Phanerozoic
EON
(544 mya to present)
"The
age of visible life" |
ERA |
Periods |
EPOCH |
Fossil
Site |
Cenozoic
Era
(65 mya to today) |
Quaternary
(1.8 mya to today) |
Holocene
(11,000 years to today) |
. |
Pleistocene
(1.8 mya to 11,000 yrs) |
La
Brea Tar Pits |
Tertiary
(65 to 1.8 mya) |
Pliocene
(5 to 1.8 mya) |
Colombian
Fossil Amber |
Miocene
(23 to 5 mya) |
Dominican
Fossil Amber |
Oligocene
(38 to 23 mya) |
Baltic
Fossil Amber
White River Badlands
Capathian Mountains |
Eocene
(54 to 37 mya) |
Green
River Formation Wyoming
McAbee, Tranquille
Shale, Canada
Messel
Oil Shale Lagerstatt, Germany (50Ma)
Monte
Bolca, Italy
|
Paleocene
(65 to 54 mya) |
. |
Mesozoic
Era
(245 to 65 mya) |
Cretaceous
(146 to 65 mya)
|
Divided
as:
Upper;
Middle;
Lower
| Hell
Creek
Fox
Hills Formation
Lebanon
Sublithographic Limestone
Gobi Desert of
Inner Mongolia
Santana and
Crato Formations of Brazil
Patagonia,
Argentina
|
Jurassic
(208 to 146 mya)
| Morrison
Formation, U.S.
Liaoning
Province China
Solnhofen
Limestone, Germany
|
Triassic
(245 to 208 mya)
| Ghost
Ranch, New Mexico |
Paleozoic
Era
(544 to 245 mya) |
Permian
(286 to 245 mya)
|
. |
Carboniferous
(360 to 286 mya)
|
Pennsylvanian
(325 to 286 mya) |
Mazon
Creek Illinois (300 Ma) |
Mississippian
(360 to 325 mya) |
Bear
Gulch (318 Ma)
Crawfordsville Indiana Crinoids (340 Ma) |
Devonian
(410 to 360 mya) |
Bundenbach
in Germany
Falls of the Ohio
Oklahoma
Trilobites
Rhynie
chert
|
Silurian
(440 to 410 mya) |
Wenlock
Series, U.K. |
Ordovician
(500 to 440 mya) |
Russian
Ordovician Trilobites |
Cambrian
(544 to 500 mya) |
Tommotian
(530 to 527 mya) |
Krukowski
Quarry Wisconsin Ichnofossils
Burgess Shale
House Range in
Utah
Pioche
Formation
Kaili
Formation
Sirius
Passet, Greenland
Emu Bay Shale, Australia
Guanshan
Fauna, China
Chengjiang
China, China
|
Precambrian
Time
(4,500 to 544 mya)
"deep
time on earth" |
Proterozoic
Era
(2500 to 544 mya) |
Vendian
(650 to 544 mya) or Ediacaran |
No
Epochs |
Nama
Group, Namidia
Doushantuo
Formation
White
Sea
Ediacara
Hills
|
Neoproterozoic
(900 to 544 mya) - Late |
Stromatolites |
Mesoproterozoic
(1600 to 900 mya) - Middle |
Stromatolites |
Paleoproterozoic
(2500 to 1600 mya) - Early |
Stromatolites
Francevillian
Series of Gabon
|
Archaean
(3800 to 2500 mya) |
.Stromatolites |
Hadean
(4500 to 3800 mya) |
Earth
is essentially molten, without sediment |