According to the geological age from old to new, a brief introduction is as follows:
Hadean Eon, which means "opening the heavens and splitting the earth", is the initial stage of the development of the earth. A large number of rocks formed in this period have not been seen or confirmed on the earth's surface at present, which may be because most of the surface rocks in this period were reformed in the later period.
Archean is the oldest geological age, with a large number of rock records. The rocks in this period are generally metamorphic rocks with high metamorphic degree, and the creatures in this period are only extremely primitive bacteria and algae.
Proterozoic is an ancient geological era, and rock records in this period are very common. Proterozoic includes three generations: Proterozoic, Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic.
Among them, China's Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic are divided into four periods, from old to new:
The name of the Great Wall comes from the Great Wall in Wan Li, China.
The name of Jixian comes from Jixian in Tianjin, China.
The name of Qingbaikou Period comes from Qingbaikou Town near Beijing, China.
Sinian "Sinian" is an ancient name in China.
The strata of these four periods are relatively developed and studied in detail in China, so Chinese geologists are named after China, but they are only used in China and have not been recognized internationally, and other countries have different names.
Proterozoic organisms are mainly primitive bacteria and algae, including cyanobacteria, green algae, red algae and some bacteria, in addition to a small number of sponges, jellyfish and worms.
Phanerozoic is the stage since the emergence of a large number of higher organisms, including the last 570 million years of earth history, which is divided into Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic.
Paleozoic era means the era of "ancient creatures", which includes six periods, from old to new:
Cambrian "Cambrian" is the ancient name of Wales, England, and the strata in this geological period were first studied in Wales.
Ordovician "Ordovician" is the name of an ancient people in Wales, England. At the earliest time, Wales also studied the strata of this period.
Silurian "Silurian" is the name of an ancient tribe that once lived on the border of Wales, England, where the strata of this period were first studied.
The strata in this period of Devonian were first studied in Devonian in England.
The Carboniferous was named after the rich coal seams in the strata of this era and was discovered in Britain.
The Permian strata first studied appeared in Perm on the western slope of Ural Mountains, transliterated as Perm. However, due to its obvious dichotomy, the strata were translated into Permian.
Among them, Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian are early Paleozoic, while Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian are late Paleozoic.
Early Paleozoic is a prosperous era of marine invertebrates, including trilobites, corals, sponges, bryozoa, brachiopods, graptolites, jellyfish, sea lilies and so on. Fish began to appear in the late Early Paleozoic, and by the end of the Early Paleozoic, primitive plants began to land, but mainly some semi-terrestrial plants living on the coast.
In the Late Paleozoic, although marine invertebrates still flourished, the development of vertebrates was more prominent. The fish that appeared in the late Early Paleozoic were fully developed in Devonian, and gradually evolved into primitive amphibians in the late Devonian, beginning the history of animal landing. The Carboniferous was the prosperous period of amphibians, and primitive reptiles began to appear in the middle and late Carboniferous. Reptiles developed further in Permian. The vigorous development of late Paleozoic terrestrial flora has become another remarkable feature of its biological world. This period is mainly fern spore plants, and small forests began to appear in Devonian. In Carboniferous and Permian, various tall trees and plants such as ferns, lycopodium, seed ferns, true ferns and Gotha began to form tall forests, which provided a good material basis for coal formation.
Mesozoic, which means the "intermediate life" era, is divided into three periods from the old to the new:
The Triassic strata were first studied in southern Germany, and the strata were obviously divided into three parts. "Three-"means "three".
Jurassic is the first time to study the strata of this period in Jura Mountain on the border between France and Switzerland.
On the northern shore of the English Channel during the Cretaceous period, white fine-grained calcium carbonate was produced in the strata of this era, which was called Creta in Latin, meaning chalk, hence the name.
The Mesozoic era is an unprecedented prosperity for reptiles. Among them, Lei Long and Liang Long, mainly herbivores, are huge (up to 30 meters long and weighing 60 tons); There is also Tyrannosaurus Rex, which is mainly carnivorous and flexible. Not only dinosaurs on land, but also ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs in the ocean and pterosaurs in the sky. During the Mesozoic era, birds and mammals began to form gradually. Among invertebrates, mollusks such as ammonites and archers are fully developed. Gymnosperms are the dominant plants in Mesozoic.
CenozoicEra means the era of "modern life", including Tertiary and Quaternary.
The names of Tertiary and Quaternary originated from the division of stratigraphic system by European geologists in18th century. At that time, they divided the strata from old to new into primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. Paleogene is generally a rock with a high degree of crystallization or metamorphism, which is roughly equivalent to the ancient rock series before Paleozoic. The second system is a layered rock series rich in biological fossils, which is roughly equivalent to Mesozoic; In Paleozoic, it was called the transitional system between primary system and secondary system. Tertiary generally refers to semi-cemented or loose rocks; The fourth kind refers to the loose sediments in river valleys or foothills. Later, the words primary system, transitional system and secondary system have been replaced by other names, and only tertiary system and quaternary system have been inherited by modern geology.
The end of Mesozoic is one of the major changes in the evolution of life on earth. At the end of Mesozoic, reptiles and dinosaurs, which were once extremely prosperous, suddenly became extinct, and ammonites and archers (mollusks), which were in their heyday in the ocean, also became extinct almost at the same time. Mammals and birds gradually formed in Mesozoic gradually replaced dinosaurs because of their strong adaptability. The Cenozoic era is an era of great development of mammals. Most of them live on land, but some of them live in the ocean (such as whales and dolphins). ) and in the air (such as Chiroptera). Humans began to appear in the late Cenozoic, which is the most important leap in the evolution history of life on earth. Angiosperm is a new generation of dominant plants.