Pliocene

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Era Period Epoch Start
Million
years
ago
Cainozoic Quaternary Holocene 0.0117
Pleistocene 2.588
Tertiary Neogene Pliocene 5.333
Miocene 23.03
Palaeogene Oligocene 33.9
Eocene 56
Palaeocene 66
Mesozoic Cretaceous Upper Cretaceous 100.5
The Pilocene
The gastropod Aporrhais from the Pliocene of Cyprus.

The Pliocene (Pleiocene in older texts) is a short epoch at the end of the Neogene. It lasted from 5.33 million to 2.59 million years ago. The Pliocene follows the Miocene epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene epoch.

The world continued to get cooler and drier in the Pliocene. Tropical rain forests shrank, and deciduous forests shrank. Grasslands grew, and many herbivorous mammals became grazers instead of browsers. Hominid evolution took a new turn as some apes started to live on the savannah instead of the forests (Australopithecines).

Geologic History
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) Eoarchaean (4 gya – 3.6 gya)

Palaeoarchaean (3.6 gya – 3.2 gya)

Mesoarchaean (3.2 gya – 2.8 gya)

Neoarchaean (2.8 gya – 2.5 gya)
Proterozoic (4 gya – 2.5 gya) Palaeoproterozoic (2.5 gya – 1.6 gya) Siderian (2.5 gya – 2.3 gya) Rhyacian (2.3 gya – 2.05 gya) Orosirian (2.05 gya – 1.8 gya) Statherian (1.8 gya – 1.6 gya)

Mesoproterozoic (1.6 gya – 1 gya) Calymmian (1.6 gya – 1.4 gya) Ectasian (1.4 gya – 1.2 gya) Stenian (1.2 gya – 1 gya)

Neoproterozoic (1 gya - 541 mya) Tonian (1 gya – 850 mya) Cryogenian (850 mya – 635 mya) Ediacaran (635 mya – 541 mya)
Phanerozoic (541 mya – today)
In the left column are Eras, bold are Periods, not bold or italics are Epochs, Italics are stages. kya = thousand years ago, mya = million years ago
Palaeozoic (541 mya – 252.17 mya) Cambrian (541 mya – 485.4 mya)

Ordovician (485.4 mya – 443.4 mya)

Silurian (443.4 mya – 419.2 mya)

Devonian (419.2 mya – 358.9 mya)

Carboniferous (358.9 mya – 298.9 mya) Mississippian (358.9 mya – 323.2 mya) Pennsylvanian (323.2 mya – 298.9 mya)

Permian (298.9 mya – 252.17 mya)
Mesozoic (252.17 mya – 66.0 mya) Triassic (252.17 mya – 201.3 mya) Lower Triassic (252.17 mya – 247.2 mya) Middle Triassic (247.2 mya – 237 mya) Upper Triassic (237 mya – 201.3 mya)

Jurassic (201.3 mya – 145 mya) Lower Jurassic (201.3 mya – 174.1 mya) Middle Jurassic (174.1 mya – 163.5 mya) Upper Jurassic (163.5 mya – 145 mya) Kimmeridgian (157.3–152.1 mya)

Cretaceous (145 mya – 66.0 mya) Lower Cretaceous (145 mya – 100.5 mya) Upper Cretaceous (100.5 mya – 66.0 mya)
Cainozoic (66.0 mya – today)

Tertiary (66.0 mya – 2.588 mya)

 Palaeogene (66.0 mya – 23.03 mya) Palaeocene (66.0 mya – 56 mya) Eocene (56 mya - 33.9 mya) Oligocene (33.9 mya – 23.03 mya)

Neogene (23.03 mya – 2.588 mya) Miocene (23.03 mya – 5.333 mya) Pliocene (5.333 mya – 2.588 mya)

Quaternary (2.588 mya – today) Pleistocene (2.588 mya – 11.7 kya) Holocene (11.7 kya - today)
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.
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