A short timeline of development & extinction

T

Time relative to start of the universe

 

'10E-32s : End of the inflation period

 

'10E-6s : Formation of protons

 

'3s : Formation of basic elements

 

'100s : Formation of deuterium,helium

 

'10.000Y : Radiation era

 

'300.000 : Matter domination era

 

'100.000.000 : Formation of stars

 

'300.000.000:Formation of stars,galaxies & our galaxy

 

'500.000.000 : Earliest known galaxy

 

'4.000.000.000 : Peak of star formation

 

Time relative to now (before present)

 

'-4.600.000.000Y : Birth of the sun and earth

 

'-4.500.000.000 : Formation of the moon

 

'-4.500.000.000 : Start of Hadean Greenhouse (Hot)

 

'-4.250.00.000 : Water

 

'-3.800.000.000 : Start of Archean Icehouse (Cold)

 

'-3.700.000.000 : Bacteria ,procaryotes(no nucleus,free DNA), archae

 

'-3.000.000.000 : Photosynthesis bacteria, viruses

 

'-2.900.000 : Start of Pongola Ice age

 

'-2.780.000 : End of Pongola Ice age

 

'-2.500.000.000 : Start of Proterozoic Greenhouse (Hot)

 

'-2.400.000.000 : Great oxidation event

Bacteria produce oxygen

Decline in methane producing bacteria

 

'-2.300.00.0000 : First snowball Earth

Due to lack of volcanic activity

 

'-2.400.000 : Start of Huron Ice age

 

'-2.200.000.000 : Single-celled life, eukaryotes(DNA in nucleus,organelles)

 

'-2.100.000 : End of Huron Ice age

 

'-1.200.000.000 : Eukaryotes split into plants,animals,fungi

 

'-900.000.000: Multi-cellular life

 

'-800.000.000 : Multi-cellular split into sponges and non-sponges

 

'-770.000.000 : Snowball earth (global glaciation)

 

'-715.000 : Start of Cryogenian Ice age

 

'-635.000 : End of Cryogenian Ice age

 

'-600.000.000 : Formation of the ozone layer

 

-540.000.000 : Start of the Phanero Icehouse (Cold)

 

-540.000.000 : Start of the Paleozoic period

 

-540.000.000 : Chordates(backbone)

 

-530.000.000 : Trilobite fossils

 

'-500.000.000 : Fish & animals exploring land

 

'-460.000.000 : Plants colonizing the land

 

'-450.000.000 : Ordovician–Silurian extinction events(1)

75% kill rate

Due to new plants removed all oxygen of water

 

'-400.000.000 : Tetra-pods (four-legged animals)

 

'-370.000.000 : Late Devonian extinction(2)

 

'-320.000.000 : Pelycosaurs, dimetrodon

 

'-250.000.000 : Permian-Triassic extinction (3)

The great dying of marine life

96% kill rate

Due to impact event

 

'-250.000.000 : Start of Mesozoic period

 

'-225.000.000 : Dinosaurs and mammals, sauropsids, ammonites

 

'-205.000.000:Triassic-Jurasic Massive Extinction(4)

Due to massive floods of lava and volcanic eruption

 
  

'-200.000.000 : Extinction of terrestrial vertebrates and amphibians

 

'-200.000.000 : Dinosaurs & warm-blooded animals survive and take over

 

'-160.000.000 : Stegosaurus, pterodactyloid, archaeoptery

 

'-140.000.000 : Placental animals, marsupials

 

'-130.000.000 : Flowering plants

 

'-100.000.000 : First bees, maximum number dinosaurs

 

'-90.000.000 : 27% marine life dies

Due to underwater volcanic eruption & lack of oxygen

 

'-70.000.000 :First Tyrannosaurus, grasses

 

'-66.000.000 : Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event(5)

All dinosaurs except birds die due to meteor impact

It clears way to mammals

 

'-66.000.000: Start of Ceno period

 

'-60.000.000 : Primates

 

'-55.000.000 : Paleocene-eocene extinction (Hot)

High temperatures due to rise in greenhouse gases

 

'-50.000.000 : Whales, dolphins

 

'-40.000.000 : Pre-primates

 

'-25.000.000 : Apes

 

'-18.000.000 : Gibbons

 

'-15.000.000 : Mammoth

 

'-14.000.000 : Orangutans

 

'-7.000.000 : Gorillas

 

'-6.500.000 : Chimpanzees

 

'-3.500.000 : Australopithecus (size:1.4m)

 

'-2.580.000.000 : Start of Quaternary period

 

'-2.000.000: Homo habilis (used stone tools)

 

'-1.600.000 : Homo eragaster & homo erectus (use of fire)

 

'-450.000 : Start of Andean-Saharan Ice age

 

'-420.000 : End of Andenan-Saharan Ice age

 

'-400.000 : Homo heidelbergensis (size:1m75) (used spears as tools)

 

'-360.000 : Start of Karoo Ice age

 

'-300.000 : Neanderthaler

(size 1m60) (also in Belgium) (made art) (bowed forehead)

 

'-350.000 : Homo sapiens

(North Africa &Ethiopia) (steep vertical forehead)

 

'-260.000 : End of Karoo Ice age

 

'-140.000 : End penultimate glacial period

Start of last warm period

 

'-125.000 : Last warm period ice minima

 

'-60.000:Start of last glacial period

 

'-55.000 : Fast climate change from extreme cold to mild cold to extreme cold

 

'-50.000: Gracile anatomically modern humans

Smaller and fine boned skeleton

 

'-40.000 : Neanderthaler extinct

 

'-34.000 : Start of Cenozoic Ice age

 

'-24.000 : Last Glacial Maxima i.e. largest ice sheets

 

'-12.000:End of last glacial period

Start of modern climate

 

'-10.000 : Quarternary extinction event

Due to overkill by humans & natural climate change

Extinction of saber-toothed cats, mammoths, mastodons, glyptodonts

 

Julian calendar time

 

'-1.100 : Warm

 

'+0 :  Start of time calculation

 

'+1600 : Cold , known as little ice age

 

Now: 13.800.000.000Y since start of the universe

 
  

'+5.000.000.000 : The sun becomes a red giant

 

The sun becomes a planetary nebula

 

Sun the sun becomes a white dwarf

 

Sun the sun becomes a black dwarf

 

'+1.000.000.000.000.000 : The sun is invisible

 
  

T: Legend

 

Black : “Very cold ice age glacial period”

 

Blue :  “Cold ice age interglacial period”

 

Green : “Warm greenhouse earth”

 

Orange : “Extinction”

 

  © Alain De Vos