1. Recording natural history

2. Break-down of time
Different periods of Earth’s history are broken into periods of time,just like a year is broken into months, weeks, days and hours
Earth’s history is broken into eons, eras, periods, and epochs

3. Eons – Billions of years
Haden: Earth before life evolved
3.5 to 3.9 Billion years ago
Achaean: Earth with only prokaryotic cells
3.9 to 2.5 Billion years ago
Proterozoic: Current Eon
2.5 BYA to present

4. How time periods are distinguished
Major geological events: The movement of tectonic plates to form continents and super-continents
Changes in climate: a change from an ice ace to a warming period
Mass extinctions or explosions: Changes in the types of life forms on earth

5. Haden Eon 4.5-3.9 BYA The first 13% of the Earth’s history
Earth is a solid lifeless planet
No liquid water, little O2 in the atmosphere
Relative to a calendar year: Jan 1st – Feb. 25th

6. Achaean Eon 3.9-2.5 BYA Earth has a crust & ocean
Life forms in the sea
Prokaryotes including photosynthetic blue-green algae & later bacteria
Feb. 25th - April 17th

7. Proterozoic Eon: Precambrian Era 2.5 BYA – 540MYA
Super continent Rodinia
21% O2 in Atmosphere
First Eukaryotic cells & sexual reproduction
July 13th
First Multicellular organism (seaweed/algae)
Aug 31st

8. Review of Earth’s first 3.9 Billion years
Haden
lifeless Earth
Proterozoic
Eukaryotic life, multicellular plants,
Achaean
Prokaryotic life
Little O2
First plants & soft bodied animals in oceans later vascular
plants fish, arthropods in ocean
Insects, amphibians & reptiles on land

9. From the Cambrian explosion to the Permian extinction
Paleozoic Era
From the Cambrian explosion to the Permian extinction

10. Cambrian Explosion 540-490 MYA
Paleozoic Era
2 continents: mild climate
All life in ocean only
Sponges & coral
Then mollusks (clams)
Later arthropods (trilobites)
Finally chordates – pre-vertebrate ancestors
Nov Nov. 21st

11. Ordovician Period 490-443 MYA
Paleozoic Era
Ordovician Period MYA
More Continents
First vertebrates – armored fish
First plants & invertebrates on land
Nov. 21st – Nov. 24th

12. Silurian Period 443-417 MYA Most continents are near equator
Paleozoic Era
Most continents are near equator
First: nautilus, jawed fish, shark, lungfish
Lots of arthropods
more complex plants on land (vascular)
Nov 24th – Nov. 27th

13. Devonian Period
Paleozoic Era
Europe & N. America at equator & S America & Africa over S. pole
Warm & moist
First: air breathing Arthropods
First: insects (beetles), amphibians, seed plants (ferns)
Nov. 27th - Dec 1st

14. Carboniferous Period 354-290 MYA
Paleozoic Era
First swampy & warm then cold glaciers
Oceans: armored fish extinct
greater diversity of fish etc.
Land: Giant insects, first reptiles
Dec 1nd – Dec 6th

15. Permian Period: 290-248 Supercontinent Pangaea – all climate zones
Paleozoic Era
Permian Period:
Supercontinent Pangaea – all climate zones
Glaciers & deserts
Mass extinction 99% of all life gone
Modern insects, fewer amphibians, many reptiles
Dec. 6th - Dec 10th

16. Mesozoic Era The rise and fall of dinosaurs

17. Triassic Period 248-206 MYA Pangea covers ¼ Earth’s surface
Mesozoic Era
Pangea covers ¼ Earth’s surface
Warm and dry climate
On land: 1st small dinosaurs
Plants: Ferns, ginkgoes, & conifers
In ocean: 1st reptiles
Dec. 10- Dec. 14

18. Jurassic Period 206-144 MYA Pangaea begins to break apart
Mesozoic Era
Pangaea begins to break apart
Dinosaurs dominate land and sea
First bird
Early amphibians go extinct, replaced
by frogs & salamanders
First mammals (small shrew like)
Dec. 14th - Dec. 19th

19. Cretaceous Period 144-65 MYA
Mesozoic Era
Cretaceous Period MYA
Sea levels rise: no ice at poles
Large dinosaurs dominate
most modern insects
First flowering plants
Ends with mass extinction of Dinosaurs
Dec. 19th – Dec 25th

20. Cenozoic Era
                                                                                                
                                                    

21. Paleocene Epoch 65-55 MYA Mammals diversify: first only marsupials
Inland seas dry up, Australia breaks free
Later placental mammals
First dogs & cats
Dec 25th

22. Oligocene Epoch MYA
Cenozoic Era
Lots a tectonic plate movement temperate climate
Grass land expand forest decline
First primate
Dec. 28
                      

23. Miocene Epoch 24-5 MYA Climate cools Half of modern mammals exist
Many modern bird groups
First: apes
Dec 29th – Dec. 31st 3PM

24. Pliocene Epoch 5-1.8 MYA Alps rise & Central America formed
Cenozoic Era
Alps rise & Central America formed
Camels, horses, & giant ground sloths in N. America
Australopithecines – 1st human ancestor
Dec 31st 3:00 PM – 10 PM

25. Pleistocene Epoch 1.8 M- 10,000
Great ice age – 30% earth covered in ice
Wooly mammoths & saber-tooth cats go extinct
Homo Habilis: tool maker
Dec. 31st: 10PM – 11:48 PM

26. Holocene Epoch 10 TYA - today
Glaciers retreat, sea levels rise, deserts form
1st humans modern civilizations
The world as we know it
                                          

27. Review of last 240 Million years
First human
First monkey
Last Dinosaurs
First bird
Flowering Plants
First Mammals
First Dinosaurs
Review of last 240 Million years

28. Review
What was the surface of the earth life for most of the Haden Era?
During which era did multicellular life evolve?
Which is a shorter period of time and eon or an era?
During which period did flowering plants evolve?
When did the first birds evolve?
What were the first vertebrates?
When did the first air breathing arthropods evolve.
What was the name of the supercontenent formed during the Permian?