The Geologic Time

Scale
Geologic Time Scale: the record of the
life forms and geologic events in the
Earth’s history.
Since the span of time is so great from
the formation of the Earth to now,
scientists can’t use a normal calendar
to describe times.
 The geologic time scale is broken into 5 eras.
 Archeozoic era (“ancient”)
Proterozoic era (“early life”)
Paleozoic era (“old life”): life explodes in
diversity
 Mesozoic era (“middle life”): time of
dinosaurs
 Cenozoic era (“recent life”): time of
mammals
Extinctions
Extinct: When an animal or plant
species dies out completely.
Mass Extinction: When a large
number of species dies out at the same
time.
Reasons for Extinctions
Movements of continents.
Meteorites hitting the Earth.
Ice ages.
Major changes in the climate.
                        A.  Permian extinction
                                   
i.  90% of marine species went extinct.
                                     ii.  Pangaea formed and some species
began competing with each other for the first time.
                                     iii.  Mass extinction was caused by
volcanic eruptions and climate changes.
                       
                  B.  Cretaceous extinction
                                   
i.  Dinosaurs went extinct.
                                    ii.  An asteroid hit the earth and
created a cloud of debris that blocked out sunlight for
months.  Temperatures dropped and plants died.
Precambrian Time
Precambrian Time: 570 mya to the
beginning of the Earth.
Only very primitive organisms lived.

Baicalia= bacteria
The Early Earth
Scientists hypothesize that Earth was a
place of great turmoil.
Meteorites crashed into Earth.
Constant violent thunder storms.
Volcanic eruptions.
Intense radiation from the sun.
The Early Earth
How Life Began
Scientists hypothesize that under these
conditions, life developed 3.5 billion years
ago from nonliving matter that already
existed. This matter included water, clay,
minerals in the ocean and gases in the
atmosphere. The energy present in the early
Earth caused these chemicals to react and
form DNA like material.
Early Life

Bacteria
Life Evolves
For millions of years these DNA like
molecules floated in the oceans
reacting with each other to make more
complex molecules.
The reactions of these molecules may
have led to the first cells, prokaryotic.
Prokaryotic Cells
Prokaryotic Cells: cells without a true
nucleus.
Oxygen=Pollution?
Early life did not need oxygen to
survive, they were anaerobic. They
made their own food from carbon
dioxide through photosynthesis and
gave off oxygen as waste.
Evolution Again?
As the atmosphere took on more oxygen, it
formed a shield to protect Earth from the
sun’s rays called the ozone layer. This
helped keep oxygen in the air and allowed
early life to evolve to breathe the oxygen in
the air. These new organisms are now
called eukaryotes, or cells with true
nucleus.
Eukaryotes
The first eukaryotes evolved over 2
billion years ago.
Nucleus

Prokaryote Eukaryote
 Precambrian Life

Stromatolites Bacteria

Cambrian Explosion

Trilobites Brachiopods 09.10.a

Paleozoic era
Paleozoic era: 225mya-570mya, means
“ancient life”.
Rocks from this era are rich in fossils
of animals such as sponges, corals,
snails, clams, squids, trilobites, and
early fish and sharks.
Paleozoic Era
The Paleozoic era begins with the
Cambrian Explosion, in which many
different kinds of organisms evolved.
The Cambrian Explosion was a time of
a great number of new species
evolving.
Paleozoic Life

Snails Corals Sponges

Clams Squids Trilobites

 Life in the Paleozoic

Early Paleozoic Middle Paleozoic Late Paleozoic

09.10.c
Not Just Animals
During the Paleozoic era, plants, fungi,
and air-breathing animals colonized
dry land.
Plants provided the first land animals
with food and shelter.

Giant Ferns Conifers Horsetails

Fossils indicate that crawling insects
were some of the first land animals.
Near the end of the era, reptiles,
winged insects, cockroaches, and
dragonflies appeared.

Reptiles Dragonflies

Cockroaches
Permian Extinction
The largest mass extinction known
occurred at the end of the Paleozoic
era, about 90% of all marine species
died out.
Mesozoic Era
Mesozoic Era: 65mya-225mya, means
“middle life”, also called the age of
reptiles.
After the Paleozoic mass extinction
scientists think there was a burst of
evolution resulting in many new and
different species.
Mesozoic Life

Birds Flowers

Dinosaurs
 Life in the Mesozoic

Early Mesozoic: Triassic Middle Mesozoic: Jurassic

Late Mesozoic: Cretaceous

09.11.a
K-T Extinction
K-T Extinction: At the end of the
Mesozoic era, an asteroid is believed to
have hit the earth causing a mass extinction.
It is believed a large asteroid hit the Earth,
caused dust to block the sun killing all of
the plants, the animals had nothing to eat so
they died. Temperatures also dropped very
low.
Poor Dinosaurs
Cenozoic Era
Cenozoic Era: 65mya-now, means
“recent life”, also called the age of
mammals.
We have the most fossil information
from this era because the fossils from
this era are closest to the surface.
 Life in the Cenozoic

Late Cenozoic

Early Cenozoic

09.11.c
 Cenozoic Life

Saber-toothed Cat Camels

Mastodon and Cro-Magnon man

Cenozoic: Time of Mammals
First marsupial, then placental
mammals evolved (in Mesozoic)
Placental mammals soon diversify and
dominate
Cenozoic Life
Modern humans or Homo sapiens
have evolved.