Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Artist's depiction of the end-Cretaceous impact eventSince the 19th century, a significant amount of research has been conducted on the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the mass extinction that ended the dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic Era and set the stage for the Age of Mammals, or Cenozoic Era.
Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest flying animals to ever live, first appears in the fossil record. c. 66.038 ± 0.011 Ma – Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period marks the end of the Mesozoic era and the age of the dinosaurs; start of the Paleogene Period and the current Cenozoic era.
The Phanerozoic Eon (Greek: period of well-displayed life) marks the appearance in the fossil record of abundant, shell-forming and/or trace-making organisms. It is subdivided into three eras, the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic, with major mass extinctions at division points.
The Cenozoic is just as much the age of savannas, the age of co-dependent flowering plants and insects, and the age of birds. [40] Grasses also played a very important role in this era, shaping the evolution of the birds and mammals that fed on them. One group that diversified significantly in the Cenozoic as well were the snakes.
The Quaternary (/ k w ə ˈ t ɜːr n ə r i, ˈ k w ɒ t ər n ɛr i / kwə-TUR-nə-ree, KWOT-ər-nerr-ee) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the Phanerozoic eon. [3]
That is a key finding of research into a lake-sediment core obtained in Eastern Siberia, which is of exceptional importance because it has provided the longest continuous late Cenozoic land-based sedimentary record thus far. [30] During the late Zanclean, Italy remained relatively warm and humid. [31]
[2] [3] The state's oldest individual rock is a limestone near Suplee dated to nearly 400 million years ago, during the Devonian period of the Paleozoic era. These deposits include conodonts as well as extinct corals and brachiopods, indicating a shallow marine environment. [2] Most of Oregon would remain under water until the Cenozoic era.
The Cenozoic begins with the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs and marine reptiles, and features the great diversification in birds and mammals. Humans appeared and evolved during the most recent part of the Cenozoic.