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Concept
Cenozoic
Summary
The Cenozoic (ˌsiːnəˈzoʊ.ɪk,_ˌsɛn- ; new life) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66 million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds, conifers and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configuration of continents. It is the latest of three geological eras since complex life evolved, preceded by the Mesozoic and Paleozoic. It started with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, when many species, including the non-avian dinosaurs, became extinct in an event attributed by most experts to the impact of a large asteroid or other celestial body, the Chicxulub impactor.
The Cenozoic is also known as the Age of Mammals because the terrestrial animals that dominated both hemispheres were mammalsthe eutherians (placentals) in the northern hemisphere and the metatherians (marsupials, now mainly restricted to Australia and to some extent South America) in the southern hemisphere. The extinction of many groups allowed mammals and birds to greatly diversify so that large mammals and birds dominated life on Earth. The continents also moved into their current positions during this era.
The climate during the early Cenozoic was warmer than today, particularly during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. However, the Eocene to Oligocene transition and the Quaternary glaciation dried and cooled Earth.
Cenozoic derives from the Greek words kainós (καινός 'new') and zōḗ (ζωή 'life'). The name was proposed in 1840 by the British geologist John Phillips (1800–1874), who originally spelled it Kainozoic. The era is also known as the Cænozoic, Caenozoic, or Cainozoic (ˌkaɪ.nəˈzoʊ.ɪk,_ˌkeɪ-).
In name, the Cenozoic (new life) is comparable to the preceding Mesozoic ('middle life') and Paleozoic ('old life') Eras, as well as to the Proterozoic ('earlier life') Eon.
The Cenozoic is divided into three periods: the Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary; and seven epochs: the Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene.
Official source
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