GEOLOGIC TIME

SCALE
What is the Geologic Time Scale?
What does the time scale represent?
▪ The geologic time scale divides up the history of the
earth based on life-forms that have existed during specific
times since the creation of the planet. These divisions are
called geochronologic units (geo: rock, chronology: time).
▪ Most of these life-forms are found as fossils, which are
the remains or traces of an organism from the geologic
past that has been preserved in sediment or rock. Without
fossils, scientists may not have concluded that the earth
has a history that long precedes mankind.
 The Geologic Time Scale is divided by
the following divisions:
✓ Eons: Longest subdivision; based on the abundance of certain
fossils
✓ Eras: Next to longest subdivision; marked by major changes in the fossil record
✓ Periods: Based on types of life existing at the time
✓ Epochs: Shortest subdivision; marked by differences in life forms and can
vary from continent to continent.
▪ No life possible as the Earth initially forms 4.6 billion
years ago.
▪ Simple, single-celled forms of life appear 3.8 billion
years ago, becoming more complex and successful over
the next 3 billion years: Prokaryotes then Eukaryotes
▪ Cyanobacteria begins producing free oxygen
(photosynthesis)
▪ Land masses gather to make up a continent called
“Rodinia”
 The Earth Through Time
Standard 8-2.5: Illustrate the vast diversity of life that has been present on Earth over time by using the geologic time scale.

The Proterozoic:
▪ No life possible as the Earth initially forms 4.6
billion years ago.
▪ Simple, single-celled forms of life appear 3.8
billion years ago, becoming more complex and
successful over the next 3 billion years:
Prokaryotes then Eukaryotes
▪ Cyanobacteria begins producing free oxygen
(photosynthesis)
▪ Land masses gather to make up a continent
called “Rodinia”

Cambrian:
▪ Explosion of life
▪ All existing phyla come into being at this time
▪ Life forms in warm seas as oxygen levels rise
enough to support life
▪ Dominant animals: Marine invertebrates
(trilobites and brachiopods)
▪ Supercontinent Gondwana forms near the South
Pole (note position of present-day Florida)

PaleoMaps used with permission from Christopher Scotese and are under
copyright of C.R. Scotese, 2002 7

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Ordovician:
▪ The 1st animals with bones appear, though
dominant animals are still trilobites, brachiopods
and corals
▪ The beginning of the construction of South
Carolina
▪ A very cold time in Earth’s history: there was a
great extinction due to ice caps in present-day
Africa
▪ Four main continents: Gondwana, Baltica,
Siberia and Laurentia

Silurian:
▪ First land plants appear and land animals follow
▪ Laurentia collides with Baltica and closes
Iapetus Sea.
▪ Coral reefs expand and land plants begin to
colonize barren land.
▪ First millipede fossils and sea scorpions
(Euryptides) found in this period

PaleoMaps used with permission from Christopher

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Scotese and are under copyright of C.R. Scotese, 2002 Table of Contents 20
Devonian (Age of the Fish)
▪ Pre-Pangea forms. Dominant animal:
fish
▪ Oceans still freshwater and fish
migrate from southern hemisphere to
North America.
▪ Present-day Arctic Canada was at the
equator and hardwoods began to grow.
▪ Amphibians, evergreens and ferns
appear
▪ The Acadian Orogeny, leading to S.C.
metamorphism
PaleoMaps used with permission from Christopher Scotese and are under
Mississippian: copyright of C.R. Scotese, 2002
▪ First seed plants appear
▪ Much of North America is
covered by shallow seas and sea
life flourishes (bryoza, brachipods,
blastoids)

Pennsylvanian:
▪ Modern North America begins
to form
▪ Ice covers the southern
hemisphere and coal swamps
formed along equator.
▪ Lizards and winged insects first 9
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Permian:
▪ Last period of the Paleozoic
▪ Pangea forms. Reptiles spread
across continents.
▪90% of Earth’s species become
extinct due to volcanism in Siberia.
This marks the end of trilobites,
ammonoids, blastoids, and most
fish.

Triassic:
▪ First dinosaurs appear
▪ First mammals- small rodents appear
▪ Life and fauna re-diversify
▪ Rocky Mountains form.
▪ First turtle fossil from this period
▪ Pangea breaks apart

PaleoMaps used with permission from Christopher Scotese and are under
copyright of C.R. Scotese, 2002

Table of Contents 22
Jurassic:
▪ Pangea still breaking apart
▪ Dinosaurs flourish “Golden age of
dinosaurs”
▪ First birds appear
▪ North America continues to rotate away
from Africa

Cretaceous:
▪ T-Rex develops
▪ First snakes and primates appear
▪ Deciduous trees and grasses
common
▪ First flowering plants
▪ Mass extinction marks the end of
the Mesozoic Era, with the demise
of dinoaurs and 25% of all marine
life.
PaleoMaps used with permission from Christopher Scotese and are under copyright of
C.R. Scotese, 2002 Table of Contents
Tertiary:
▪ First horses appear and tropical
plants dominate (Paleocene)
▪ Grasses spread and whales, rhinos,
elephants and other large mammals
develop. Sea level rises and
limestone deposits form in S.C.
(Eocene)
▪ Dogs, cats, and apes appear
(Oligocene)
▪ Horses, mastadons, camels, and
tigers roam free in S.C. (Miocene)
▪ Hominids develop and the Grand
Canyon forms (Pliocene)

Quaternary:
▪ Modern humans develop and ice
sheets are predominant- Ice age
(Pleistocene)
▪ Holocene Humans flourish
(Holocene)

PaleoMaps used with permission from Christopher Scotese and are under
copyright of C.R. Scotese, 2002
Table of Contents 12
 GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
MYA ERA PERIOD EPOCH PLATE TECTONICS LIFE

-Mastadons become extinct

0.01 Holocene Beaches and barrier islands form -Human culture flourishes
-Accelerating extinction of many species
Quaternary

-Modern humans develop

1.8 Pleistocene Ice sheets form
-Asians arrive and settle the Americas

-Volcanic activity in North America and Africa

5.3 Pliocene Hominids develop
-Grand Canyon forms

Cenozoic
Horses, mastadons, mammoths, tigers, and
23.8 “Age of Mammals” Miocene Sandhills form in S.C.
camels live in South Carolina

33.7 Oligocene Appalachians uplift; erosion increases Cats, dogs, and apes appear
Tertiary

-Grass spreads widely

Sea levels rise; deposits of marine sediments –
54.8 Eocene -Diverse array of animals develop, including
limestone in S.C.; land bridges form
whales, rhinos, and elephants

Earthquakes common; Georgia Embayment, -First horses appear (size of a cat)

65.0 Paleocene
Cape Fear Arch forms in Southeast -Tropical plants dominate

Mass extinction occurs at the end of the period -T-Rex develops but number of dinosaur
caused by a meteorite impact (Dinosaurs, species decline
144 Cretaceous
ammonites and 25% of marine life become -Snakes appear and first primates appear
extinct) -Angiosperms appear

Mesozoic
“Age of Reptiles” Western US: orogeny of Rockies; North America -First birds appear
206 Jurassic
continues to rotate away from Africa -Golden age of dinosaurs

-Pangea begins to break apart First dinosaurs, mammals, crinoids, and

248 Triassic
-Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada form modern echinoids appear

-90% of Earth’s species become extinct,

-Pangea forms including trilobites, blastoids, fish and
290 Permian
-Appalachians rise amphibians because of heavy volcanism in
Siberia
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 -Reptiles develop from amphibians

Carboniferous
320 Pennsylvanian Great swamps develop (future coal deposits
-Flying insects appear

-First seed plants appear

354 Mississippian Much of North America is under water -Sea life flourishes including coral,
brachiopods, blastoids, and bryozoa

-Dominant animals: fish

417 Paleozoic Devonian Acadian Orogeny – SC metamorphism
-Amphibians, evergreens and ferns appear
“Age of
Invertebrates”
First land plants appear and land animals
443 Silurian Extensive erosion
follow

-Beginning of the construction of South

-First animals with bones appear
Carolina
490 Ordovician -Dominant animals: marine invertebrates
-Great extinction due to growth of ice caps
including corals and trilobites
including in what is now northern Africa

-Explosion of life
-All existing phyla came into being here
S.C. near the equator; island arc continues to -Life forms in warm seas as oxygen levels rose
540 Cambrian
move toward North America enough to support life
-Dominant animals: trilobites and
brachiopods

Earth takes 10 million years to cool: initial

No life possible as the Earth initially forms 4.6
atmosphere escapes into space (H&He) and
billion years ago.
the core forms (Fe&Ni)
Simple, single-celled forms of life appear 3.8
Volcanic outgassing of water and carbon
Precambrian billion years ago. They will become more
4600 dioxide occurred for millions of years, helping
(Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic Ages) complex and successful over the next 3 billion
to build atmosphere and then oceans
years: Prokaryotes then Eukaryotes
At 3 billion years ago, banded iron formation
Cyanobacteria begins producing free oxygen
rocks appear due to rising oxygen levels in the
(photosynthesis)
atmosphere and sea

Modified after Carolina Rocks, contributed by J. Westmoreland Table of Contents 7