A&O SCI 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Paleozoic, Beringia, Cenozoic
2 Aug 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Lec 7, 8 - paleoclimate and the ice ages . Cambrian explosion : sudden explosion of biodiversity & complexity. Earth"s history is divided into pre-cambrian era (prior to 580 million years ago) and cambrian era. Cambrian explosion further subdivided into paleozoic, mesozoic, and cenozoic eras (based on types of fossils found and earth"s geological characteristics) Sturtian : our cold period occurred in late pre-cambrian (roughly 720-660 million. Surface ocean waters were frozen in the deep tropics rest of the planet years ago) must have been frozen as well ( snowball earth ) Mesozoic era : the dinosaurs roamed the earth (ended 65 million years ago) Cretaceous period (144-65 million years ago): dinosaurs were the dominant large animals, and the climate was hot. Co2 levels = 4x higher than current levels. Major biomes = shifter 15 poleward of their present positions. Pleistocene epoch : (last 2 million years) produced the ice ages.
