Topic: Geological History of NY State
Take out ESRT pages 8 & 9
Take out you ESRT open to pages 8 & 9
Geological History of New York State
Division of Geological Time
Largest
Smallest
Unit
Unit
Phanerozoic
570 Ma to present
Eon: an indefinitely long
period of time.
Precambrian
4600 Ma to 570 Ma
Ma means million of years ago
ERAS are broken down
to Time Periods.
The
Cenozoic 65 Ma to present
Phanerozoic
Eon is
Mesozoic 245 Ma to 66.4 Ma
divided into
time
segments
Paleozoic 570 Ma to 245 Ma
called
ERAS.
Time Periods are
broken down into
Epochs.
Important
Rock Record
Time Distribution
in
Positions of
Life on Earth
Events
NYS of Fossils GeologicalEarth’s
in NYS
landmasses
Different periods in the ESRT
Precambrian Eon
 85% of Earth’s history
 intense volcanic activity; oceans form; meteorite
bombardment
 atmosphere develops from primitive through outgases from volcanoes to one with free oxygen (and
ozone layer)
 life begins with unicellular organisms (blue-green algae
and bacteria) and evolves to multi-cell organisms like
worms
 few fossils exist because most did not have hard
parts
Precambrian Events listed
on ESRT
Oldest Events
Cenozoic 65 Ma to
present
Mesozoic 245 Ma to 65 Ma
Paleozoic 570 Ma to
245 Ma
Why do we
know more
about the
phanerozoic
than the
Precambrian, if
the
Precambrian
was a larger
span of time?
Paleozoic Era = Ancient Life
Cambrian Period
Mesozoic Era = Middle Life
Cenozoic Period = Recent Life
Age of the Mammals
Time Distribution of Fossils
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