Apes

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Geologic Time Chart

EON	ERA	PERIOD		EPOCH	PIVOTAL EVENTS
P h a n e r o z o i c E o n "Visible Life" Organisms with skeletons or hard shells. 540 mya through today. P h a n e r o z o i c E o n "Visible Life" Organisms with skeletons or hard shells. 540 mya through today. P h a n e r o z o i c E o n "Visible Life" Organisms with skeletons or hard shells. 540 mya through today. P h a n e r o z o i c E o n "Visible Life" Organisms with skeletons or hard shells. 540 mya through today.	Cenozoic Era "Age of Mammals" 65 mya through today	Quaternary Period "The Age of Man" 1.8 mya to today		Holocene 10,000 ya to today	Human civilization
				Pleistocene 1.8-.01 mya	The first humans (Homo sapiens) evolve. Mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths, etc. A mass extinction of large mammals and birds 20,000 years ago, probably caused by ice ages.
		Tertiary Period 65 to 1.8 mya	Neogene 24-1.8 mya	Pliocene 5-1.8 mya	First hominids (australopithecines). Modern forms of whales. Megalodon swam the seas
				Miocene 24-5 mya	More mammals, including the horses, dogs and bears. Modern birds. South American monkeys, apes in southern Europe, Ramapithecus.
			Paleogene 65-24 myaMoeritherium	Oligocene 37-24 mya	Starts with a minor extinction (36 mya). Many new mammals (pigs, cats, rhinos, tapirs, Platybelodon appear). Grasses common.
				Eocene 58-37 mya	Mammals abound. Rodents appear. Primitive whales appear.
				Paleocene 65-58 mya	First large mammals and primitive primates, plesiadapiforms.
	Mesozoic Era "The Age of Reptiles" 245 to 65 mya	Cretaceous Period 146 to 65 mya		Upper 98-65 mya	High tectonic and volcanic activity. Primitive marsupials develop. Continents have a modern-day look. Minor extinction 82 mya. Ended with large extinction (the K-T extinction) of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, ammonites, about 50 percent of marine invertebrate species, etc., probably caused by asteroid impact or volcanism.
				Lower 146-98 mya	The heyday of the dinosaurs. The first flowering plants, crocodilians, and feathered dinosaurs appear. Minor extinctions at 144 and 120 mya.
		Jurassic Period 208 to 146 mya			Many dinosaurs, including the giant Sauropods. The first birds appear (Archaeopteryx). Many ferns, cycads, gingkos, rushes, conifers, ammonites, and pterosaurs. Minor extinctions at 190 and 160 mya.
		Triassic Period 245 to 208 mya			The first mammals, dinosaurs, and crocodyloformes appear. Mollusks are the dominant invertebrate. Many reptiles. Triassic period ends with a minor extinction (35% of all animal families die out).
	Paleozoic Era 540 to 245 mya Paleozoic Era 540 to 245 mya	Permian Period "The Age of Amphibians" 280 to 245 mya			"The Age of Amphibians" - Amphibians and reptiles dominant. Gymnosperms dominant plant life.The continents merge into a single super-continent, Pangaea. Phtyoplankton and plants oxygenate the Earth's atmosphere to close to modern levels. The Permian ended with largest mass extinction. Trilobites go extinct, as do 50% of all animal families, 95% of all marine species, and many trees, perhaps caused by glaciation or volcanism.

• The Cladogram of Life.
• The Tree of Life from the University of Arizona.
• University of California's Museum of Paleontology Web Lift for Geologic Time.
• Extinction information from the Univ. of Arizona.
• Time-lines from Talk.Origins Archive.

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