Precambrian life

In geologic time , Precambrian time encompasses the time from Earth's formation,

approximately 4.5 billion years ago, until the start of the Cambrian approximately 540
million years ago (mya). Because the Precambrian is not a true geologic eon, era, period, or
epoch, geologists often refer to it as Precambrian time (or simply, Precambrian).
Precambrian time represents the vast bulk of Earth's geologic history and covers nearly 90%
of Earth's history.

Radiological dating provides overwhelming evidence that dates known terrestrial (Earth
origin) rock specimens to more than 3.6 billion years old. Earth and lunar meteorites date to
4.5 billion years.

Precambrian time is subdivided into Hadean time (4.5 billion years ago to 3.8 billion years
ago); Archean time (3.8 billion years ago to 2.5 billion years ago; Paleoproterozoic time (2.5
billion years ago to 1.6 billion years ago); Mesoproterozoic time (1.6 billion years ago to 900
million years ago); and Neoproterozoic time (900 million years ago to 540 mya).

Hadean time represents the time during which the solar system formed. During the
subsequent course of Precambrian time, Earth's lithospheric plates formed and the
mechanisms of geologic change described by modern plate tectonic theory began to occur.
During Precambrian time, life arose on Earth. The oldest known fossil evidence dates to
early in Archaean time. During the Paleoproterozoic, Earth's primitive atmosphere made a
transition to an oxygen rich atmosphere. Soon thereafter in geologic time, i.e. within a few
hundred million years, there is evidence of the earliest appearance of eukaryotes
(organisms with a true nucleus containing DNA). Evidence of the oldest fossilized animal
remains dates to the end of Neoproterozic time.

The extensive debris field that existed in the early solar system assured frequent
bombardment of Earth's primitive atmosphere by asteroids and comets. Despite the
consuming effects of geological weathering and erosion , evidence of Precambrian time
impacts dating almost 2.0 billion years ago have been found in what are now South
Africa and Canada.

Post-Cambrian Evolution and Mass Extinctions

The periods that followed the Cambrian during the Paleozoic Era were marked by further
animal evolution and the emergence of many new orders, families, and species. As animal
phyla continued to diversify, new species adapted to new ecological niches. During the
Ordovician period, which followed the Cambrian period, plant life first appeared on land.
This change allowed formerly-aquatic animal species to invade land, feeding directly on
plants or decaying vegetation. Continual changes in temperature and moisture throughout
the remainder of the Paleozoic Era due to continental plate movements encouraged the
development of new adaptations to terrestrial existence in animals, such as limbs in
amphibians and epidermal scales in reptiles.
Changes in the environment often create new niches (living spaces) that contribute to
rapid speciation and increased diversity. On the other hand, cataclysmic events, such as
volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes that obliterate life, can result in devastating losses of
diversity. Such periods of mass extinction have occurred repeatedly in the evolutionary
record of life, erasing some genetic lines while creating room for others to evolve into the
empty niches left behind. The end of the Permian period (and the Paleozoic Era) was
marked by the largest mass extinction event in Earth's history, a loss of roughly 95 percent
of the extant species at that time. Some of the dominant phyla in the world's oceans, such
as the trilobites, disappeared completely. On land, the disappearance of some dominant
species of Permian reptiles made it possible for a new line of reptiles to emerge: the
dinosaurs. The warm and stable climatic conditions of the ensuing Mesozoic Era promoted
an explosive diversification of dinosaurs into every conceivable niche in land, air, and water.
Plants, too, radiated into new landscapes and empty niches,
creating complex communities of producers and consumers, some of which became
extremely large on the abundant food available.

Mass extinctions

Mass extinctions have occurred repeatedly over geological time.

Another mass extinction event occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period, bringing the
Mesozoic Era to an end. Skies darkened and temperatures fell as a large meteor impact
expelled tons of volcanic ash, blocking incoming sunlight. Plants
died, herbivores and carnivores starved, and the mostly cold-blooded dinosaurs ceded their
dominance of the landscape to more warm-blooded mammals. In the
following Cenozoic Era, mammals radiated into terrestrial and aquatic niches once occupied
by dinosaurs. Birds, the warm-blooded offshoots of one line of the ruling reptiles, became
aerial specialists. The appearance and dominance of flowering plants in the Cenozoic Era
created new niches for insects, as well as for birds and mammals. Changes in animal species
diversity during the late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic were also promoted by a dramatic
shift in earth's geography, as continental plates slid over the crust into their current
positions, leaving some animal groups isolated on islands and continents or separated by
mountain ranges or inland seas from other competitors. Early in the Cenozoic,
new ecosystems appeared, with the evolution of grasses and coral reefs. Late in the
Cenozoic, further extinctions followed by speciation occurred during ice ages that covered
high latitudes with ice and then retreated, leaving new open spaces for colonization.

Paleozoic Era: Life

Two great animal faunas dominated the seas during the Paleozoic. The "Cambrian fauna"
typified the Cambrian oceans; although members of most phyla were present during the
Cambrian, the seas were dominated by trilobites, inarticulate brachiopods,
monoplacophoranmolluscs, hyolithids, "small shelly fossils" of uncertain systematic posiiton,
and archaeocyathids. Although all of these except the archaeocyathids survived past the
Cambrian, their diversity declined after the Ordovician. Later Paleozoic seas were
dominated by crinoid and blastoid echinoderms, articulate brachiopods, graptolites,
and tabulate and rugose corals.
By the end of the Ordovician, life was no longer confined to the seas. Plants had begun to
colonize the land, closely followed in the Silurian by invertebrates, and in
the LateDevonian by vertebrates. The early tetrapods of this time were amphibian-like
animals that eventually gave rise to the reptiles and synapsids by the end of the Paleozoic.

Land plants evolved rapidly into the vacant niches afforded them on land. By the end of the
Devonian, forests of progymnosperms, such as Archaeopteris dominated the landscape. By
the end of the Paleozoic, cycads, glossopterids, primitive conifers, and ferns were spreading
across the landscape.

The Permian extinction, 244 million years ago, devastated the marine biota: tabulate and
rugose corals, blastoid echinoderms, graptolites, and most crinoids died out, as did the last
of the trilobites. Articulate brachiopods and one lineage of crinoids survived, but never
again dominated the marine environment.

Mesozoic: During the Mesozoic, or "Middle Life" Era, life diversified rapidly and giant reptiles,
dinosaurs and other monstrous beasts roamed the Earth. The period, which spans from about 252
million years ago to about 66 million years ago, was also known as the age of reptiles or the age of
dinosaurs.

Life and climate: The Mesozoic Era began roughly around the time of the end-
Permian extinction, which wiped out 96 percent of marine life and 70 percent of all
terrestrial species on the planet. Life slowly rebounded, eventually giving way to a
flourishing diversity of animals, from massive lizards to monstrous dinosaurs.
The Triassic Period, from 252 million to 200 million years ago, saw the rise of reptiles and
the first dinosaurs, the Jurassic Period, from about 200 million to 145 million years ago,
ushered in birds and mammals, and the Cretaceous Period, from 145 million to 66 million
years ago is known for some of its iconic dinosaurs, such as Triceratops and Pteranodon.
Coniferous plants, or those that have cone-bearing seeds, already existed at the beginning
of the era, but they became much more abundant during the Mesozoic. Flowering plants
emerged during the late Cretaceous Period. The lush plant life during the Mesozoic Era
provided plenty of food, allowing the biggest of the dinosaurs, such as the Argentinosaurus,
to grow up to 80 tons, according to a 2005 study in the journal Revista del MuseoArgentino
de CienciasNaturales.  
Earth during the Mesozoic Era was much warmer than today, and the planet had no polar
ice caps. During the Triassic Period, Pangaea still formed one massive supercontinent.
Without much coastline to moderate the continent's interior temperature, Pangaea
experienced major temperature swings and was covered in large swaths of desert.

Cenozoic Era: The Cenozoic Era, which began about 65 million years ago and continues
into the present, is the third documented era in the history of Earth. The current locations of
the continents and their modern-day inhabitants, including humans, can be traced to this
period.

The era began on a big down note, catching the tail end of the Cretaceous-Paleogene
extinction event at the close of the Cretaceous Period that wiped out the remaining non-
avian dinosaurs.
The term Cenozoic, first spelled "Kainozoic," was originally used in an 1840 entry in the
Penny Cyclopedia encyclopedia in an article written by British geologist John Phillips. The
name is derived from the Greek phrase meaning “recent life.”

Climate: The global climate of the early portion of the Cenozoic Period was much warmer
than it is today, and the overall climate of the Earth was much more consistent regardless of
proximity to the equator.

The most significant period of global warming, known as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal
Maximum, took place of 55.8 million years ago. It was followed by a long cool, dry period.
The current global warming event has been set off primarily by human activity.

Each segment of the Cenozoic experienced different climates. During the Paleogene Period,
most of the Earth’s climate was tropical. The Neogene Period saw a drastic cooling, which
continued into the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period.

Life during the Cenozoic Era: The Cenozoic Era is also known as the Age of
Mammals because the extinction of many groups of giant mammals, allowing smaller
species to thrive and diversify because their predators no longer existed. Due to the
large span of time covered by the period, it is beneficial to discuss the animal
population by the milestone of the era rather than in generalities.

The beginning of the Paleogene Period was a time for the mammals that survived from the
Cretaceous Period. Later in this period, rodents and small horses, such as Hyracotherium,
are common and rhinoceroses and elephants appear. As the period ends, dogs, cats and
pigs become commonplace. Other than a few birds that were classified as dinosaurs, most
notable the Titanis, the dinosaurs were gone. Large flightless birds, such as the Diatryma,
thrived. 

The Neogene Period gives rise to early primates, including early humans. Bovids, including
cattle, sheep, goats, antelope and gazelle, flourish during this period.

Cave lions, sabre-toothed cats, cave bears, giant deer, woolly rhinoceroses, and woolly
mammoths were prevailing species of the Quaternary Period.

Without the dinosaurs, plant life had an opportunity to flourish during the Cenozoic Era.
Nearly every plant living today had its roots in the Cenozoic Era. During the early part of the
era, forests overran most of North America. However, as the climate cooled forests died off,
creating open land.

Due to the widening of the oceans,sharks, whales and other marine life proliferated. The
Great Lakes that formed in the western United States during the Eocene Epoch were the
perfect home for bass, trout and other fresh-water species.

As the forests thinned, grasses began to spread out over the plains of North America and
savannas covered the land in the middle of the continent. Among the common plant life
were pines, mosses, oaks and grasses. Flowering plants and edible crops dominate the
landscape in the later part of this era as humans cultivate the land.