Table of Contents

Precambrian Era 6 Paleozoic Era 14 Mesozoic Era 30

Hadean Period 8 Cambrian Period 16 Triassic Period 32

Archean Period 10 Ordovician Period 18 Jurassic Period 34

Proterozoic Period 12 Silarian Period 20 Cretaceous Period 36

Devonian Period 22

Cenozoic Era 38 Mississippian Period 24 Conclusion 46

Paleogene Period 40 Pennsylvanian Period 26 Glossary 47

Neogene Period 42 Permian Period 28

Quaternary Period 44

Introduction

The early earth was formed roughly 4.6 billion years ago and the early earth was inhospitable but not friendly to life. The atmosphere wad filled with hot gases and the land had frequent volcanic eruptions. About 3.9 billion years ago the Erath started to cool down , this lead to rain that filled depressions in the Earth forming the ocean around the world.

The 4 Majors Era's Of Earth Formation

(4600-570 million years ago)

Precambrian Era

*Hadean

*Archean

*Proterozoic

The Precambrian Era was about 3.5 billion years ago and this era makes up about 87% of the Earth's history. This Era developed the ability to photosynthesize 2.7 billion years ago. The organisms are included is simple unicellular prokaryotic, sponges and jelly fishes.

Hadean Period

(4600-3800 million years ago)

The Hadean Era is the era where it all began with the formation of the Earth. The Earth was full of lava oceans, meteors falling from space, and carbon dioxide filled air. No rocks on Earth can be found from this era and if there even was a spec of life, it was destroyed almost immediately.

Archean Period

(3800-2500 million years ago)

All of Earth has cooled down at this point, with the water vapor in the air from the asteroids condensing into the massive body of water we have today. Continents are not revealed yet, only islands. Algae floats in the water and is the only form of life found on Earth at the time, just a bunch of single-celled bacteria.

Proterozoic Period

(2500-570 million years ago)

Now there are two visable continents formed from the collision of many islands that were made by volcanos in the past. A lot of things stay the same at this time except now, the floating algae is producing and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. Lastly, the Earth is pretty chilly, with glaciers visable across the supercontinent.

Paleozoic Era

*Cambrian

*Ordovician

*Silarian

*Devonian

*Mississippian

*Pennsylvanian

*Permian

The Paleozoic Era lasted until about 245 million years ago. Life began to diversify and the fossil records shows many different types of animals and plants. Both invertebrates and vertebrates during this era. The organisms are includes worms, and sea stars. At the end of the Paleozoic Era there was the largest mass extinction on fossil record, where 90% of marine life and 70% of land species went extinct.

Cambrian Period

524-488.3 million years ago

Rapid growth of diversity in animals is known as the Cambrian explosion. By the Silurin period, both plants and invertebrate animals had made their way into land. Vertebrate fish had ventured out of the sea and became land dwellers by the Devonian Period. Once on land, life became as diverse as the see. The Carbonifeerous Period saw the emergence of flight winged insects.

Ordovician Period

488.3 - 443.7 million years ago

The second period of this Era . It began 485.4 million years ago following the Cambrian Period, and ended 443.8 millions ago, when the Silurian Period began . Ordovician rocks have the distinction of occurring at the highest elevation on Earth the top of Mount Everest. The Ordovician Period ushered in significant changes in plate tectonics, climate and biological systems.

Silurian Period

443.7 - 416 million years ago

Was the first time when the Earth underwent considerable changes that had important repercussion for the environment and life within it. One result of these changes was the melting of large glacial formations. This contributed to a substantial rise in the levels of the major seas. The Silurian witnessed a relative stabilization  of the Earth's general climate, ending the previous pattern of erratic climatic fluctuations.

Devonian Period

416 - 359.2 million years ago

 It was the fourth period of the Paleozoic Era. It was preceded by the Silurian Period and followed by the Carboniferous Period. It is often known as the “Age of Fishes,” although significant events also happened in the evolution of plants, the first insects and other animals. Sea levels were high with much of western North America under water. Climate of the continental interior regions was very warm during the Devonian Period and generally quite dry.

Mississippian Period

359.2-320 million years ago

Shallow, low-latitude seas and lush, terrestrial swamps covered the interior of the North American continent during the Mississippian Period of the Paleozoic Era , from about 359.2 to 320 million years ago. The Pennsylvanian and Mississippian Periods are uniquely American terms for the upper and lower sections of the Carboniferous, a geologic period defined by a sequence of coal and limestone-bearing strata delineated by European geologists in the early nineteenth century.

Pennsylvanian Period

320-299 million years ago

During the Pennsylvanian Period, widespread swamps laid down the thick beds of dead plant material that today constitute most of the world's coal . The term Pennsylvanian is a U.S. coinage based on the frequency of rocks of this period in the state of Pennsylvania; internationally, the terms late Carboniferous Period or Silesian Period are preferred.

Permian Period

299 - 252 million years ago

The global geography of the Permian included massive areas of land and water. By the beginning, the motion of the Earth's crustal plates had brought much of the total land together, fused in a supercontinent known as Pangea. Many of the continents of today in somewhat intact form met in Pangea , which stretched from the northern to the southern pole. 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 Tethys. Lastly, there was the Permain extinction that led the way for a new era.

(252-66 million years ago)

Mesozoic Era

*Triassic

*Jurassic

*Cretaceous