Cenozoic Era

Presented by:
Group 6:
Cenozoic Era
• The term Cenozoic,originally spelled Kainozoic
• It was introduced by English geologist John Phillips
• Considered to be the latest era in the geologic
timeline, which began from 65 million years ago up
to the present.
• It is composed of the Quaternary and Tertiary
periods, which are characterized by the presence
of primitive mamals and modern human civilization.
• It is the third major eras of Earth's history
• During the cenozoic era, mammals have evolved
and adapted to live in various environments,
including land, water, and even air.
• It is why cenozoic era called The Age of Mammals
• The current locations of the continents and their
modern-day inhabitants,including humans, can be
traced to this period.
• The era began on a big down note, catching the
tail end of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction
event at the close of the Cretaceous Period that
wiped out the remaining non-avian dinosaurs
• The Cenozoic Era is divided into three periods:
– Paleogene Period
– Neogene Period
– Quaternary Period
Climate
• Scientists have evidence of more than 60 periods of
glacial expansion interspersed with briefer intervals of
warmer temperatures. The entire Quaternary Period,
including the present, is referred to as an ice age due to
the presence of at least one permanent ice sheet
(Antarctica); however, the Pleistocene Epoch was
generally much drier and colder than the present time.
• Each segment of the Cenozoic experienced different
climates. During the Paleogene Period, most of the
Earth’s climate was tropical. The Neogene Period saw a
drastic cooling, which continued into the Pleistocene
Epoch of the Quaternary Period.
• As for the changing landscape, the continents drifted
apart during the Paleogene Period, creating vast
stretches of oceans. This had a significant impact on the
climate and marine life surrounding each continent.
• The global climate of the early portion of the Cenozoic
Period was much warmer than it is today, and the overall
climate of the Earth was much more consistent regardless
of proximity to the equator.

• The most significant period of global warming, known as

the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, took place of
55.8 million years ago. It was followed by a long cool, dry
period. The current global warming event has been set off
primarily by human activity.
• Although glacial advancement varied between continents,
about 22,000 years ago, glaciers covered approximately
30 percent of Earth’s surface. Ahead of the glaciers, in
areas that are now Europe and North America, there
existed vast grasslands known as the “mammoth
steppes.” The mammoth steppes had a higher
productivity than modern grasslands with greater
biomass. The grasses were dense and highly nutritious.
Winter snow cover was quite shallow.
Paleogene Period
• 65-23 million years ago
• which consists of the Paleocene Eocene and
Oligocene Epochss
• Was the time for the mammals that survived from
the Cretaceous Period
• In this period, rodents and small horses, such as
Hyracotherium are common and rhinoceroses
and elephants appear
• As the perios ends, dogs, cats, and pigs become common
place
• Other than a few birds that were classified as dinosaurs,
most notable the Titanis, the dinosaurs were gone.
• Large flightlss birds, such as the Diatryma, thrived.
• But the biggest development in the seas was the
appearance of whales in the mid- to late Paleogene. The
huge animals evolved from land mammals that took to the
seas.
• Meanwhile, smaller reptiles that survived the Cretaceous,
such as turtles, snakes, crocodiles, and lizards, basked in
the tropical warmth along the coasts. Birds, the holdouts
of the dinosaur age, diversified and flourished in the
skies. But the rapidly evolving mammals stole the show.
Starting from a fairly humble position 65 million years ago,
primates, horses, bats, pigs, cats, and dogs had all
evolved by the close of the period, 23 million years ago.
Hyracotherium Whale
Diatryma Titanis
Neogene Period
• 23-2.6 million years ago
• Which includes the Miocene and Pilocene epochs
• Gives rise to early primates, including early humans.
• Bovids, including cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, and
gazelle, flourish during this period.
• Without the dinosaurs, plant life had an opportunity to
flourish during the Cenozoic Era.
• Nearly every plant living today had its roots in the
Cenozoic Era.
• During the early part of the era, forests overran most of
North America.
• However, as the climate cooled forests died off,
creating open land.
• The climate continued to cool. Many of the areas that had
been covered by forests were changing to grasslands.
Grasses were better suited to the cool dry weather.

• But grasses had less nutrition than the forest plants of the
Paleogene Period. It took more effort to get the nutrients
out. Grasses were made of chemicals that were hard on
teeth. Chewing wore the teeth down. Animals that ate
grasses needed stronger teeth.
• Changes in the plants meant that the animals had to
adapt or die. Many of the forest dwellers became extinct
and new animals developed that could live on the
grasses. Horses had long, flat-topped teeth that were
especially good at grinding the grasses. Their teeth grew
longer and kept pushing up through their gums to keep up
with the wear that came from chewing.
The Earth Enters an Ice Age
• The cooling climate of the Paleogene Period continued
into the Neogene Period. By the end of the Pliocene
Epoch the earth was locked in an Ice Age. There were
many reasons that this happened. The lower sea levels,
new mountains and shifting ocean currents all
contributed. Ice caps grew over the polar regions. They
stretched far beyond their present locations. Glaciers,
growing from the ice caps, reached down as far as Ohio
in the United States. The Pleistocene Epoch was
beginning.
Bison Gazelle
Quaternary Period
• 2.6 million years ago to the present
• Consisting the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs
• It is widely accepted that we are still in the Holocene
Epochs, some scientists argue that we have entered the
Anthropocene Epoch
• In 2010 article in the scientific journal Environment
Science & Technology, scientists made the case for a
new epoch, blaming humans for causing a drastic shift in
condition
• the Quaternary is often considered the "Age of Humans."
Homo erectus appeared in Africa at the start of the period,
and as time marched on the hominid line evolved bigger
brains and higher intelligence. The first modern humans
evolved in Africa about 190,000 years ago and dispersed
to Europe and Asia and then on to Australia and the
Americas. Along the way the species has altered the
composition of life in the seas, on land, and in the air—
and now, scientists believe, we're causing the planet to
warm.
• Glaciers advance from the Poles and then retreat, carving
and molding the land with each pulse.
Sea levels fall and rise with each period of freezing and
thawing. Some mammals get massive, grow furry coats,
and then disappear.
• Humans evolve to their modern form, traipse around the
globe, and make a mark on just about every Earth
system, including the climate.
• At the start of the Quaternary, the continents were just
about where they are today, slowing inching here and
there as the forces of plate tectonics push and tug them
about. But throughout the period, the planet has wobbled
on its path around the sun. The slight shifts cause ice
ages to come and go. By 800,000 years ago, a cyclical
pattern had emerged: Ice ages last about 100,000 years
followed by warmer interglacials of 10,000 to 15,000
years each. The last ice age ended about 10,000 years
ago. Sea levels rose rapidly, and the continents achieved
their present-day outline.
• When the temperatures drop, ice sheets spread from the
Poles and cover much of North America and Europe,
parts of Asia and South America, and all of Antarctica.
With so much water locked up as ice, sea levels fall. Land
bridges form between the continents like the currently
submerged connector across the Bering Strait between
Asia and North America. The land bridges allow animals
and humans to migrate from one landmass to another.
TWO DIVISIONS OF
QUARTERNARY PERIOD
Pleistocene
• 2.588 million years ago to 11.7 thousand years ago
• best known as a time during which extensive ice sheets
and other glaciers formed repeatedly on the landmasses
and has been informally referred to as the “Great Ice
Age.”
• The timing of the onset of this cold interval, and thus the
formal beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch, was a matter
of substantial debate among geologists during the late
20th and early 21st centuries.
• By 1985, a number geological societies agreed to set the
beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch about 1,800,000
years ago, a figure coincident with the onset of glaciation
in Europe and North America.
• Modern research, however, has shown that large glaciers
had formed in other parts of the world earlier than
1,800,000 years ago. This fact precipitated a debate
among geologists over the formal start of the Pleistocene,
as well as the status of the Quaternary Period, that was
not resolved until 2009
Holocene
• 11.7 thousand years ago to today
• the current period of geologic time.
• Another term that is sometimes used is the Anthropocene
Epoch, because its primary characteristic is the global
changes caused by human activity. This term can be
misleading, though; modern humans were already well
established long before the epoch began. The Holocene
Epoch began 12,000 to 11,500 years ago at the close of
the Paleolithic Ice Age and continues through today.
• As Earth entered a warming trend, the glaciers of the late
Paleolithic retreated. Tundra gave way to forest. As the
climate changed, the very large mammals that had
adapted to extreme cold, like mammoth and wooly
rhinoceros, became extinct. Humans, once dependent on
these “mega mammals” for much of their food, switched
to smaller game and increased their gathering of plant
materials to supplement their diet.