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The Paleozoic (/ ˌ p æ l i. ə ˈ z oʊ. ɪ k,-i. oʊ-, ˌ p eɪ-/ PAL-ee-ə-ZOH-ik, -ee-oh-, PAY-; [1] or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. . Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of the Mesozoic Er
The Cambrian (/ ˈ k æ m b r i. ə n, ˈ k eɪ m-/ KAM-bree-ən, KAYM-) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. [5] The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 486.85 Ma.
"GSSP at the base of the Phanerozoic Eonothem, Paleozoic Erathem, Cambrian System, Terreneuvian Series, and Fortunian Stage". timescalefoundation.org. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. "GSSP Table - Paleozoic Era". Archived from the original on 2023-10-08. "GSSPs - The Cambrian System 2019". International Commission on Stratigraphy.
The Cambrian explosion (also known as Cambrian radiation [1] or Cambrian diversification) is an interval of time beginning approximately in the Cambrian period of the early Paleozoic, when a sudden radiation of complex life occurred and practically all major animal phyla started appearing in the fossil record.
With only a handful of species surviving today, the Nautiloids flourished during the early Paleozoic era, from the Late Cambrian, where they constituted the main predatory animals. [71] Haikouichthys, a jawless fish, is popularized as one of the earliest fishes and probably a basal chordate or a basal craniate. [72]
An era is the second largest geochronologic time unit and is equivalent to a chronostratigraphic erathem. [ 14 ] [ 13 ] There are ten defined eras: the Eoarchean , Paleoarchean , Mesoarchean , Neoarchean , Paleoproterozoic , Mesoproterozoic , Neoproterozoic , Paleozoic , Mesozoic and Cenozoic , with none from the Hadean eon.
ca 3800 Mya [3] Note: Rocks older than ca. 2500 Mya old are rare due to tectonic activity recycling the Earth's crust. In stratigraphy , paleontology , geology , and geobiology , an erathem is the total stratigraphic unit deposited during a certain corresponding span of time during an era in the geologic timescale .
c. 4,300 Ma – Nectarian Era begins on Earth. c. 4,250 Ma – Earliest evidence for life, based on unusually high amounts of light isotopes of carbon, a common sign of life, found in Earth's oldest mineral deposits located in the Jack Hills of Western Australia. [4] c. 4,100 Ma – Early Imbrian Era begins on Earth.