GEOLOGICAL TIME
ERA
PERIOD
EPOCH
TECTONIC PLATE MAPS
TIME (Ma)
LITHOSPHERE
Holocene
Quaternary
0.01
Ice sheets advance then
retreat in Northern Hemisphere
Pleistocene
1.6
C
E
N
O
Z
O
I
C
Glaciation intensifies
Pliocene
5.3
Present
Miocene
Grand Canyon forming
24
Tertiary
Oligocene
Beginning of modern ice ages
Himalayan Mountains forming
34
Eocene
55
Paleocene
65
M
E
S
O
Z
O
I
C
40 Ma
Cretaceous
Climate warmer than present
causing higher sea level
145
Rocky Mountains forming
Jurassic
Atlantic Ocean forming
200
Triassic
150 Ma
251
Pangea
Permian
Pangea breaking apart
Glaciation in
Southern Hemisphere
Pangea forming
300
Abundant deposition
of organic material, source
of future fossil fuels
Carboniferous
P
A
L
E
O
Z
O
I
C
355
270 Ma
Devonian
418
Multicellular life on land
Silurian
Glaciers retreat
441
Glaciers form at poles
Ordovician
Tropical climate at equator
490
400 Ma
Burgess shale deposited
Cambrian
Multicellular aquatic life
540 Ma
4600
Time Ma
Science 10
Abundant fossils
appear in rock record
544
P
R
E
C
A
M
B
R
I
A
N
Red iron oxide deposits
Single cell aquatic life
Formation of the Earth
Dates according to Geological Time Scale, 1999. Geological Survey of Canada Open File 3040.
It is recognized that there is some variation in the dates given in the literature.
Data Page 7