming continued along the coast extending from
Alaska to Chile. As mountains were forming in the Americas, North Africa was being
split from Europe by the spreading rift. This division of the continents advanced further
westward, eventually splitting eastern North America from North Africa (seen in the rift
that separated New Jersey from Morocco).
In the Triassic, there was apparently no land near either of the poles and no extensive ice
caps existed.

Generally speaking, the continents were of high elevation compared to sea level, and the
sea level did not change drastically during the period. Due to the low sea level, flooding
of the continents to form shallow seas did not occur.

Paleoclimate: The climate was influenced largely by tectonic events namely, Pangea, its
centralized position straddling the equator and the geologic activity associated with its
breakup. The climate of continental interiors was highly seasonal and generally hot and dry.
Continental interiors experienced hot summers and cold winters. The polar regions were moist
and temperate, providing a suitable climate for gymnosperm forests, coal-rich sequences (in
the high northern and southern latitudes) and large amphibians. Pangaea’s large size
limited the moderating effect of the oceans. The strong contrast between Pangaea and the
surrounding oceans triggered intense cross-equatorial monsoons. The Triassic may have
mostly been a dry period, but evidence exists that it was punctuated by several episodes of
increased rainfall in tropical and subtropical latitudes of the Tethys Sea and its surrounding land.

Stratigraphy: Triassic marine deposits are relatively rare in the world. These deposits are
prominent in western Europe where it was first studied. Thus Triassic stratigraphy is
mostly based on organisms living in lagoons and hypersaline environments, such as
Estheria crustaceans and terrestrial vertebrates.

Flora: On land, the surviving vascular plants included the lycophytes, the dominant
cycadophytes, ginkgophyta (modern Ginkgo biloba), ferns, horsetails and glossopterids. The
spermatophytes (seed plants) dominated the terrestrial flora. Conifers, ferns and bennettitales
flourished in the northern hemisphere. Glossopteris (seed fern) dominated the southern
hemisphere. No coal deposits date from the start of the Triassic period. This is known as the
"coal gap".

Fauna: Therapsids and archosaurs were the chief terrestrial vertibrates. Dinosaurs and the
first flying vertibrates-the pterosaurs, ( both were specialized sub-groups of archosaurs)
and the first true mammals (a specialized sub-group of Therapsids) appeared in this
Period. Terrestrial temnospondyls (largest group of early amphibians) were replaced by
reptiles. Rhynchosaurs (barrel-gutted herbivores) were abundant and earliest turtles
appeared in late Triassic.

In early Triassic, new modern types of corals appeared forming small patches of reefs of
modest extent compared to the great reef systems of Devonian and modern times. Serpulids
appeared in the middle Triassic. Microconchids were abundant. The shelled cephalopods
(ammonites) recovered and diversified from a single line that survived the Permian extinction.
The fish fauna was remarkably uniform, indicating that very few families survived the Permian
extinction. There were also many types of marine reptiles like sauropterygia, placodonts,
plesiosaurs, askeptosaurs and ichthyosaurs.
Extinction: The start and end of the Period is marked by major extinction events. The
period ended with a mass extinction. It was particularly severe in the oceans, with 22% of all
families and possibly about half of all genera going extinct. The conodonts and all the marine
reptiles except ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs disappeared. Invertebrates like brachiopods,
gastropods and molluscs were severely affected.

Important fossil localities: Ischigualasto Formation and Sic Locality, both in South
America.

Jurassic Period:

Pivotal Events of Jurassic Period (199.6/201.3-145.0 MYA). Jurassic Period is a part

of Mesozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: This period is named after the Jura Mountains on the border between
France and Switzerland, where rocks of this age were first studied.

During the earlyJurassic, the supercontinent Pangaea broke up into the northern
supercontinent Laurasia and the southern supercontinentGondwana. the Gulf of
Mexico opened in the new rift between North America and Mexico’s Yucatan
Peninsula. The Jurassic North Atlantic Ocean was relatively narrow, while the South
Atlantic did not open until the following Cretaceous Period, when Gondwana itself
rifted apart. The Tethys Sea closed, and the Neotethys basin appeared.

In westernEurope, there were extensive marine sequences that indicate a time when
much of the continent was submerged under shallow tropical seas. The epicontinental
Sundance Sea left marine deposits in parts of the northern plains of the US and
Canada.

In the mid-Jurassic, the Nevadan orogeny began.

Paleoclimate: Climate was warm, with no evidence of glaciation.

Stratigraphy: In westernEurope, there were extensive marine sequences that indicate a

time when much of the continent was submerged under shallow tropical seas. Famous
locales include the Jurassic Coast and the renowned late Jurassic lagerstätten of
Holzmaden and Solnhofen. In contrast, the North American Jurassic record is the
poorest of the Mesozoic, with few outcrops at the surface.

The epicontinental Sundance Sea left marine deposits in parts of the northern plains of
the US and Canada during the late Jurassic, most exposed sediments from this period
are continental, such as the alluvial deposits of the Morrison Formation.
 The first of several massive batholiths were emplaced in the northern Cordillera
beginning in the mid-Jurassic, marking the Nevadan orogeny.

Important Jurassic exposures are also found inRussia, India, South America, Japan,
Australasia and the UK.

The oilfields of the North Sea are Jurassic in age.

Flora: Land plants abounded in the Jurassic, but floras were different from what we see
today. There were no palm trees and flowering plants. Instead, ferns, ginkgoes,
bennettitaleans or "cycadeoids," and true cycads — like the living cycad pictured above,
lower left — flourished in the Jurassic. Conifers were also present, including close
relatives of living redwoods, cypresses, pines and yews.

Fauna: The dinosaurs dominated the land fauna like the gigantic sauropods, such as the
famous Diplodocus (top right, above), Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus. Other herbivorous
dinosaurs of the Jurassic included the plated stegosaurs. Predatory dinosaurs of the
Jurassic included fearsome carnosaurs such as Allosaurus, small, fast coelurosaurs, and
ceratosaurs such as Dilophosaurus. The Jurassic also saw the origination of the first birds,
including the well-known Archaeopteryx, probably from coelurosaurian ancestors.

Important fossil localities: Blue Nile Gorge (Ethiopia). Solnhofen Limestone (S.
Germany).

Cretaceous Period:

Pivotal Events of Cretaceous Period (145-66 MYA). Cretaceous Period is a part of

Mesozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: By the beginning of the Cretaceous, the supercontinent Pangea was already
rifting apart, and by the mid-Cretaceous, it had split into several smaller continents. This
created large-scale geographic isolation, causing a divergence in evolution of all land-
based life for the two new land masses. The rifting apart also generated extensive new
coastlines, and a corresponding increase in the available near-shore habitat.

During the Cretaceous, the supercontinent of Pangaea completed its breakup into present
day continents, although their positions were substantially different at the time. As the
Atlantic Ocean widened, the convergent-margin orogenies that had begun during the
Jurassic continued in the North American Cordillera, as the Nevadan orogeny was
followed by the Sevier and Laramide orogenies. Though Gondwana was still intact in the
beginning of the Cretaceous, it broke up as South America, Antarctica and Australia
rifted away from Africa. India and Madagascar remained attached to each other. Thus,
the South Atlantic and Indian oceans were newly formed. Such active rifting lifted great
undersea mountain chains along the welts, raising eustatic sea levels worldwide.

To the north of Africa, the Tethys sea continued to narrow. Broad shallow seas advanced
across central North America (the western interior seaway) and Europe, which receded
late in the period, leaving thick marine deposits sandwiched between coal beds. At the
peak of the Cretaceous transgression, one-third of Earth's present land area was
submerged. The Cretaceous is famous for its chalk. Indeed, more chalk formed in the
Cretaceous than in any other period in the Phanerozoic. Mid-ocean ridge activity or the
circulation of seawater through the enlarged ridges enriched the oceans in calcium. This
made the oceans more saturated with the element and increased the bioavailability of the
element for calcareous nanoplankton. These widespread carbonates and other
sedimentary deposits make the Cretaceous rock record especially fine. Famous
formations from North America include the rich marine fossils of Smoky Hill Chalk
Member (Kansas) and the terrestrial fauna of the late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation.
Other important Cretaceous exposures occur in Europe andChina. In the area that is now
India, massive lava beds called the Deccan Traps were laid down in the very late
Cretaceous and early Paleocene.

Paleoclimate: The rifting apart of Pangaea resulted in the origin of seasons, which began
to grow more pronounced as the global climate became cooler.

Life in general: The breakup of the supercontinent Pangea (which began during the
Jurassic), continued. This led to increased regional differences in floras and faunas
between the northern and southern continents.

Flora: Forests evolved to look similar to present day forests, with oaks, hickories, and
magnolias becoming common in North America by the end of the Cretaceous.

The most important of these events, at least for terrestrial life, was the first appearance of
the flowering plants, also called the angiosperms or Anthophyta. First appearing in the
Lower Cretaceous around 125 million years ago, the flowering plants first radiated in the
middle Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago. Early angiosperms did not develop
shrub- or tree-like morphologies, but by the close of the Cretaceous, a number of forms
had evolved that any modern botanist would recognize. The angiosperms thrived in a
variety of environments such as areas with damper climates, habitats favored by cycads
and cycadeoids, and riparian zones. High southern latitudes were not invaded by
angiosperms until the end of the Cretaceous. Ferns dominated open, dry and/or low-
nutrient lands. Typical Jurassic vegetation, including conifers, cycads, and other
gymnosperms, continued on into the Lower Cretaceous without significant changes. At
the beginning of this period, conifer diversity was fairly low in the higher latitudes of the
Northern Hemisphere, but by the middle of the period, species diversification was
increasing exponentially. Swamps were dominated by conifers and angiosperm dicots.

The Cretaceous also saw the first radiation of the diatoms in the oceans (freshwater
diatoms did not appear until the Miocene).

Fauna: The Cretaceous is usually noted for being the last portion of the "Age of
Dinosaurs", but that does not mean that new kinds of dinosaurs did not appear then. It is
during the Cretaceous that the first ceratopsian and pachycepalosaurid dinosaurs
appeared. Also during this time, we find the first fossils of many insect groups, modern
mammal and bird groups.

Important fossil localities: The Clayton Lake, New Mexico which has the most extensive
and best preserved dinosaur trackways in the United States. PT. Loma Formation,
California has yielded important fossils for understanding western North American
dinosaurs.

Note: By the end of the Mesozoic era, the continents had rifted into nearly their present
form. Laurasia became North America andEurasia. Gondwana split into South America,
Africa, Australia, Antarctica and the Indian subcontinent. The Indian subcontinent
collided with the Asian plate giving rise to the Himalayas. The Tethys Sea, which had
separated the northern continents from Africa and India, began to close up, forming the
Mediterranean Sea.

Cenozoic Era:

Of the 3 major sub-divisions of animal history, the Cenozoic Era is the most recent. The
other two are the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Eras. This Period spans (65.5 MYA to the
present). The Cenozoic is sometimes called the Age of Mammals, because land animals
during the Period were mammals. This is a misnomer for several reasons. First, the
history of mammals began long before the Cenozoic began. Second, the diversity of life
during the Cenozoic is far wider than mammals. The Cenozoic could have been called the
"Age of Flowering Plants" or the "Age of Insects" or the "Age of Teleost Fish" or the
"Age of Birds".

It is divided into three periods namely, the Paleogene (65.5 to 23.03 million years ago),
Neogene (23.03 to 2.6 million years ago) and the Quaternary (2.6 million years ago to
present). Paleogene and Neogene are relatively new terms that now replace the
deprecated term, Tertiary. The Paleogene is subdivided into three epochs: the Paleocene
(65.5 to 55.8 million years ago), the Eocene (55.8 to 33.9 million years ago), and the
Oligocene (33.9 to 23.03 million years ago). The Neogene is subdivided into two epochs:
the Miocene (23.03 to 5.332 million years ago) and Pliocene (5.332 to 2.588 million
years ago).

The concepts of Tertiary and Quaternary have an interesting history. In the 1760s and 1770s a
geologist, named Giovanni Arduino was studying the rocks and minerals in Tuscany. He
classified mountains according to the type of rocks that he found in them. Unfossiliferous schists,
granites, and basalts (all volcanic rocks) that formed the core of large mountains were called
Primitive. Fossil-rich rocks of limestone and clay that were found on the flanks of mountains
over the Primitive rocks were called Secondary. Finally, there were another group of
fossiliferous rocks of limestones and sandstones lying over the Secondary rocks and forming the
foothills of the mountains were called Tertiary. So at first, Tertiary referred to a certain type of
rock found in the area of Tuscany. But later, geologists used the fossils found in the Tertiary
rocks there to recognize rocks of the same age elsewhere.

Extensive Tertiary age rocks were recognized in the Paris Basin, which is the area around
Paris, France.
In the 1820s and 1830s Charles Lyell, a noted English geologist who had a great
influence on Charles Darwin, subdivided the Tertiary rocks of the Paris Basin on their
fossils. Lyell came up with an ingenious idea. He noticed that the rocks at the top of the
section had a very high percentage of fossils of living mollusc species. Those at the
bottom of the section had very few living forms. He deduced that this difference was
because of the extinction of older forms and the evolution of living forms during the time
that the rocks were being deposited. He divided the Tertiary rocks into three sub-ages
(from top to bottom): the Pliocene, the Miocene, and the Eocene. 90% of the fossil
molluscs in Pliocene rocks were living today. In the Miocene rocks, only 18% of the
molluscs were of living species, and only 9.5% fossils were found in Eocene rocks.

These subdivisions of the Tertiary have been correlated around the world using the fossil
species in them. Rocks with the same species as Lyell's Eocene, are considered to be the
same age as those in the Paris Basin. The same goes for the other subdivisions. Some
time later it was noted that in areas other than the Paris Basin, there were rocks that
seemed to be from time periods that were not represented in Lyell's sequence. This was
because during those periods there had been no deposition in what would later be the
Paris Basin. These two periods, later designated Oligocene and Paleocene, were inserted
into the Tertiary in their proper places.

Cenozoic fossil localities are: The Bodjong Formation (Indonesia) where Numerous
deep-water molluscsgive us a picture of past tropical marine life. Creed Formation (S.W.
Colorado) highlights A rich plant community includes pine, fir, barberry, and a variety of
other species. Florissant Formation (Rocky Mountains of Colorado) has fossil insects.
Green River Formation is Rich in fossils of plants, insects and fish. This Eocene locality
extends across Utah, Colorado and Wyoming (western US). Rancho La Brea Tar Pits
(Los Angeles, California) is an asphalt seep containing Pleistocene fossils. Monterey
Formation (coastal California) has fossils of macroalgae, microfossils, shells, crabs and
porpoises. Villavieja Formation (Coolumbia) has fossils of the pre-Pliocene animal
groups.

Paleogene Period: The Paleogene (alternatively Palaeogene) Period is a unit of

geologic time that began 66 and ended 23.03 MYA and comprises the first part of the
Cenozoic Era. This period consists of thePaleocene, Eocene and Oligocene Epochs.

Paleocene Epoch:

The Paleocene lasted from 66-56 MYA. In many ways, the Paleocene continued
processes that had begun during the late Cretaceous Period. During the Paleocene, the
continents continued to drift toward their present positions. Supercontinent Laurasia
had not yet separated into three continents. Europe and Greenland were still
 connected. North America and Asia were still intermittently joined by a land bridge,
while Greenland and North America were beginning to separate. The Laramide
orogeny of the late Cretaceous continued to uplift the Rockie Mountains in the
American west, which ended in the succeeding epoch. South and North America
remained separated by equatorial seas (they joined during theNeogene). The
components of the former southern supercontinent Gondwana continued to split apart,
with Africa, South America, Antarctica and Australia pulling away from each other.
Africa was heading north towardEurope, slowly closing theTethys Sea. India began
its migration to Asia that would lead to a tectonic collision and the formation of
theHimalayas.

Eocene Epoch:

Pivotal Events in Eocene Epoch (55.8-33.9MYA). The Eocene Epoch is a part of the
Paleogene Period-Cenozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Tectonics: Land connections existed between Antarctica and Australia, between North
America and Europe through Greenland, and probably between North America and Asia
through the Bering Strait. It was an important time of plate boundary rearrangement, in
which the patterns of spreading centers and transform faults were changed, causing
significant effects on oceanic and atmospheric circulation and temperature.

Fauna: The oldest known fossils of most of the modern orders of mammals appear in a
brief period during the early Eocene and all were small, under 10 kg. The lower
temperatures and increased seasonality (in the late Eocene) drove increased body size of
mammals.

Important fossil localities: The Florissant Formation, Colorado has remarkably preserved
insect fossils. The Green River Formation is Rich in fossils of plants, insects and fish. this
American locality extends across Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming.

Oligocene Epoch:

Pivotal Events in Oligocene Epoch (33.9 or 34 to 23 MYA). Oligocene Epoch belongs to

Paleogene Period (Tertiary)-Cenozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Fauna: The mid-Oligocene was marked by a worldwide marine regression. This included
a decline in the total number of marine species. On land, the first of the open grassland
faunas appeared in Mongolia.
Important fossil localities: The Creed Formation in Colorado which contains a rich plant
community that includes pine, fir, barberry etc.

Hyaenodon horridus, a large carnivorous mammal from the White River Oligocene of
South Dakota. Deposits containing Hyaenodon are found in Badlands National Park.

Neogene Period: The Neogene Period is a unit of geologic time starting 23.03 MYA and
ends at 2.588 Mya. The Neogene Period follows the Paleogene Period and consists of the
Miocene and Pliocene. Neogene is followed by the Quaternary Period.

Miocene Epoch:
Pivotal Events of the Miocene Epoch (23.03-5.3 MYA). Miocene Epoch belongs to the
Neogene Period-Cenozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Stratigraphy: The Miocene was first recognized and defined by Charles Lyell in the early
nineteenth century. Stratigraphy within the Miocene, as with much of the Cenozoic, is
often defined on a highly regional basis. Terrestrial faunas are recognized in ages which
vary from continent to continent, primarily because the animals themselves varied from
place to place. These ages are usually defined on the basis of the land mammals, so that
North America, Europe, Australia, etc., each have their own Land Mammal Ages.

For marine stratigraphy, diatoms and foraminifera are the primary groups used to
recognize ages. By this time, both groups were abundant and diversified globally, so
much so that diatomite is a common marine sediment of the Miocene. Because the
diatoms are abundant, and make up a large portion of many marine deposits, they are
particularly useful for identifying the relative ages of fossil deposits.

Both the perissodactyls (odd-toed hoofed) and artiodactyls (even-toed hoofed) underwent a
period of rapid evolution during the Miocene.

Chalicotherium, a Miocene mammal from Kazakhstan. Chalicotherium was an unusual

"odd-toed" hoofed mammal, or perissodactyl.

Important fossil localities: (1) The Monterey Formation, California: Vast area with
exposed outcrops along the coastal ranges contains fossils of macroalgae, microfossils,
shells, crabs and porpoises.

(2) The Villavieja Formation, Columbia: Only good source of information about Tertiary
animals in the South American tropics. Many of these groups have been found nowhere
else outside of the continent.
Pliocene Epoch:

Pivotal Events of Pliocene Epoch (5.3-2.6 MYA). The Pliocene Epoch is a part of the
Neogene Period-Cenozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Important fossil locality: Bodjong Formation (Indonesia) has a very well preserved rich
plant community contains pine, fir, barberry, other species etc.

Quaternary Period is sub-divided into Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs.

Pleistocene Epoch:

Pivotal Events in Pleistocene Epoch (2.6 MYA to 11,700 YA). Pleistocene Epoch
belongs to Quaternary Period-Cenozoic Era-Phanerozoic Eon.

Pleistocene fossils are often abundant, well-preserved, and can be dated very precisely.

Important fossil locality: La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, California (U.S.A.).

Holocene Epoch:

Pivotal Events of Holocene Epoch or Anthropogene (the last 11,700 years of the
Earth's history to today). Holocene is part of Quaternary Period-Cenozoic Era-
Phanerozoic Eon.

Holocene marine fossils are known from Vermont, Quebec, Ontario and Michigan.
These fossils are found primarily in lakebed, flood plain and cave deposits.

Holocene marine deposits along low-latitude coastlines are rare because the rise in sea
levels during the period exceeds any likely upthrusting of non-glacial origin.

Post-glacial rebound in Scandinavia resulted in the emergence of coastal areas around

the Baltic Sea, including much of Finland. The region continues to rise, still causing
weak earthquakes across northern Europe. The equivalent event in North America
was the rebound of Hudson Bay, as it shrank from its larger, immediate post-glacial
Tyrrell Sea phase, to near its present boundaries.