Geological Periods  

The table below summarizes the geological periods. Click here for a fully detailed table.

Eon

Era

Period

Epoch

Years Ago

Dominant Life
P
H
A
N
E
R
O
Z
O
I
C

C
E
N
O
Z
O
I
C

Quaternary

Recent

last
10,000
years

 Mammals

Modern
Plants

fl26

Pleistocene

10,000
 to
1.8 m

Tertiary

Pliocene

5.3 m
to
1.8 m

Miocene

23.5 m
to
5.3 m

Oligocene

36.7 m
to
23.5 m

Eocene

58.0 m
to
36.7 m

Paleocene

66.4 m
to
58.0 m

M
E
S
O
Z
O
I
C

Cretaceous

 

 

144 m
to
66.4 m

Reptile

 

 

Jurassic

213 m
to
144 m

Triassic

 248 m
to
213 m

P
A
L
E
O
Z
O
I
C

Permian

 286 m
to
248 m 		Amphibians

"Prehistoric"
Plants

Carboniferous

Pennsylvanian

354 m
to
286 m
Mississippian

Devonian

 408 m
to
354 m 		Fishes

Silurian

 

434 m
to
408 m

Ordovician

 

505 m
to
434 m

Cambrian

590 m
to
505 m

 Life in the Sea only

P
R
E
C
A
M
B
R
I
A
N		 Proterozoic 2,600 m
to
590 m		 Bacteria
Archaean 3,800
to
2,600
Hadean 4,600
to
3,800