THE GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE
 
 
4600 Million Years ago
PRE - CAMBRIAN - Greatest part of geological time. Earth crust, land masses, seas formed. Great volcanic activity. Fossils generally rare.
 
590 Million Years ago
CAMBRIAN - Sudden appearance of many fossils. Widespread life in early shallow seas. Trilobites very common.
500 Million Years ago
ORDOVICIAN - Mild climate over much of earth, still covered mostly in sea. Sedimentation, mountain building. Reef building, coral, algae, sponges, molluscs abundant.
440 Million Years ago
SILURIAN - Evolution of jaw less fishes, first vertebrates. Growth of first land plants.
408 Million Years ago
DEVONIAN - Peak of mountain building. Explosive evolution. First land creatures, amphibians, evolved.
360 Million Years ago
CARBONIFEROUS - Richly forested swamps and deltas. North America and Europe submerged to form large coal fields. Extensive glaciation. Insects thrived. First reptiles appear.
286 Million Years ago
PERMIAN - Desert over much of Pangaea. Reptiles widespread, insects evolved. Several marine creatures became extinct, new land flora, conifers evolved.
248 Million Years ago
TRIASSIC - Pangaea begins to break up. Conifers dominant plants. Great diversity among reptiles, first dinosaurs and giant marine reptiles appear. Small primitive mammals evolve.
213 Million Years ago
JURASSIC - Large volcanic activity opens Atlantic Ocean. Dinosaurs widespread. Air first conquered by flying reptiles and primitive birds. Early flowering plants appear.
144 Million Years ago
CRETACEOUS - Great deposits of chalk formed in Britain. Dinosaurs and large reptiles become extinct at the end of this period. First true birds and early mammals become numerous.
65 Million Years ago
TERTIARY - Explosive growth of mammals. Many large species evolve but most die out. Flowering plants widespread, climate cools, grasslands appear. Considerable uplift of land occurs.
2 Million Years ago - present
QUATERNARY - Latest geological period continues up to this very day. Marked by climatic changes, 4 major ice ages alternated with warmer periods. Mammals increased and adapted. Man evolves to dominate earth.
 
 
 
 
YOUNG MOA FEMUR - Colac Bay, Southland, New Zealand
 
 
 
Jamie's Fosswap