Phanerozoic
Sign in to saveThe Phanerozoic is the current and the latest of the four geologic eons in the Earth's geologic time scale, covering the time period from million years ago to the present. It is the eon during which abundant animal and plant life has proliferated, diversified and colonized various niches on the Earth's surface, beginning with the Cambrian period when animals first developed hard shells that can be clearly preserved in the fossil record. The time before the Phanerozoic, collectively called the Precambrian, is now divided into the Hadean, Archaean and Proterozoic eons.
AI overview
The Phanerozoic is the most recent of Earth's four major geologic time periods, extending from millions of years ago to today, and it's the era when animals and plants developed and spread widely across the planet, leaving behind clear fossil evidence starting with the Cambrian period. It matters because it encompasses all of Earth's history with abundant visible life, contrasting sharply with the earlier Precambrian eons when life was sparse or microscopic.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Geologic timespan.caption_art
- Fauna and flora from each of the twelve periods of the Phanerozoic. From top left: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary species.
- Geologic timespan.timeline
- Phanerozoic
- Geologic timespan.name_formality
- Formal
- Geologic timespan.celestial_body
- earth
- Geologic timespan.usage
- Global (ICS)
- Geologic timespan.timescales_used
- ICS Time Scale
- Geologic timespan.chrono_unit
- Eon
- Geologic timespan.strat_unit
- Eonothem
- Geologic timespan.proposed_by
- George Halcott Chadwick, 1930
- Geologic timespan.timespan_formality
- Formal
- Geologic timespan.lower_boundary_def
- Appearance of the Ichnofossil Treptichnus pedum
Article
26 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Proterozoic–Phanerozoic boundary
- Eras of the Phanerozoic
- Paleozoic Era
- Cambrian Period
- Ordovician Period
- Silurian Period
- Devonian Period
- Carboniferous Period
- Permian Period
- Mesozoic Era
- Triassic Period
- Jurassic Period
- Cretaceous Period
- Cenozoic Era
- Paleogene Period
- Neogene Period
- Quaternary Period
- Biodiversity
- Climate
- See also
- References
- Notes
- Citations
- Further reading
- External links
The Phanerozoic is the current and the latest of the four geologic eons in the Earth's geologic time scale, covering the time period from million years ago to the present. It is the eon during which abundant animal and plant life has proliferated, diversified and colonized various niches on the Earth's surface, beginning with the Cambrian period when animals first developed hard shells that can be clearly preserved in the fossil record. The time before the Phanerozoic, collectively called the Precambrian, is now divided into the Hadean, Archaean and Proterozoic eons.
The time span of the Phanerozoic starts with the sudden appearance of fossilised evidence of a number of animal phyla; the evolution of those phyla into diverse forms; the evolution of plants; the evolution of fish, arthropods and molluscs; the terrestrial colonization and evolution of insects, chelicerates, myriapods and tetrapods; and the development of modern flora dominated by vascular plants. During this time span, tectonic forces which move the continents had collected them into a single landmass known as Pangaea (the most recent supercontinent), which then separated into the current continental landmasses.