Hello! In this article I want to tell you about the geochronological column. This is a column of periods of the Earth's evolution. And also more about each era, thanks to which you can draw a picture of the formation of the Earth throughout its history. What types of life first appeared, how did they change, and how much did it take.
The geological history of the Earth is divided into large intervals - eras, eras are divided into periods, periods are divided into epochs. Such a division was associated with events that took place on. The change in the abiotic environment influenced the evolution of the organic world on Earth.
Geological eras of the Earth, or geochronological scale:
And now about everything in more detail:
Designations:
eras;
periods;
Epochs.
1. Catharchean era (from the creation of the Earth, about 5 billion years ago, to the origin of life);
2. Archean era , the most ancient era (3.5 billion - 1.9 billion years ago);
3. Proterozoic era (1.9 billion - 570 million years ago);
Archean and Proterozoic are still combined into Precambrian. The Precambrian covers the largest part of geological time. Formed, areas of land and sea, active volcanic activity took place. Shields of all continents were formed from Precambrian rocks. Traces of life are usually rare.
4. Palaeozoic (570 million - 225 million years ago) with such periods :
Cambrian period(from the Latin name for Wales)(570 million - 480 million years ago);
The transition to the Cambrian is marked by the unexpected appearance of a huge number of fossils. This is a sign of the beginning of the Paleozoic era. Marine life flourished in numerous shallow seas. Trilobites were especially widespread.
Ordovician period(from the British Ordovician tribe)(480 million - 420 million years ago);
On a significant part of the Earth it was soft, most of the surface was still covered by the sea. The accumulation of sedimentary rocks continued, mountain building took place. There were reef builders. An abundance of corals, sponges and molluscs has been noted.
Silurian (from the British Silur tribe)(420 million - 400 million years ago);
Dramatic events in the history of the Earth began with the development of jawless fish (the first vertebrates), which appeared in the Ordovician. Another significant event was the appearance in the late Silurian of the first terrestrial.
Devonian (from Devonshire in England)(400 million - 320 million years ago);
In the early Devonian, mountain building movements reached their peak, but basically it was a period of spasmodic development. The first seed plants settled on land. A great variety and number of fish-like species was noted, the first terrestrial animals- amphibians.
Carboniferous or Carboniferous period (from the abundance of coal in the seams) (320 million - 270 million years ago);
Mountain building, folding, and erosion continued. In North America, swampy forests and river deltas were flooded, and large carbonaceous deposits formed. The southern continents were covered by glaciation. Insects spread rapidly, the first reptiles appeared.
Permian period (from the Russian city of Perm)(270 million - 225 million years ago);
A large part of Pangea - the supercontinent that united everything - was dominated by conditions. Reptiles spread widely, modern insects evolved. A new terrestrial flora developed, including conifers. Several marine species have disappeared.
5. Mesozoic era (225 million - 70 million years ago) with such periods:
Triassic (from the tripartite division of the period proposed in Germany)(225 million - 185 million years ago);
With the advent of the Mesozoic era, Pangea began to disintegrate. On land, the dominance of conifers was established. Diversity among reptiles is noted, the first dinosaurs and giant marine reptiles appeared. Primitive mammals evolved.
Jurassic period(from mountains in Europe)(185 million - 140 million years ago);
Significant volcanic activity was associated with the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. Dinosaurs dominated the land, flying reptiles and primitive birds conquered the air ocean. There are traces of the first flowering plants.
Cretaceous period (from the word "chalk")(140 million - 70 million years ago);
During the maximum expansion of the seas, chalk deposits occurred, especially in Britain. The dominance of dinosaurs continued until the extinction of them and other species at the end of the period.
6. Cenozoic era (70 million years ago - up to our time) with such periods And epochs:
Paleogene period (70 million - 25 million years ago);
— Paleocene epoch ("the oldest part of the new epoch")(70 million - 54 million years ago);
— Eocene epoch ("dawn of a new era")(54 million - 38 million years ago);
— Oligocene era ("not very new")(38 million - 25 million years ago);
Neogene period (25 million - 1 million years ago);
— Miocene epoch ("comparatively new")(25 million - 8 million years ago);
— Pliocene epoch ("very new")(8 million - 1 million years ago);
The Paleocene and Neocene periods are still combined into the Tertiary period. With the advent of the Cenozoic era (new life), there is an abrupt spread of mammals. Many large species have evolved, although many have become extinct. There has been a sharp increase in the number of flowering plants. With the cooling of the climate, herbaceous plants appeared. There has been a significant uplift.
Quaternary period (1 million - our time);
— Pleistocene era ("newest")(1 million - 20 thousand years ago);
— Holocene epoch(“a completely new era”) (20 thousand years ago - our time).
This is the last geological period that includes the present. Four major glaciations alternated with warming periods. The number of mammals has increased; they have adapted to. There was a formation of man - the future ruler of the Earth.
There are also other ways of dividing eras, epochs, periods, eons are added to them, and some epochs are still divided, like in this table, for example.
But this table is more complicated, the confusing dating of some eras is purely chronological, not based on stratigraphy. Stratigraphy is the science of determining the relative geologic age of sedimentary rocks, subdividing rock strata, and correlating different geological formations.
Such a division, of course, is relative, since there was no sharp distinction between today and tomorrow in these divisions.
But still, at the turn of neighboring eras and periods, significant geological transformations mainly took place: the processes of formation of mountains, the redistribution of seas, changing of the climate etc.
Each subsection was characterized, of course, by the originality of flora and fauna.
, And can be found in the same section.
Thus, these are the main eras of the Earth, on which all scientists rely 🙂
Life on Earth originated over 3.5 billion years ago, immediately after the completion of the formation of the earth's crust. Throughout time, the emergence and development of living organisms influenced the formation of relief and climate. Also, tectonic and climatic changes that have taken place over the years have influenced the development of life on Earth.
A table of the development of life on Earth can be compiled based on the chronology of events. The entire history of the Earth can be divided into certain stages. The largest of them are the eras of life. They are divided into eras, eras - into - into eras, eras - into centuries.
Ages of life on earth
The entire period of the existence of life on Earth can be divided into 2 periods: the Precambrian, or Cryptozoic (primary period, 3.6 to 0.6 billion years), and Phanerozoic.
Cryptozoic includes the Archean (ancient life) and Proterozoic (primary life) eras.
Phanerozoic includes the Paleozoic (ancient life), Mesozoic (middle life) and Cenozoic (new life) eras.
These 2 periods of development of life are usually divided into smaller ones - eras. The boundaries between eras are global evolutionary events, extinctions. In turn, eras are divided into periods, periods - into epochs. The history of the development of life on Earth is directly related to changes in the earth's crust and the planet's climate.
Era of development, countdown
It is customary to single out the most significant events in special time intervals - eras. Time is counted backwards, from ancient life to the new. There are 5 eras:
- Archean.
- Proterozoic.
- Paleozoic.
- Mesozoic.
- Cenozoic.
Periods of development of life on Earth
The Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras include periods of development. These are smaller periods of time compared to eras.
Palaeozoic:
- Cambrian (Cambrian).
- Ordovician.
- Silurian (Silur).
- Devonian (Devonian).
- Carboniferous (carbon).
- Perm (Perm).
Mesozoic era:
- Triassic (Triassic).
- Jura (Jurassic).
- Cretaceous (chalk).
Cenozoic era:
- Lower Tertiary (Paleogene).
- Upper Tertiary (Neogene).
- Quaternary, or anthropogen (human development).
The first 2 periods are included in the Tertiary period lasting 59 million years.
| era, period | Duration | Live nature | Inanimate nature, climate |
| Archean era (ancient life) | 3.5 billion years | The appearance of blue-green algae, photosynthesis. Heterotrophs | The predominance of land over the ocean, the minimum amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. |
Proterozoic era (early life) | 2.7 Ga | The appearance of worms, mollusks, the first chordates, soil formation. | The land is a stone desert. Accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere. |
| The Paleozoic era includes 6 periods: | |||
| 1. Cambrian (Cambrian) | 535-490 Ma | development of living organisms. | Hot climate. The dry land is deserted. |
| 2. Ordovician | 490-443 Ma | The emergence of vertebrates. | Flooding of almost all platforms with water. |
| 3. Silurian (Silur) | 443-418 Ma | Exit of plants to land. Development of corals, trilobites. | with the formation of mountains. The seas prevail over the land. The climate is varied. |
| 4. Devonian (Devonian) | 418-360 Ma | The appearance of fungi, lobe-finned fish. | Formation of intermountain depressions. The predominance of a dry climate. |
| 5. Carboniferous (carbon) | 360-295 Ma | Appearance of the first amphibians. | The sinking of the continents with the flooding of territories and the emergence of swamps. The atmosphere contains a lot of oxygen and carbon dioxide. |
6. Perm (Perm) | 295-251 Ma | Extinction of trilobites and most amphibians. The beginning of the development of reptiles and insects. | Volcanic activity. Hot climate. |
| The Mesozoic era includes 3 periods: | |||
| 1. Triassic (Triassic) | 251-200 Ma | Gymnosperm development. The first mammals and bony fishes. | Volcanic activity. Warm and sharply continental climate. |
| 2. Jurassic (Jurassic) | 200-145 Ma | The emergence of angiosperms. The spread of reptiles, the appearance of the first bird. | Mild and warm climate. |
| 3. Cretaceous (chalk) | 145-60 Ma | The appearance of birds, higher mammals. | Warm climate followed by cooling. |
| The Cenozoic era includes 3 periods: | |||
| 1. Lower Tertiary (Paleogene) | 65-23 Ma | The flowering of angiosperms. The development of insects, the appearance of lemurs and primates. | Mild climate with the allocation of climatic zones. |
2. Upper Tertiary (Neogene) | 23-1.8 Ma | The emergence of ancient people. | Dry climate. |
3. Quaternary or anthropogen (human development) | 1.8-0 Ma | The appearance of man. | Cooling. |
The development of living organisms
The table of the development of life on Earth involves the division not only into time intervals, but also into certain stages of the formation of living organisms, possible climatic changes (ice age, global warming).
- Archean era. The most significant changes in the evolution of living organisms are the appearance of blue-green algae - prokaryotes capable of reproduction and photosynthesis, the emergence of multicellular organisms. The appearance of living protein substances (heterotrophs) capable of absorbing organic substances dissolved in water. In the future, the appearance of these living organisms made it possible to divide the world into flora and fauna.
- Mesozoic era.
- Triassic. Distribution of plants (gymnosperms). An increase in the number of reptiles. The first mammals, bony fish.
- Jurassic period. The predominance of gymnosperms, the emergence of angiosperms. The appearance of the first bird, the flowering of cephalopods.
- Cretaceous period. Spread of angiosperms, reduction of other plant species. The development of bony fish, mammals and birds.
- Cenozoic era.
- Lower Tertiary period (Paleogene). The flowering of angiosperms. The development of insects and mammals, the appearance of lemurs, later primates.
- Upper Tertiary period (Neogene). The development of modern plants. The appearance of human ancestors.
- Quaternary period (anthropogen). Formation of modern plants, animals. The appearance of man.
Development of conditions of inanimate nature, climate change
The table of the development of life on Earth cannot be presented without data on changes in inanimate nature. The emergence and development of life on Earth, new species of plants and animals, all this is accompanied by changes in inanimate nature and climate.
Climate Change: Archean Era
The history of the development of life on Earth began through the stage of the predominance of land over water resources. The relief was poorly outlined. The atmosphere is dominated carbon dioxide, the amount of oxygen is minimal. Salinity is low in shallow water.
The Archean era is characterized by volcanic eruptions, lightning, black clouds. The rocks are rich in graphite.
Climatic changes during the Proterozoic era
Land is a stone desert, all living organisms live in water. Oxygen accumulates in the atmosphere.
Climate change: the Paleozoic era
During various periods of the Paleozoic era, the following occurred:
- Cambrian period. The land is still deserted. The climate is hot.
- Ordovician period. The most significant changes are the flooding of almost all northern platforms.
- Silurian. Tectonic changes, the conditions of inanimate nature are diverse. Mountain building occurs, the seas prevail over the land. Regions of different climates, including areas of cooling, were determined.
- Devonian. Dry climate prevails, continental. Formation of intermountain depressions.
- Carboniferous period. The sinking of the continents, wetlands. The climate is warm and humid, with a lot of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
- Permian period. Hot climate, volcanic activity, mountain building, drying up of swamps.
In the Paleozoic era, mountains formed. Such changes in the relief affected the world's oceans - the sea basins were reduced, a significant land area was formed.
The Paleozoic era marked the beginning of almost all major deposits of oil and coal.
Climatic changes in the Mesozoic
The climate of different periods of the Mesozoic is characterized by the following features:
- Triassic. Volcanic activity, the climate is sharply continental, warm.
- Jurassic period. Mild and warm climate. The seas prevail over the land.
- Cretaceous period. Retreat of the seas from the land. The climate is warm, but at the end of the period, global warming is replaced by cooling.
In the Mesozoic era, the previously formed mountain systems are destroyed, the plains go under water (Western Siberia). In the second half of the era, the Cordilleras, the mountains of Eastern Siberia, Indochina, partly Tibet, formed the mountains of the Mesozoic folding. A hot and humid climate prevails, contributing to the formation of swamps and peat bogs.
Climate change - Cenozoic era
In the Cenozoic era, there was a general uplift of the Earth's surface. The climate has changed. Numerous glaciations of the earth covers advancing from the north have changed the appearance of the continents of the Northern Hemisphere. Due to such changes, hilly plains were formed.
- Lower Tertiary period. Mild climate. Division into 3 climatic zones. Formation of continents.
- Upper Tertiary period. Dry climate. The emergence of steppes, savannahs.
- Quaternary period. Multiple glaciation of the northern hemisphere. Climate cooling.
All changes during the development of life on Earth can be written in the form of a table that will reflect the most significant stages in the formation and development modern world. Despite the already known research methods, even now scientists continue to study history, make new discoveries that allow modern society to find out how life developed on Earth before the appearance of man.
Billions of years ago, our Earth was a bare, lifeless planet. And now life appeared on its surface - those first, most primitive forms of living beings, the development of which led to the endless diversity of the nature around us. How did this development take place? How did animals and plants appear on Earth, how did they change? This book will answer some of these questions. Its author, the outstanding Soviet scientist Academician V. L. Komarov, described in it the history of the plant world of the Earth - from the simplest unicellular bacteria to the highly developed flowering plants of our time. The author draws this long path of development in close connection with the general history of the Earth, with changes in its natural conditions, relief, and climate. The book is written in a popular way, is easy to read and will be of great benefit to the widest range of readers who have elementary information from the field of biology in the volume of a school course.
(older systems of sedimentary layers are placed below, closer to modern ones - above)
| eras | Periods | dominant group of plants and animals | Length of periods in millions of years |
| Cenozoic | Quaternary | The dominance of modern species and the creation of cultivated plants and animals | 1 |
| Tertiary | Dominance and diversity of angiosperms (flowering) plants. The gradual development of modern flora, the establishment of modern plant species. Diversity of mammals, birds, insects | 69 | |
| Mesozoic | Chalky | The emergence and development of angiosperms (flowering) plants, the establishment of modern plant genera. Extinction of cycads and ginkgos. Appearance of red calcareous algae. Further development of reptiles, birds and insects and mammals | 40 |
| Jurassic | Development and wide distribution of gymnosperms - cycads, ginkgos and conifers. The emergence of diatoms. Disappearance of pteridosperms Reptiles. primary birds. mammals | 40 | |
| Triassic | Development of cycads, ginkgos and conifers. Development of ferns. The extinction of the cordaites. Development of reptiles. First mammals - marsupials | 35 | |
| Paleozoic | Permian | Extinction of tree-like club mosses and horsetails; the emergence of modern families of ferns. The appearance of conifers (Bayera and Walchia). Distribution of the glossopteric flora. reptiles | 40 |
| Coal | The development of ferns (tree clubs, horsetails, ferns). Pteridosperms and cordaites. The rise of amphibians. By the end of the period - the appearance of insects | 50 | |
| Devonian | Psidophytes and primary ferns. The first gymnosperms are pteridosperms (fern-shaped gymnosperms). The emergence of fungi. By the end of the period - the extinction of the psilophytic flora. Various fish. Lungfish | 35 | |
| Silurian | The first land plants are psilophytes. Various marine invertebrates. Fish | 35 | |
| Cambrian | The first signs of stem plants. Trilobite dominance. Algae and bacteria | 80 | |
| Proterozoic | Bacteria and algae. The simplest animals | About 700 | |
| Archean | Limestones, m. b. bacterial origin |
Until now, only geological and climatic forces have acted in nature. As we have seen, they have always strongly influenced the vegetation and contributed to its greater and greater diversity. Now a completely new factor has appeared: man.
Born in the Tertiary period, according to various estimates, 600,000 - 1,000,000 years before our time, in ape-like forms, he met the ice age still unarmed. But in many places it was impossible to escape from the glacier; cold drove man into the caves, which became his first dwelling, and forced him to invent devices for maintaining fire. From that moment on, man becomes an industrial being and, increasingly intensifying his activity, begins to influence nature more strongly than any other Living being. He cuts down forests, raises virgin soil, breaks through canals, blows up and digs up entire mountains, and generally changes the face of the Earth at his own discretion.
* * *
In relation to vegetation, man destroys the forest flora, destroys steppe plants and many others, and creates in their place his own special world, the world of cultivated plants, which would never exist if not for man. The modern period of the development of terrestrial vegetation is precisely characterized by the replacement by man of the flora inherited from former times by cultivated vegetation.
We have seen that the conditions of plant life on Earth at first put forward, as the pioneers of the primary colonization of the earth's crust, a group of bacteria known under the general name of chemotrophic, i.e., those whose nutrition is reduced to a small number of clearly expressed chemical reactions and does not need to be previously formed organic matter.
The age of bacteria was later replaced by the age of algae, which in the waters of the ancient oceans reached a significant variety of shapes and colors.
The age of algae was replaced on the primary continents by the age of psilophytes, which gave vegetation reminiscent in its general appearance and size of modern thickets of large mosses.
The age of psilophytes gave way to the age of fern-like plants, which already formed extensive forests on swampy soils. This vegetation contributed a lot to the fact that both the composition of the air and the accumulation of a mass of nutrients made possible the emergence of the first land vertebrates. At the same time, the main masses of coal were accumulated.
The age of ferns gave way to the age of cone-bearing plants. For the first time, the surface of the continents took on a modern appearance in some places, and the possibility of the existence of higher animals was even closer.
The age of the cone-bearing plants was gradually replaced by the age of flowering plants, when all the plants that exist today were formed one after the other.
It must be said that the onset of a new century or period never completely destroyed the former plant world. Always a part of the past population of the Earth was preserved and continued to exist along with the new world. Thus, not only did bacteria not disappear with the appearance of higher vegetation, but they also found new sources of existence for themselves in the soil and in organic matter, so generously created by higher plants. Algae, once developed, continue to grow and improve along with higher plants. Moreover, they are not competitors to them, since some inhabit the coastal sea areas, while others mainly land.
Finally, the coniferous forests of our time continue to exist along with the deciduous ones, and their shade gives shelter to fern-like plants, since this legacy of the foggy and humid Carboniferous period is afraid of open habitats where it is harmed by the sun's rays, and seeks shade.
Thus the history of the earth's crust led to the creation of a rich and varied world of plants, starting from the materials provided by the inorganic world, and ending with the creation of what surrounds us and provides us with everything we need for life.
“Zoology and botany are still fact-gathering sciences, until paleontology—Cuvier—joins here, and soon after the discovery of the cell and the development organic chemistry. Thanks to this, comparative morphology and comparative physiology became possible, and since then both have become genuine sciences.
F. Engels
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The course and direction of the process of the emergence of species in accordance with the main provisions of the theory of evolution of Ch. Darwin are supported by data from various branches of biology, including data from the field of paleontology, which serve as material evidence, since they are based on the study of fossil remains of once living organisms. As a result of the progressive development of life, some groups of organisms were replaced by others, while the third changed little, and the fourth died out. Based on the finds of fossil forms in the deposits of earth layers, it is possible to trace the true history of living nature. Thus, the paleontological series of the horse (V. O. Koralevsky), the elephant, some birds, mollusks, and others were created - from the most primitive initial forms to their modern representatives. The use of the radioisotope method makes it possible to determine with great accuracy the age of rocks in the places of occurrence of paleontological remains and the age of fossil organisms.
Based on paleontological data, the entire history of life on Earth is divided into eras and periods.
Table 1. Geochronological scale
| eras | their duration, million years | Animal and plant world |
| name and duration, million years | age, million years |
|
| Cenozoic (new life) 60-70 | 60-70 | gene 1.5-2 The animal and plant world took on a modern look |
| Upper Tertiary (Neogene) 25 Lower Tertiary (Paleogene) 41 The dominance of mammals, birds. The appearance of lemurs and dolphins - low-organized primates, later - parapithecus, driopithecus. The flowering of insects. The extinction of large reptiles continues. Many groups of cephalopods are disappearing. dominance of angiosperms. Reduction of gymnosperm flora |
||
| Mesozoic (middle life) 173 | 240±10 | Cretaceous 70 Jurassic 58 Triassic 45 The appearance of higher mammals and true birds, although toothy birds are still common. Bony fish predominate. The number of ferns and gymnosperms is sharply reduced. The emergence and distribution of angiosperms Dominance of reptiles. Appearance of Archeopteryx. The flowering of cephalopods. The dominance of gymnosperms The beginning of the heyday of reptiles. The appearance of the first mammals, true bony fish. The disappearance of seed ferns |
| Paleozoic (ancient life) 330 | 570 | Permsky 45 Carboniferous (carbon) 55-75 The rapid development of reptiles. The emergence of animal-like reptiles. Trilobite extinction. Disappearance of forests of the Carboniferous period. The emergence and development of gymnosperms. The rise of amphibians. The emergence of the first reptiles. The appearance of scorpions, spiders, flying forms of insects. Reducing the number of trilobites. Development of higher spore and seed ferns. The predominance of ancient club mosses and horsetails. mushroom development |
| Devonian sky 50-70 The flowering of corymbs. Appearance lobe-finned fishes and stegocephalians. The emergence of fungi. Development, and then the extinction of the psilophytes. Distribution on land of higher spore |
||
| Silurius sky 30 Lush coral development, three |
||
| Ordovician- sky 60 Bloom of marine invertebrates, trilobites, mollusks, archaeocyaths. |
||
| Kemb- Russian 70 Widespread algae |
||
| Prothero zoic (ran her life) 2000 |
2600 + 100 |
All types of invertebrates are represented. The appearance of primary chordates - a subtype of non-cranial |
| Archean (the oldest nya) 900 |
3500 | There are few traces of life. Remains of bacteria were found unicellular algae |
1. Archean era- the oldest stage in the history of the Earth, when life arose in the waters of the primary seas, which was originally presented precellular its forms and the first cellular organisms. Wasp analysis of this age shows that bacteria and blue-greens lived in the aquatic environment.
2 . Proterozoic era. On the verge of the Archean and Proterozoic eras, the structure and function of organisms became more complex: multicellularity arose, a sexual process that increased the genetic heterogeneity of organisms and provided extensive material for selection; photosynthetic plants became more diverse. The multicellularity of organisms was accompanied by an increase in the specialization of cells, their association into tissues and functional systems.
It is quite difficult to trace in detail the evolution of animals and plants in the Proterozoic era due to the recrystallization of sedimentary rocks and the destruction of organic remains. In the sediments of this era, only imprints of bacteria, algae, lower types of invertebrates and lower chordates. A major step in evolution was the emergence of organisms with bilateral symmetry of the body, differentiated into the anterior and posterior sections, left and right sides, and the isolation of the dorsal and ventral surfaces. The dorsal surface of the animals served as protection, and the mouth and food capture organs were located on the abdominal surface.
3. Paleozoic era. The animal and plant world has reached a great diversity, terrestrial life began to develop.
There are six periods in the Paleozoic: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian. In the Cambrian period, life was concentrated in water (it covered a significant part of our planet) and was represented by more advanced multicellular algae, having a dissected thallus, thanks to which they more actively synthesized organic substances and were the original branch for terrestrial leafy plants. Invertebrates are widespread in the seas, including brachiopods, and from arthropods - trilobites. An independent type of two-layer animals of that period were archaeocyates, which formed reefs in ancient seas. They died out without leaving any descendants. Only lived on land bacteria And mushrooms.
In the Ordovician period, the climate was warm even in the Arctic. In fresh and brackish waters of this period, planktonic seaweed, various corals from the type of coelenterates, there were representatives of almost all types invertebrates including trilobites, mollusks, echinoderms. Bacteria were widely represented. The first representatives of jawless vertebrates appear - shield.
At the end of the Silurian period, in connection with mountain-building processes and a reduction in the area of the seas, part of the algae found themselves in new environmental conditions - in shallow water bodies and on land. Many of them died. However, as a result of multidirectional variability and selection, individual representatives acquired traits that contributed to survival in new conditions. The first terrestrial spore plants appeared - psilophytes. They had a cylindrical stem about 25 cm high, instead of leaves - scales. Their most important adaptations are the appearance of integumentary and mechanical tissues, root-like outgrowths - rhizoids, as well as the elementary conducting system.
In the Devonian, the number of psilophytes declined sharply, they were replaced by their transformed descendants, higher plants - lycopsid, mossy And ferns, which develop real vegetative organs (root, stem, leaf). The emergence of vegetative organs increased the efficiency of the function of individual parts of plants and their vitality as a harmoniously integrated system. The emergence of plants on land preceded the emergence of animals. On Earth, plants accumulated biomass, and in the atmosphere - a supply of oxygen. The first inhabitants of land from invertebrates were spiders, scorpions, centipedes. There were many fish in the Devonian seas, among them - jawed armored, having an internal cartilaginous skeleton and an external strong shell, movable jaws, paired fins. Freshwater bodies inhabited lobe-finned fish that had gill and primitive pulmonary respiration. With the help of fleshy fins, they moved along the bottom of the reservoir, and when they dried up, crawled into other reservoirs. A group of lobe-finned fish was the ancestors of ancient amphibians - stegocephalians. Stegocephals lived in swampy areas, went out onto land, but bred only in water.
In the Carboniferous period, giant ferns spread, which, in a warm, humid climate, settled everywhere. During this period they flourished ancient amphibians.
During the Permian period, the climate became drier and colder, which led to the extinction of many amphibians. By the end of the period, the number of amphibian species began to decline sharply, and only small amphibians (newts, frogs, toads) have survived to this day. Tree-like spore-like ferns have been replaced by seed ferns, giving rise to gymnosperms. The latter had a developed tap root system and seeds, and their fertilization took place in the absence of water. Extinct amphibians were replaced by a more progressive group of animals descended from stegocephals - reptiles. They had dry skin, denser cellular lungs, internal fertilization, egg nutrient storage, protective egg shells.
4. Mesozoic era includes three periods: Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous.
Widespread in the Triassic gymnosperms, especially conifers, which have taken a dominant position. At the same time, they spread widely reptiles: ichthyosaurs lived in the seas, plesiosaurs in the air - flying pangolins, reptiles were also diversely represented on earth. Giant reptiles (brontosaurs, diplodocus, etc.) soon became extinct. At the very beginning of the Triassic, a group of small animals with a more perfect structure of the skeleton and teeth separated from the reptiles. These animals acquired the ability to live birth, a constant body temperature, they had a four-chambered heart and a number of other progressive features of organization. These were the first primitive mammals.
In the sediments of the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic o6, the remains of the first bird were also found - Archeopteryx. It combined in its structure the signs of birds and reptiles.
In the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic, a branch of plants separated from gymnosperms, which had an organ of seed reproduction - a flower. After fertilization, the ovary of the flower turns into a fruit, so the developing seeds inside the fruit are protected by pulp and shells from adverse environmental conditions. The variety of flowers of various adaptations for pollination and distribution of fruits and seeds made it possible angiosperms (flowering) plants to spread widely in nature and take a dominant position. In parallel with them, a group of arthropods developed - insects which, being pollinators of flowering plants, contributed greatly to their progressive evolution. In the same period appeared real birds And placental mammals. Signs of a high degree of organization in them - a constant body temperature | complete separation of arterial and venous blood flow, increased metabolism, perfect thermoregulation, and in mammals, in addition, live birth, feeding of young with milk, development of the cerebral cortex - allowed these groups to also occupy a dominant position on Earth.
5. Cenozoic era It is divided into three periods: Paleogene, Neogene and Quaternary.
In the Paleogene, Neogene and the beginning of the Quaternary period, flowering plants, thanks to the acquisition of numerous private adaptations, occupied most of the land and represented the subtropical and tropical flora. Due to the cooling caused by the advance of the glacier, the subtropical flora retreated to the south. In the composition of the terrestrial vegetation of temperate latitudes, deciduous trees, adapted to the seasonal rhythm of temperatures, as well as shrubs and herbaceous plants. The flowering of herbaceous plants falls on the Quaternary period. Warm-blooded animals are widely distributed:
birds and mammals. Cave bears, lions, mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses lived during the ice age, which gradually died out after the retreat of the glaciers and the warming of the climate, and the animal world acquired a modern look.
The main event of this era is the formation of man. By the end of the Neogene, small tailed mammals lived in the forests - lemurs And tarsiers. From them came the ancient forms of monkeys - parapithecus, who led an arboreal lifestyle and fed on plants and insects. Their distant descendants are now living gibbons, orangutans and extinct small tree monkeys - dryopithecus. Dryopithecus gave rise to three lines of development that led to chimpanzee, gorilla, as well as extinct Australopithecus. Descended from Australopithecus at the end of the Neogene reasonable person.
The emergence of the Earth and the early stages of its formation
One of the important tasks of modern natural science in the field of Earth sciences is the restoration of the history of its development. According to modern cosmogonic concepts, the Earth was formed from the gas and dust matter scattered in the protosolar system. One of the most probable variants of the origin of the Earth is as follows. Initially, the Sun and a flattened rotating circumsolar nebula were formed from an interstellar gas and dust cloud under the influence of, for example, the explosion of a nearby supernova. Next, the evolution of the Sun and the circumsolar nebula took place with the transmission of the moment of momentum from the Sun to the planets by electromagnetic or turbulent-convective methods. Subsequently, the "dusty plasma" condensed into rings around the Sun, and the material of the rings formed the so-called planetesimals, which condensed to planets. After that, a similar process was repeated around the planets, which led to the formation of satellites. This process is believed to have taken about 100 million years.
It is assumed that further, as a result of the differentiation of the Earth's substance under the influence of its gravitational field and radioactive heating, different in chemical composition, state of aggregation and physical properties of the shell - the Earth's geosphere - arose and developed. The heavier material formed a core, probably composed of iron mixed with nickel and sulfur. Somewhat lighter elements remained in the mantle. According to one of the hypotheses, the mantle is composed of simple oxides of aluminum, iron, titanium, silicon, etc. The composition of the earth's crust has already been discussed in sufficient detail in § 8.2. It is composed of lighter silicates. Even lighter gases and moisture formed the primary atmosphere.
As already mentioned, it is assumed that the Earth was born from a cluster of cold solid particles that fell out of a gas and dust nebula and stuck together under the influence of mutual attraction. As the planet grew, it warmed up due to the collision of these particles, which reached several hundred kilometers, like modern asteroids, and the release of heat not only by naturally radioactive elements now known to us in the crust, but also by more than 10 radioactive isotopes Al, Be, which have since died out. Cl, etc. As a result, complete (in the core) or partial (in the mantle) melting of the substance could occur. In the initial period of its existence, up to about 3.8 billion years, the Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the Moon, were subjected to increased bombardment by small and large meteorites. The result of this bombardment and the earlier collision of planetesimals could be the release of volatiles and the beginning of the formation of a secondary atmosphere, since the primary, consisting of gases captured during the formation of the Earth, most likely quickly dissipated into outer space. A little later, the hydrosphere began to form. The atmosphere and hydrosphere formed in this way were replenished in the process of degassing of the mantle during volcanic activity.
The fall of large meteorites created vast and deep craters, similar to those currently observed on the Moon, Mars, Mercury, where their traces have not been erased by subsequent changes. Cratering could provoke magma outpourings with the formation of basalt fields similar to those covering the lunar "seas". Thus, the primary crust of the Earth was probably formed, which, however, has not been preserved on its modern surface, with the exception of relatively small fragments in the “younger” crust of the continental type.
This crust, containing in its composition already granites and gneisses, however, with a lower content of silica and potassium than in "normal" granites, appeared at the turn of about 3.8 billion years and is known to us from outcrops within the crystalline shields of almost all continents. The method of formation of the oldest continental crust is still largely unclear. This crust, metamorphosed everywhere under conditions of high temperatures and pressures, contains rocks whose textural features indicate accumulation in the aquatic environment, i.e. in this distant epoch the hydrosphere already existed. The appearance of the first crust, similar to the modern one, required the supply of large amounts of silica, aluminum, and alkalis from the mantle, while now mantle magmatism creates a very limited volume of rocks enriched in these elements. It is believed that 3.5 billion years ago, gray-gneiss crust, named after the predominant type of its constituent rocks, was widespread on the area of modern continents. In our country, for example, it is known on the Kola Peninsula and in Siberia, in particular in the basin of the river. Aldan.
Principles of periodization of the geological history of the Earth
Further events in geologic time are often determined according to relative geochronology, categories "old", "younger". For example, some era is older than some other. Separate segments of geological history are called (in decreasing order of their duration) zones, eras, periods, epochs, centuries. Their identification is based on the fact that geological events are imprinted in rocks, and sedimentary and volcanogenic rocks are located in layers in the earth's crust. In 1669, N. Stenoy established the law of stratification sequence, according to which the underlying layers of sedimentary rocks are older than the overlying ones, i.e. formed before them. Thanks to this, it became possible to determine the relative sequence of the formation of layers, and hence the geological events associated with them.
The main method in relative geochronology is the biostratigraphic, or paleontological, method of establishing the relative age and sequence of the occurrence of rocks. This method was proposed by W. Smith at the beginning of the 19th century, and then developed by J. Cuvier and A. Brongniard. The fact is that in most sedimentary rocks one can find the remains of animal or plant organisms. J.B. Lamarck and C. Darwin established that animals and plant organisms in the course of geological history gradually improved in the struggle for existence, adapting to changing living conditions. Some animal and plant organisms died out at certain stages of the development of the Earth, they were replaced by others, more perfect ones. Thus, according to the remains of earlier living more primitive ancestors found in some layer, one can judge the relatively older age of this layer.
Another method of geochronological separation of rocks, especially important for the separation of igneous formations of the ocean floor, is based on the property of the magnetic susceptibility of rocks and minerals formed in the Earth's magnetic field. With a change in the orientation of the rock relative to the magnetic field or the field itself, part of the "inherent" magnetization is retained, and the change in polarity is imprinted in a change in the orientation of the remanent magnetization of the rocks. Currently, a scale for the change of such epochs has been established.
Absolute geochronology - the doctrine of the measurement of geological time, expressed in ordinary absolute astronomical units(years), - determines the time of occurrence, completion and duration of all geological events, primarily the time of formation or transformation (metamorphism) of rocks and minerals, since the age of geological events is determined by their age. The main method here is the analysis of the ratio of radioactive substances and their decay products in rocks formed in different eras.
The oldest rocks are currently established in West Greenland (3.8 billion years). The oldest age (4.1 - 4.2 Ga) was obtained from zircons from Western Australia, but the zircon here occurs in a redeposited state in Mesozoic sandstones. Taking into account the concept of the simultaneity of the formation of all the planets of the solar system and the moon and the age of the most ancient meteorites (4.5-4.6 billion years) and ancient lunar rocks (4.0-4.5 billion years), the age of the Earth is assumed to be 4.6 billion years.
In 1881, at the II International Geological Congress in Bologna (Italy), the main divisions of the combined stratigraphic (for separating layered sedimentary rocks) and geochronological scales were approved. According to this scale, the history of the Earth was divided into four eras in accordance with the stages of development of the organic world: 1) Archean, or Archeozoic - the era of ancient life; 2) Paleozoic - the era of ancient life; 3) Mesozoic - the era of middle life; 4) Cenozoic - the era of new life. In 1887, the Proterozoic, the era of primary life, was singled out from the Archean era. Later the scale was improved. One of the variants of the modern geochronological scale is presented in Table. 8.1. The Archean era is divided into two parts: early (older than 3500 Ma) and late Archean; Proterozoic - also into two: early and late Proterozoic; in the latter, the Riphean (the name comes from the ancient name of the Ural Mountains) and Vendian periods are distinguished. The Phanerozoic zone is subdivided into the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras and consists of 12 periods.
Table 8.1. Geological scale
|
Age (beginning) |
|||
|
Phanerozoic |
Cenozoic |
Quaternary | |
|
Neogene | |||
|
Paleogene | |||
|
Mesozoic | |||
|
Triassic | |||
|
Paleozoic |
Permian | ||
|
Coal | |||
|
Devonian | |||
|
Silurian | |||
|
Ordovician | |||
|
Cambrian | |||
|
Cryptozoic |
Proterozoic |
Vendian | |
|
Riphean | |||
|
Karelian | |||
|
Archean | |||
|
Catharhean |
The main stages of the evolution of the earth's crust
Let us briefly consider the main stages in the evolution of the earth's crust as an inert substrate, on which the diversity of the surrounding nature has developed.
INapxee The still rather thin and plastic crust, under the influence of extension, experienced numerous discontinuities, through which basaltic magma again rushed to the surface, filling troughs hundreds of kilometers long and many tens of kilometers wide, known as greenstone belts (they owe this name to the predominant greenschist low-temperature metamorphism of basalt breeds). Along with basalts, among the lavas of the lower, most thick part of the section of these belts, there are high-magnesian lavas, indicating a very high degree of partial melting of the mantle substance, which indicates a high heat flow, much higher than the modern one. The development of greenstone belts consisted in a change in the type of volcanism in the direction of increasing the content of silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) in it, in compression deformations and metamorphism of sedimentary-volcanogenic fulfillment, and, finally, in the accumulation of clastic sediments, indicating the formation of a mountainous relief.
After the change of several generations of greenstone belts, the Archean stage of the evolution of the earth's crust ended 3.0 -2.5 billion years ago with the massive formation of normal granites with a predominance of K 2 O over Na 2 O. Granitization, as well as regional metamorphism, which in some places reached the highest stage, led to the formation of a mature continental crust over most of the area of modern continents. However, this crust turned out to be insufficiently stable: at the beginning of the Proterozoic era, it experienced crushing. At this time, a planetary network of faults and cracks arose, filled with dikes (plate-like geological bodies). One of them, the Great Dike in Zimbabwe, is over 500 km long and up to 10 km wide. In addition, rifting appeared for the first time, giving rise to zones of subsidence, powerful sedimentation and volcanism. Their evolution led to the creation at the end early Proterozoic(2.0-1.7 billion years ago) of folded systems that re-soldered the fragments of the Archean continental crust, which was facilitated by a new era of powerful granite formation.
As a result, by the end of the Early Proterozoic (by the turn of 1.7 billion years ago), a mature continental crust already existed on 60–80% of the area of its modern distribution. Moreover, some scientists believe that at this turn the entire continental crust formed a single massif - the supercontinent Megagea (the mainland), which was opposed by the ocean on the other side of the globe - the predecessor of the modern Pacific Ocean- Megathalassa (big sea). This ocean was less deep than modern oceans, because the growth of the volume of the hydrosphere due to degassing of the mantle in the process of volcanic activity continues throughout the subsequent history of the Earth, although more slowly. It is possible that the prototype of Megathalassa appeared even earlier, at the end of the Archean.
In the Catarchean and the beginning of the Archean, the first traces of life appeared - bacteria and algae, and in the late Archean, algal calcareous structures - stromatolites - spread. In the Late Archean, a radical change in the composition of the atmosphere began, and in the Early Proterozoic, a radical change in the composition of the atmosphere began: under the influence of the vital activity of plants, free oxygen appeared in it, while the Catharchean and Early Archean atmosphere consisted of water vapor, CO 2 , CO, CH 4 , N, NH 3 and H 2 S with an admixture of HC1, HF and inert gases.
In the Late Proterozoic(1.7-0.6 billion years ago) Megagea began to gradually split, and this process sharply intensified at the end of the Proterozoic. Its traces are extended continental rift systems buried at the base of the sedimentary cover of ancient platforms. Its most important result was the formation of vast intercontinental mobile belts - the North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Ural-Okhotsk, which divided the continents of North America, Eastern Europe, East Asia and the largest fragment of Megagea - the southern supercontinent Gondwana. The central parts of these belts developed on the oceanic crust newly formed during rifting, i.e. the belts were ocean basins. Their depth gradually increased as the hydrosphere grew. At the same time, mobile belts developed along the periphery of the Pacific Ocean, the depth of which also increased. Climatic conditions became more contrasting, as evidenced by the appearance, especially at the end of the Proterozoic, of glacial deposits (tillites, ancient moraines, and water-glacial sediments).
Paleozoic stage The evolution of the earth's crust was characterized by the intensive development of mobile belts - intercontinental and marginal continental (the latter on the periphery of the Pacific Ocean). These belts were divided into marginal seas and island arcs, their sedimentary-volcanic strata experienced complex fold-thrust, and then normal-shear deformations, granites were introduced into them and on this basis folded mountain systems were formed. This process proceeded unevenly. It distinguishes a number of intense tectonic epochs and granitic magmatism: Baikal - at the very end of the Proterozoic, Salair (from the Salair ridge in Central Siberia) - at the end of the Cambrian, Takov (from the Takov Mountains in the east of the USA) - at the end of the Ordovician, Caledonian ( from the ancient Roman name of Scotland) - at the end of the Silurian, Acadian (Acadia - the ancient name of the northeastern states of the USA) - in the middle of the Devonian, Sudeten - at the end of the Early Carboniferous, Saal (from the Saale River in Germany) - in the middle of the early Permian. The first three tectonic epochs of the Paleozoic are often combined into the Caledonian era of tectogenesis, the last three into the Hercynian or Varisian. In each of the listed tectonic epochs, certain parts of the mobile belts turned into folded mountain structures, and after destruction (denudation) they were part of the foundation of young platforms. But some of them partially experienced activation in subsequent epochs of mountain building.
By the end of the Paleozoic, the intercontinental mobile belts were completely closed and filled with folded systems. As a result of the withering away of the North Atlantic belt, the North American continent closed with the East European, and the latter (after the completion of the development of the Ural-Okhotsk belt) - with the Siberian, Siberian - with the Chinese-Korean. As a result, the supercontinent Laurasia was formed, and the dying off of the western part of the Mediterranean belt led to its unification with the southern supercontinent - Gondwana - into one continental block - Pangea. The eastern part of the Mediterranean belt at the end of the Paleozoic - the beginning of the Mesozoic turned into a huge bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the periphery of which folded mountain structures also rose.
Against the background of these changes in the structure and relief of the Earth, the development of life continued. The first animals appeared as early as the late Proterozoic, and at the very dawn of the Phanerozoic, almost all types of invertebrates existed, but they still lacked the shells or shells that have been known since the Cambrian. In the Silurian (or already in the Ordovician), vegetation began to land on land, and at the end of the Devonian there were forests that became most widespread in the Carboniferous period. Fish appeared in the Silurian, amphibians in the Carboniferous.
Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras - the last major stage in the development of the structure of the earth's crust, which is marked by the formation of modern oceans and the isolation of modern continents. At the beginning of the stage, in the Triassic, Pangea still existed, but already in the early Jurassic, it again split into Laurasia and Gondwana due to the emergence of the latitudinal Tethys ocean, stretching from Central America to Indochina and Indonesia, and in the west and east it merged with the Pacific Ocean (Fig. 8.6); this ocean also included the Central Atlantic. From here, at the end of the Jurassic, the process of moving apart the continents spread to the north, creating the North Atlantic during the Cretaceous period and the early Paleogene, and starting from the Paleogene, the Eurasian basin of the Arctic Ocean (the Amerasian basin arose earlier as part of the Pacific Ocean). As a result, North America separated from Eurasia. In the Late Jurassic, the formation of the Indian Ocean began, and from the beginning of the Cretaceous, the South Atlantic began to open up from the south. This meant the beginning of the disintegration of Gondwana, which existed as a whole throughout the Paleozoic. At the end of the Cretaceous, the North Atlantic joined the South, separating Africa from South America. At the same time, Australia separated from Antarctica, and at the end of the Paleogene, the latter separated from South America.
Thus, by the end of the Paleogene, all modern oceans took shape, all modern continents became isolated, and the appearance of the Earth acquired a form that was basically close to the present. However, there were no modern mountain systems yet.
From the Late Paleogene (40 million years ago), intensive mountain building began, culminating in the last 5 million years. This stage of the formation of young fold-cover mountain structures, the formation of revived arch-block mountains is distinguished as neotectonic. In fact, the neotectonic stage is a sub-stage of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic stage of the development of the Earth, since it was at this stage that the main features of the modern relief of the Earth took shape, starting with the distribution of oceans and continents.
At this stage, the formation of the main features of modern fauna and flora was completed. The Mesozoic era was the era of reptiles, mammals began to predominate in the Cenozoic, and man appeared in the late Pliocene. At the end of the Early Cretaceous, angiosperms appeared and the land acquired grass cover. At the end of the Neogene and Anthropogene, the high latitudes of both hemispheres were covered by a powerful continental glaciation, the relics of which are the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland. This was the third major glaciation in the Phanerozoic: the first took place in the late Ordovician, the second - at the end of the Carboniferous - the beginning of the Permian; both were common within Gondwana.
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-CHECKING
What are spheroid, ellipsoid and geoid? What are the parameters of the ellipsoid adopted in our country? Why is it needed?
What is the internal structure of the Earth? On the basis of what is the conclusion about its structure made?
What are the main physical parameters of the Earth and how do they change with depth?
What is the chemical and mineralogical composition of the Earth? On what basis is a conclusion made about the chemical composition of the entire Earth and the earth's crust?
What are the main types of the earth's crust are currently distinguished?
What is the hydrosphere? What is the water cycle in nature? What are the main processes occurring in the hydrosphere and its elements?
What is atmosphere? What is its structure? What processes take place within it? What is weather and climate?
Define endogenous processes. What endogenous processes do you know? Briefly describe them.
What is the essence of tectonics lithospheric plates? What are its main provisions?
10. Define exogenous processes. What is the main essence of these processes? What endogenous processes do you know? Briefly describe them.
11. How do endogenous and exogenous processes interact? What are the results of the interaction of these processes? What is the essence of the theories of V. Davis and V. Penk?
What are the current ideas about the origin of the Earth? How was its early formation as a planet?
On the basis of what is the periodization of the geological history of the Earth?
14. How did the earth's crust develop in the geological past of the Earth? What are the main stages in the development of the earth's crust?
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