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Jan 1, 1000
Precambrian Time Era
4.6 Billion Years Ago (BYA): Earth Forms
3.5 BYA: Oldest known fossils (Prokaryotes)
2.7 BYA: Dioxide accumulates in atmosphere
2.2 BYA: Oldest eukayotic fossils
1400-700 MYA: Protists evolve and diversify
600 MYA: Oldest soft-bodied invertabrate fossils -
Period: Jan 1, 1000 to
Geological Timescale
The timescale wouldn't let me enter a certain number of Billion or Million Years ago, so the years are not accurate while they're in the correct oder with specifications in the descriptions. -
Paleozoic Era: invertebrates, vertebrates, chordates, amphibians, reptiles, insects respectively.
542 Million Years Ago (MYA): Cambrian: first plants on land, marine algae flourish.
488.3 MYA: Ordovician: Nonvascular land plants appear
mass extinction
443.7 MYA: Silurian: Seedless vascular plants appear
416 MYA: Devonian: First seed plants appear, seedless vascular plants diversify
mass extinction
359.2 MYA: Carboniferous: Age of great coal forming forests (ferns, club mosses, and horsetails)
299 MYA: Permian: Gymnosperms diversify
mass extinction -
Mesozoic Period: mammals, dinosaurs, corals and molluscs, birds, and placental mammals respectively.
251 Million Years Ago (MYA): Triassic: Forests of conifers and cycads dominate
(mass extinction)
199.6 MYA: Jurassic: Flowering plants appear
145.5 MYA: Cretaceous: Flowering plants spread; conifers persist
(mass extinction: dinosaurs and most reptiles) -
Cenozoic Period (Tertiary): primitive primates, herbivores, canrivores, insectivores, and first homonids respectively.
65.5 Million Years Ago (MYA): Paleocene: Flowering plants continue to diversify
55.8 MYA: Eocene: Subtropical forests with heavy rainfall thrive
33.9 MYA: Many modern families of flowering plants evolve
2.3 MYA: Miocene: Grasslands spread as forests contract
5.3 MYA: Pliocene: Herbaceous angiosperms flourish -
Cenozoic Period (Quaternary): ice age mammals, modern humans, and age of Homo sapiens.
1.8 Million Years Ago (MYA): Pliestocene: Herbaceous plants spread and diversify
(significant mammalian extinction)
0.01 MYA: Holocene: Human influence on plant life occurs