Geologic Time Scale With Links To Paleomaps
EON	ERA	PERIOD		EPOCH	DATES*	AGE of	Events
Phanerozoic	Cenozoic	Quaternary		Holocene	0-2	Mammals	Humans
				Pleistocene
		Tertiary	Neogene	Pliocene	2-5
				Miocene	5-24
			Paleogene	Oligocene	24-37
				Eocene	37-58
				Paleocene	58-66		Extinction of dinosaurs
	Mesozoic	Cretaceous			66-144	Reptiles	Flowering plants
		Jurassic			144-208		1st birds/mammals
		Triassic			208-245		First Dinosaurs
	Paleozoic	Permian			245-286	Amphibians	End of trilobites
		Carboniferous	Pennsylvanian		286-320		First reptiles
			Mississippian		320-360		Large primitive trees
		Devonian			360-408	Fishes	First amphibians
		Silurian			408-438		First land plant fossils
		Ordovician			438-505	Invertebrates	First Fish
		Cambrian			505-570		1st shells, trilobites dominant
Proterozoic	Also known as Precambrian				570-2,500		1st Multicelled organisms
Archean					2,500-3,800		1st one-celled organisms
Hadean					3,800-4,600		Approx age of oldest rocks 3,800

* Note: Dates are in millions of years

Taken from: MODERN PHYSICAL GEOLOGY, Graham R. Thompson Ph.D., Jonathan Turk Ph.D., Saunders College Publishing.

Links lead to period paleomaps created by Chrisopher R. Scotese for the Paleomap Project. The project illustrates the plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea during the past 1100 million years. All links open into a new window.