Geologic Timeline
We will use 100 meters on the track to represent the age of the Earth. To do this the time in years below must be converted to meters. Complete the list below so we can do this mapping.
- 100 m 4500 mya estimated age of Earth
- _________ 3800 mya age of oldest rock
- _________ 3500 mya first bacteria (1st fossils)
- _________ 600 mya first jellyfish
- _________ 570 mya Gondwana forms
- _________ 543 mya first trilobites
- _________ 540 mya land plants appear
- _________ 515 mya first vertebrates
- _________ 480 mya Taconic orogeny (Appalachian Mtns.)
- _________ 475 mya first fish
- _________ 420 mya land animals appear
- _________ 400 mya sharks appear
- _________ 400 mya spiders appear
- _________ 370 mya ferns appear
- _________ 340 mya first seed plants
- _________ 310 mya first reptiles
- _________ 300 mya first winged insects
- _________ 300 mya first earthworms
- _________ 250 mya Pangaea forms
- _________ 250 mya trilobites go extinct (greatest mass extinction)
- _________ 245 mya first dinosaurs
- _________ 225 mya first mammals
- _________ 200 mya birds appear
- _________ 160 mya Stegosaurus
- _________ 125 mya first flowering plants
- _________ 100 mya ants
- _________ 70 mya Laramide orogeny (Rocky Mtns.)
- _________ 65 mya Tyrannosaurus
- _________ 65 mya dinosaurs become extinct
- _________ 60 mya first primates
- _________ 55 mya rabbits appear
- _________ 36 mya Cascade orogeny
- _________ 20 mya grasses appear
- _________ 4 mya human ancestors appear
- 0 m 12 kya last continental glaciation