History Of North Carolina

By AudreyDBridges

  • Holocene

    The sandhills were formed at this time. Streams eroded the Piedmont and Blue Ridge, carrying sediment to the Coastal Plain. The resulting shoreline is called an escarpment. The town of Cross Creek is now called Fayetteville.
  • Period: to

    9000 BC

  • Pleistocene

    The glaciers began to recede over 18,000 years ago. The rising seas left a ridge above the water, creating the modern barrier islands. About 15000 years ago North Carolina's forests began to look like todays trees: pine, and spruce.

  • Pliocene

    A dry climate, short rainy seasons causing grasslands to flourish in the Piedmont.

  • Miocene

    Mammal and bird families are recognized. Grasses spread, and the first apes appear. Rapid erosion in the Piedmont was uneven and left behind the Uwharrie Mountains.

  • Oligocene

    The ocean advanced west as far as present-day New Bern.

  • Eocene

    The first grasses appeared. An ice cap developed on Antartica.

  • Paleocene

    Early mammals diversifies. The entire Coastal Plain of North Carolina was again above sea level.

  • Cretaceous

    The eastern portion of the modern Coastal Plain of North Carolina again lay under water but the ocean receded late in this period.

  • Jurassic

    The shore of the Atlantic Ocean was located near the present Outer Banks. The Appalachian Mountains continued to erode.

  • Triassic

    At this time North Carolina probably lay near the equator, and had a tropical climate.

  • Permion

    The Appalachian mountains were completed 260 million years ago.

  • Carboniferous/ Pennsylvanian

    The 1st reptiles appear. The continents were united in a "supercontinent" that geologists call Pangaea.

  • Carboniferous/ Mississippian

    The 1st vertebrates appeared on land, in coastal swamps, and early sharks were commen in the oceans.

  • Devonian

    Plants took over the land. Fish were common.

  • Silurian

    The 1st vascular palnts appeared. Applachians rose, streams carried sand and mud westward and filled the sea.

  • Ordovician

    The 1st green plants and fungi appeared on land.

  • Cambrian

    The "Cambrian Explosion" saw a major diversification of life. The Kings Mountain belt was formed about 540 million years ago.

  • Neoproterozoic

    The 1st fossils of multi-celled animals survive from this period.
  • Period: to

    9000 BC

  • Mesoproterozioc

    The first mountains formed in NC was the Grenville Mountains.

  • Paleoproterozoic

    1800 million years ago, the first complex single-celled life forms.

  • Archean

    The landmass that would become North America began to form.

  • Hadean

    4000 million years ago, the earth had a stable crust wit hoceans and a primitive atmosphere.