Richmond County School System



GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE PROJECT Worth two lab grades. Due on Friday May 19.Goal: Construct a time line that shows major time divisions and major earth events. Obtain 8 strips of copy paper. Tape them together longwise. Earth is approximately 4600 million years old. One end should be 4600 mya (million years ago) and the other end of your paper should be 0 mya (today).Use the information below to measure and show the four major time eras on your time line and color-code the four time periods: Precambrian 542-4600 mya Red..............6 whole strips beginning at the 4600 mya end For this time period, each cm is worth about 25 million years.Paleozoic 251-542 mya Green........................ 1 whole stripFor this time period, each cm is worth about 6 million years.Mesozoic 66-251 mya Blue....................... 3/4 of a stripFor this time period, each cm is worth about 15 million years. Cenozoic 0-66 mya Yellow...........................1/4 of a stripFor this time period, each cm is worth about 11 million years. Add the key events from the information given below. You may have to write very small to fit all the information in or use arrows to indicate some events. Earth History EventsEventYears ago (approximate)Today0First home computers 30Astronauts land on the moon45American Civil War140Columbus Discovers America500Pompeii destroyed1900Eratosthenes calculates Earth’s circumference2100Continental ice recedes from North America10,000First Homo sapiens200,000First hominids (as they appear in the fossil record)2.3 millionBeginning of ice age2.6 millionFirst elephants40 millionBeginning of Paelocene65 millionFirst horses75 millionDinosaurs became extinct80 millionRocky mountains were created80 millionBeginning of Cretaceous period135 millionFirst flowering plants142 millionFirst birds150 millionBeginning of Jurassic Period190 millionFirst mammals and dinosaurs225 millionPermian mass extinction251 millionFirst reptiles325 millionCoal forests, Appalachians mountains are created330 millionAmphibians appear365 millionLand plants appear425 millionInsects appear450 millionBony fish appear485 millionFirst multicellular organisms640 millionOxygen accumulates in the atmosphere2000 millionFirst one-celled organisms (archaebacteria)3500 millionMoon forms4500 millionFormation of Earth4600 million Include illustrations or pictures for each of the four time periods (Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Precambrian). Make each time period as VISUAL as possible. Fill up the blank space with pictures that represent that time period. Make it so that someone can visualize with one glance at your paper the changes that took place on earth. Conclusions…… on the back of your time line, answer the following questions. Arrange the four eras in order from the longest to shortest duration.During which era did the first life forms exist and what were they like?How many millions of years passed after Earth formed before the first life forms appeared?Were mammals and dinosaurs ever on Earth at the same time? If so, when?Were humans and dinosaurs ever on Earth at the same time? If so, when?What is a “mass extinction?” Did the mass extinction at 66 mya kill off all of the bacteria, fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles, mammals, and flowering plants? How do you know?The Pleistocene Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago. Are humans able to survive an ice age? How do you know? ................
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