Instructions: Working in groups of no more than 5 people (no exceptions), roll out a large piece of poster paper. You will be drawing and coloring a geologic timeline of the history of life on Earth with representative organisms and a brief description of the major events of each period. Scale your drawing according the length of each period. This may require some planning before you begin. The answers to the following questions should guide you.
Materials: poster paper, yardsticks, art supplies (colored pencils, rulers, etc.)
| Era |
Period |
Epoch |
From - To (millions of years ago) |
Duration (millions of years) |
% Time |
Wikipedia Reference |
Major events | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cenozoic |
Quaternary |
Holocene |
0.0117 |
0 |
0.01 |
0.0% |
||
Pleistocene |
2.588 |
0.0117 |
2.58 |
0.1% |
||||
Tertiary |
Pliocene |
5.3 |
2.588 |
2.71 |
0.1% |
|||
Miocene |
23 |
5.3 |
17.7 |
0.4% |
||||
Oligocene |
33.9 |
23 |
10.9 |
0.2% |
||||
Eocene |
56 |
33.9 |
22.1 |
0.5% |
||||
Paleocene |
65.5 |
56 |
9.5 |
0.2% |
||||
Mesozoic |
Cretaceous |
145.5 |
65.5 |
80.0 |
1.7% |
|||
Jurassic |
199.6 |
145.5 |
54.1 |
1.2% |
||||
Triassic |
251 |
199.6 |
51.4 |
1.1% |
||||
Paleozoic |
Permian |
299 |
251 |
48.0 |
1.0% |
|||
Carboniferous |
359.2 |
299 |
60.2 |
1.3% |
||||
Devonian |
416 |
359.2 |
56.8 |
1.2% |
||||
Silurian |
443.7 |
416 |
27.7 |
0.6% |
||||
Ordovician |
488.3 |
443.7 |
44.6 |
1.0% |
||||
Cambrian |
542 |
488.3 |
53.7 |
1.2% |
||||
Precambrian |
4600 |
542 |
4058 |
88.2% |
||||
4600 |
100% |
|||||||
1. How old is the Earth? Describe conditions on the primitive Earth.
2. When did the first life appear? Describe the earliest forms of life.
3. How did the Earth's atmosphere come to be so rich in oxygen?
4. What is a "eukaryote"? When did they appear? How do they differ from prokaryotes?
5. When did the first multi-cellular forms of life appear? How did they arise?
6. What are the characteristics of a Protist?
7. Describe the life forms of the Cambrian.
8. What is a chordate? What is a vertebrate?
9. What happened during the Ordovician?
10. What is a mass extinction? What could cause one to occur?
11. Describe the life forms of the Silurian.
12. What adaptations are necessary in order tmake the transition from aquatic to terrestrial habitats?
13. Why is the Devonian called the Age of Fishes? How have fishes changed since the Ordovician?
14. Describe the Carboniferous period. How did forests of that time form today's coal and oil deposits?
15. What happened at the end of the Permian? What was the result?
16. Reptiles dominated the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. How did they change during this time?
17. Why is it thought that the dinosaurs went extinct? What was the result of this extinction?
18. How is the Tertiary different from modern times?
19. What is an ice age? Why do they occur? When was the last big one?
20. When did the first humans appear?