1. PALEOZOIC ERA
KNOWN AS THE AGE OF FISH OR TRILOBITES

2. Timeframe: 544 million to 248 million years ago
Paleozoic Era
Life starts in the seas and moves onto land
Timeframe: 544 million to 248 million years ago
Six periods:
Cambrian
Ordovician
Silurian
Devonian
Carboniferous-2 periods included
Permian

3. IMPORTANT FACTS This division is known as ANCIENT LIFE
During most of the Era, warm shallow SEAS covered much of the planet.
A major geologic event of the Paleozoic was the formation of the super continent of Pangaea.

4. HOW EARTH LOOKED DURING THE PALEOZOIC ERA

6. Cambrian “explosion”
For reasons unclear, 13 million years after the start of the Cambrian (so 530 my), there was a tremendous diversification of marine life forms, some of which have never been reproduced.
Cambrian Explosion – Most major animal phyla are found in the fossil record (mostly aquatic invertebrates with exoskeletons).

7. LAND (GEOLOGICAL) FEATURES That First APPEARED:
Early Plants such as ferns, mosses, and cone-bearing plants like pine-cone trees
By the end of the era, seed plants (gymnosperms) were common and began to form creating a forests
By the Devonian Period, grass began to grow on land and mountains formed during this era (Appalachian Mtn.)

8. Paleozoic Era

9. ANIMALS/ORGANISMS (BIOLOGICAL) & GEOLOGICAL FEATURES THAT FIRST APPEARED

10. Paleozoic Era Cambrian Period (570-500 MYA)
Cambrian Explosion – Most major animal phyla are found in the fossil record (mostly aquatic invertebrates with exoskeletons).
TRILOBITES APPEARED

11. Ordovician Period (500-435 MYA)
1st vertebrates - jawless fish (filter feeders)
The vertebrate protects the spinal cord, which carries signals from the brain throughout the body.
The lamprey of today is a parasite.
The hagfish is a scavenger.

12. Paleozoic Era Silurian Period (435-395 MYA)
1st INSECTS & ARACNIDS) (invertebrates like spiders & scorpions).
1st jawed fish (later evolved into sharks-made of cartilage).

13. Devonian Period (395-345 MYA)
“Age of the Fish” (giant armored fish).
1st fish/ 1ST SHARKS (scales and swim bladder for buoyancy).

14. Devonian Period (395-345 MYA)
1st vertebrates on land – amphibians
Evolved from the lobed-fin fish which include some species of lungfish.

15. View of Earth—Devonian Period

16. Carboniferous Period (345-280 MYA)
1st reptiles

17. View of Earth—Carboniferous Pd

18. ANIMALS/ORGANISMS (BIOLOGICAL) & GEOLOGICAL FEATURES THAT BECAME DOMINANT

19. Permian Period ( MYA)
Pangaea begins to form (Appalachian Mnts; dry climate; ice age in the southern hemisphere)
FISH & TRILOBITES WERE DOMINATE AS WELL
Early Permian reptiles, Cacops in front & Casea in back.
The middle Permian reptile, Anteosaurus.

20. View of Earth—Permian Period

21. Mass Extinction
The mass extinction that ended the era caused most marine invertebrates as well as amphibians to disappear.

At the end of this era, more than 90% of all ocean species and 70% of all land species died
One of the Big FIVE Mass Extinctions

22. WHAT CATASTROPHIC EVENT CAUSED THE MASS EXTINCTION??? 3 THINGS
1. volcanic activity
2. Climate Changes
3. lowering of sea levels as Pangaea was forming (convergent boundaries)