MPE - Phanerozoic Eon Lesson

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Phanerozoic Eon

Geologic time scale chartThe Phanerozoic Eon is the most current geologic eon. It covers from 540 million years ago to the present and is abundant with animal and plant life.  The Phanerozoic eon starts with a rapid emergence of animal phyla and the evolution of those phyla into diverse forms. Land plants formed early on during the Phanerozoic eon.

The Phanerozoic Eon includes the following Eras from oldest to youngest each marked by distinct periods:

The Paleozoic Era:

  • Cambrian
  • Ordovician
  • Silurian
  • Devonian
  • Carboniferous (in the U.S. this is further divided into Mississippian and Pennsylvanian)
  • Permian

The Mesozoic Era:

  • Triassic
  • Jurassic
  • Cretaceous

The Cenozoic Era:

  • Tertiary
  • Quaternary

We will discuss these eras in more detail in the following pages.

Practice your vocabulary for this unit here.

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