Geologic

Time
Scale
Geologic Time Scale
- is used to represent evolutionary time.
- shows significant events in the history of Earth and of the evolution of living things.

 EONS – the largest slices of times, ranging from a half billion to nearly 2 billion years
long.
a) Proterozoic Eon
- it was marked by the existence of multicellular animal life.
- an era when the atmosphere began to have an oxygen.
- began more than 2.5 billion to 500 million years ago.
b) Phanerozoic Eon
- existence of organisms that had skeletons or hard shells.
- began more than 500 million years ago.
c) Archeozoic Eon
- 3.9 to 2.5 billion years ago.
- the first life-forms represented by single- celled organisms appeared.
d) Hadean Eon
- 4.6 to 3.9 billion years ago.
- Earth’s formation from dust to gasses.

 The Proterozoic, Archaezoic, and the Hadean Eons are sometimes collectively known as
Precambrian Time which accounts for almost 90% of Earth’s history.

 ERAS – eon that is divided into smaller time interval.

a) Paleozoic Era (540 million years ago)
- many kinds of organisms lived during this era.
- when fossils record became rich with evidence of many marine organisms.
b) Mesozoic Era (200 million years ago)
- also called as the “Age of Dinosaurs”, and sometimes “Age of Reptiles”
- when many kinds of dinosaurs existed.
- is also marked by the appearance of flowering plants.
c) Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago up to present)
- latest era in the geologic timeline.
- composed of Quaternary and Tertiary periods, which are characterized by
the presence of primitive mammals and modern human civilization.
- called the “Age of Mammals”, during this era mammals have evolved and
adapted to live in various environments.
 PERIOD – is one of the several subdivisions of geologic time that divides the era into
period.
 Proterozoic Eon is composed of Ediacaran/ Vendian Period
a) Vendian/ Ediacaran Period
- prokaryotic organisms began to appear during this period.
- life in this period only thrived underwater, and only a few fossils existed
because the animals were soft- bodied.
 Paleozoic Era is divided into:
a) Cambrian Period
- organisms were noted to have hard body parts such as shells and outer
skeleton.
e. g clams, pikaia, anthropod, sponges, hallucigenia, plants, jellyfish,worms
* brachiopods – small animals with two shells.
* trilobites – hard- shelled, segmented creatures. The most microscopic life- forms
in this period.
b) Ordovician & Silurian Period
- early forms of cephalopods(which include octopi squids appeared)
- first form of land also appeared during this period.
c) Devonian Period
- “Age of Fishes”
- shark appeared in the later part of this period.
 Archaeopteris Hibernica – one of the fernlike plants that thrived during the Devonian
Period.
d) Carboniferous & Permian Period
Reptiles – animals with scaly skins that lay eggs with tough leathery shells – evolved
from amphibians.
– winged insect such as dragonflies and cockroaches
– giant forms and other plants formed vast swampy forest.
 At the end of Paleozoic Era, many organisms became extinct, including trilobites, and
many Amphibians.
 Mesozoic Era was divided into:
* their extinction could have been brought about an asteroid impact/ volcanism.
a) Triassic Period
- many organisms beginning of this period survived the mass extinction
during the Permian Period, including fishes, insect, reptiles and cone- bearing
plants.
- about 251 million years ago, the first dinosaurs appeared, one of the earliest
dinosaur species belonged to the genus coelophysics.
 Coelophysis – meat- eater that had light hollow bones to help them run swiftly on their
legs.
- mammal also appeared in tater part of this period which probably evolved
from mammal- like reptiles.
- mammal during this period were very small.
b) Jurassic Period – dinosaurs became the dominant animals on land about 150
million years.
 Discraeosaurus – one of the largest dinosaurs in this period.
 Archeopteryx – one of the earliest known birds, made paleontologist believe that birds
are related to dinosaurs or relative of dinosaurs.
c) Cretaceous Period – when reptiles were dominant vertebrates on Eath.
- several kind of birds began exist alongside Pterosaur (flying
reptiles)
- also the period when new kinds of dinosaurs evolved.
 Iguanodon and Triceratops, species emerged as common herbivores.
 Tyrannosaurus rex and spinosarrus, were some of the dominant carnivores in this
period.
- other agratic organisms such as rays, sharks, corals and sea stars, as well as marine
reptiles such as Mosasaurs and Plesiosaurs dominated different bodies of water.