Name: _________________________________
Period: ____________
Geologic Time Chart
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate information using the chart attached.
Era
Period
Major Events
Paleozoic
(1)______________________
First Reptiles
Cenozoic
Quaternary
(2)__________________________
(3)___________________________
Jurassic
Pangaea begins to break
apart
Precambrian
Archean
(4)___________________________
Cenozoic
(5)___________________________
Rocky Mountains begin to
form
(6)___________________________
Mississippian
Coal forming forests
Mesozoic
(7)___________________________
First mammals
(8)___________________________
Ordovician
First fish
Paleozoic
Permian
(9)___________________________
Cenozoic
(10)__________________________
Individual continents take
shape
Name: _________________________________
Period: ____________
Geology Questions
Answer the following questions using the attached chart.
1. How old is the Earth?
2. How long ago did Pangaea separate?
3. In which period did life invade land?
4. How old is the oldest recorded fossil?
5. What are the eras on the geologic time scale?
6. Which showed up first, fish or reptiles?
7. Which era do we live in?
8. Which era is the oldest?
9. In which era did dinosaurs become extinct?
10. In which era did the great extinction on Earth take place?
Name: _________________________________
Period: ____________
Era
Period
Quaternary
Cenozoic
Mesozoic
Paleozoic
Precambrian
Began
Ended
Major Events
(million years ago)
1.6
Present Major Glaciers in
North America and
Europe (1.5)
Tertiary
65
1.6
Rocky Mts. (65)
Individual Continents
Take Shape
Cretaceous
146
65
Dinosaurs Extinct (65)
Western Interior
Seaway and Marine
Reptiles (144-65)
Jurassic
208
146
Triassic
245
208
First Mammals and
Dinosaurs
Permian
290
245
Greatest Extinction
on Earth (245)
Pennsylvanian
322
290
First Reptiles
Mississippian
362
322
Coal-Forming Forests
Devonian
408
362
First Land Animals
and First Forests
(408)
Silurian
439
408
Life Invades Land
Ordovician
510
439
First Fish
Cambrian
545
510
Great Diversity of
Marine Invertebrates
Proterozoic
2,500
545 Marine Fossil
Archean
4,600
Pangaea Begins to
Break Up (200)
Invertebrates (600)
2,500
Earliest Fossils
Recorded (3,500)
Earliest Rocks (4,000)