The Geological time scale:

- The time before 550 mya only when simple living organisms existed is termed
the pre-Cambrian era. The time when multicellular life dominated is divided
into 3 main eras.
- The Cenozoic era, Mesozoic era and the Paleozoic era.
- The geological time scale also shows how organisms have evolved over time
as well as main events that have taken place such as mass extinctions.

There have been five mass extinctions since the Cambrian explosion.

- End Ordovician (444 mya)

- Late Devonian (360 mya)
- End Permian (250 mya)
- End Triassic (200 mya)
- End Cretaceous (65 m years ago, killed many dinosaurs)

Extinction Age (mya) Percentage of Cause of extinction

Event species lost
Intense glacial and interglacial periods
created large swings in sea levels and
moved shorelines dramatically. Tectonic
End uplift of the Appalachian Mountains
Ordovician created lots of weathering, sequestration of
CO2 and with it, changes in climate and
444 86% ocean chemistry.
Rapid growth and diversification of land
plants generated rapid and severe global
Late Devonian cooling.
360 75%
Intense volcanic activity in Siberia. This
caused global warming. Elevated CO2 and
sulphur (H2S) levels from volcanoes caused
ocean acidification, acid rain, and other
250 96%
End Permian changes in ocean and land chemistry.
 Underwater volcanic activity in the Central
Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP)
caused global warming, and a dramatic
200 80%
End Triassic change in chemistry composition in the
oceans.
Asteroid impact in Yucatán, Mexico. This
caused global cataclysm and rapid cooling.
End Cretaceous Some changes may have already pre-dated
65 76%
this asteroid, with intense volcanic activity
and tectonic uplift.

End Cretaceous: Mass extinction of dinosaurs.

- Different kinds of dinosaurs were the most common animals on earth for 150
mya.
- At the end of the cretaceous period, most of them died.
- Caused by asteroids and volcanic eruptions that caused large scale climate
change.

What is a mass extinction?

 - An episode in evolutionary history more than 50% of all known species living
at that time became extinct in a short period of time (less than 2mya).
- 99% of all species that have ever existed on earth are now extinct.

Causes of mass extinctions: