Mesozoic
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| Eon | Era | Period | Epoch | Start Million years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phanerozoic | Cainozoic | Palaeogene | Palaeocene | 66 |
| Mesozoic | Cretaceous | Upper Cretaceous | 100.5 | |
| Lower Cretaceous | 145 | |||
| Jurassic | Upper Jurassic | 163.5 | ||
| Middle Jurassic | 174.1 | |||
| Lower Jurassic | 201.3 | |||
| Triassic | Upper Triassic | 237 | ||
| Middle Triassic | 247.2 | |||
| Lower Triassic | 252.17 | |||
| Palaeozoic | Permian | 298.9 | ||
The Mesozoic era is often called the era of the dinosaurs. It lasted from about 252.2 million years ago to about 66 million years ago.[1][2] It is the middle of three eras that make up the Phanerozoic.
Its three periods are:
The Mesozoic era began and ended with huge extinction events. It began after the Permian–Triassic extinction event and ended with the K/T extinction event which killed the dinosaurs.
Before the Mesozoic was the Palaeozoic era, (Permian period). After it was the Cainozoic era, (Palaeocene epoch).
References [change]
- ↑ International Chronostratigraphic Chart. [1]
- ↑ Gradstein, Felix M. James G. Ogg, Alan G. Smith (eds) 2005. A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-78673-8
| Precambrian (4.567 gya – 541 mya) | |
|---|---|
| In the left column are Eons, bold are Eras, not bold are Periods. gya = billion years ago, mya = million years ago | |
| Hadean (4.567 gya – 4 gya) | |
| Archaean (4 gya – 2.5 gya) | |
| Proterozoic (4 gya – 2.5 gya) | Palaeoproterozoic (2.5 gya – 1.6 gya)
Mesoproterozoic (1.6 gya – 1 gya) Neoproterozoic (1 gya - 541 mya) Tonian (1 gya – 850 mya) Cryogenian (850 mya – 635 mya) Ediacaran (635 mya – 541 mya) |
| Source | International Chronostratigraphic Chart 2013. International Commission on Stratigraphy, retrieved 8 April 2013. Divisions of geologic time – major chronostratigraphic and geochronologic units USGS, retrieved 8 April 2013. |
