Paleozoic Era
What is the famous burst of biodiversity that marks the beginning of the Paleozoic Era?
What is the Cambrian explosion?
What is the age of the Mesozoic era known as?
What is the Age of reptiles?
After the dinosaurs had disappeared, what classification of animals became the primary form of animals on land?
What are Mammals?
The Precambrian super eon makes up roughly __% of Earth’s total history.
Roughly 90%.
What environment was most life-friendly during the Paleozoic era?
What is the ocean?
A supercontinent gradually broke apart, altering climate and ocean circulation during the Mesozoic era. What was the name of this supercontinent?
What is Pangaea?
Earth entered a long-term cooling trend in the Cenozoic era, going through repeated glacial cycles known as:
What is the Ice Age?
During the Precambrian, Earth’s earliest continents began forming through the cooling and solidifying of the Earth’s surface. What were these early landforms known as?
What are Protocontinents?
The Paleozoic era ended with the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history, wiping out about 90% of marine species. What was this event called?
What was the Permian-Triassic extinction?
As Pangaea broke apart in the Mesozoic, long cracks formed in Earth’s crust that later became new oceans. What were these cracks called?
What are Rift Valleys?
What major geological event occurred when the Indian Plate collided with Asia, dramatically altering the global climate?
What is the uplift of the Himalayas?
What major geological event occurred when the Indian Plate collided with Asia, dramatically altering the global climate?
What is the Cryogenian Period?
During the Paleozoic, mountain building along eastern North America created this major range as continents collided. What are these known as?
What are the Appalachian Mountains?
This mass extinction at the end of the Triassic paved the way for dinosaurs to become the dominant land animals.
What was the Triassic-Jurassic extinction?
What opening of this ocean gateway between South America and Antarctica isolated a continent and began the formation of its massive ice sheet?
What is the Drake Passage?
As continents formed and stabilized during the Proterozoic, Earth’s first large landmasses developed. What are these early stable blocks of crust known as?
What are Cratons?
What was the Paleozoic event that saw a major drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide, widespread glaciation, and the buildup of vast coal forests?
What is the Carboniferous icehouse climate?
At the end of the Cretaceous, the Chicxulub impact caused a rapid climate shift by injecting this sunlight-blocking material into the atmosphere. What was this?
What are Stratospheric sulphate aerosols? (sulphur-rich dust)
What short-lived but extreme Cenozoic warming event (approximately 56 million years ago) acidified oceans, disrupted climate systems, and is often used as a model for modern climate change?
What is The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)?
Around 540 million years ago, the first large, complex life communities appeared, marking a pivotal chronological shift that ended the Precambrian. What period did this occur in?
What is the Ediacaran Period?