TIME
|
GENERAL
|
PLATES
|
ILLINOIS
|
| 15-20 BY |
Big Bang |
|
|
| 4.6 BY |
Age of moon rocks,
meteorites |
|
|
| 3.8 BY |
Oldest earth rocks |
|
|
| 3.0 BY |
Stromatolites |
|
|
| 1.7 BY |
|
Supercontinent |
|
| 1.5 BY |
|
|
Cascade
volcanics
|
| 1.2 BY |
Grenville Orogeny |
Suturing of SE N.
Am & Gondwana |
|
| 1.15 BY |
Formation of Gulf
of Mexico |
Rifting |
Reelfoot Rift Aulacogen |
| 1-0.57 BY |
|
Rifting - N.Am &
Europe |
Emergent |
| 542 MYBP Cambrian |
|
5 separate continents |
Emergent, then shallow sandy
seas
|
|
490 MY Ordovician
|
Rise of Appalachians;
widespread seas |
Collision
of Gondwana & N.Am begins |
Shallow limestone
seas; sands
wash in |
| 425 MY Silurian |
Widespread seas |
Continued collision |
Extensive reefs
in tropical seas |
| 405MY Devonian |
Widespread seas |
Rise of Appalachians;
suturing of plates |
Deep stagnant basin;
Black shale |
| 355 MY Mississippian |
Widespread seas
and limestone
deposits |
Continued suturing |
Widespread seas;
deposit of lead,
zinc |
| 300 MY Pennsylvanian |
East coastal sands,
coal forests, swamps and deltas |
Formation of Pangaea |
Coastal Coal
forest; Deltas, swamps |
| 280 MY Permian |
Seas surround Pangaea |
Pangaea |
Emergent; no record |
| 230-65MY |
Reefs in Tx; Glaciers
in Gondwana |
Break-up
of Pangaea |
Fluorite
Fm; meteorite
impact, Hicks
dome |
| 65-1.8 MY |
Glaciation; rise
of Himalayas |
Separate continents
continue to move |
Delta sediments |
| 1.8-0.1 MY |
Slow rise of Himalayas |
Continents move;
ring of fire |
Glaciation,
Great Lakes, exhuming of canyons |