The Filing Cabinet: Ages, Eras and Events: Deep Time
Listings here are arranged from oldest to most recent; listing in the next layer is alphabetical/
Eons:
- Hadean: between the formation of the Earth about 4.6 billion years ago and the point when the Earth's crust had cooled enough to allow the first continents to form;
- Archean: (4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago) brings us to a point where plate tectonic activity may have resembled that of the modern Earth.
- Proterozoic: (2.5 billion to 541 million years ago) spans the time from the appearance of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere to the end of the Precambrian.
- Phanerozoic: Following the Cambrian explosion around 541 million years ago at the start of the Palaeozoic era, when practically all major animal phyla began to appear in the fossil record.
Eras
- Eoarchean
- Paleoarchean
- Mesoarchean
- Neoarchean
- Paleoproterozoic
- Mesoproterozoic
- Neoproterozoic
- Palaeozoic
- Mesozoic
- Cenozoic
Periods
- Siderian
- Rhyacian
- Orosirian
- Statherian
- Calymmian
- Ectasian
- Stenian
- Tonian
- Cryogenian
- Ediacaran
- Cambrian
- Ordovician
- Silurian
- Devonian
- Carboniferous
- Permian
- Triassic
- Jurassic
- Cretaceous
- Paleogene
- Neogene
- Quaternary
Quaternary Epochs
Paleocene 66 to 56 million years ago 10 Coined by Wilhelm Philippe Schimper in 1874 as a portmanteau of paleo- + Eocene, but on the surface from Greek παλαιός (palaios) 'old' and καινός (kainós) 'new'
Eocene 56 to 33.9 million years ago 22.1 Coined in the early 1830s from Greek ἠώς (ēōs) 'dawn' and καινός (kainós) 'new', referring to the dawn of modern life during this epoch
Oligocene 33.9 to 23.04 million years ago 10.86 Coined in the 1850s from Greek ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few' and καινός (kainós) 'new'
Miocene 23.04 to 5.33 million years ago 17.707 Coined in the early 1830s from Greek μείων (meíōn) 'less' and καινός (kainós) 'new'
Pliocene 5.33 to 2.58 million years ago 2.753 Coined in the early 1830s from Greek πλείων (pleíōn) 'more' and καινός (kainós) 'new'
Pleistocene 2.58 to 0.012 million years ago 2.5683 Coined in the early 1830s from Greek πλεῖστος (pleîstos) 'most' and καινός (kainós) 'new'
Holocene 0.012 to 0 million years ago 0.0117 From Greek ὅλος (hólos) 'whole' and καινός (kainós) 'new'
