Cenozoic

Also known as Cenozoic Era, Cenozoic Erathem, Caenozoic Era, Caenozoic

The Cenozoic Era (also known as the Caenozoic, Kainozoic, or Neozoic Era; ; ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon, preceded by the Mesozoic and Paleozoic. The Cenozoic 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 c

AI overview

The Cenozoic Era is Earth's current geological period, spanning the last 66 million years since a massive asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species. It is defined by the rise and dominance of mammals, birds, insects, and flowering plants, making it the age in which modern life as we know it developed.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Geologic timespan.name: Cenozoic
Geologic timespan.color: Cenozoic
Geologic timespan.top_bar: phanerozoic
Geologic timespan.time_start: 66.0
Geologic timespan.time_end: 0
Geologic timespan.image_outcrop: File:Torre Sant'Andrea.jpg
Geologic timespan.caption_outcrop: Rock deposits from the Cenozoic Era (Torre Sant'Andrea, Salento, Italy)
Geologic timespan.timeline: Cenozoic
Geologic timespan.name_formality: Formal
Geologic timespan.nicknames: Age of Mammals
Geologic timespan.celestial_body: Earth
Geologic timespan.usage: Global (ICS)
Geologic timespan.timescales_used: ICS Time Scale
Geologic timespan.chrono_unit: Era
Geologic timespan.strat_unit: Erathem
Geologic timespan.timespan_formality: Formal
Geologic timespan.lower_boundary_def: Iridium enriched layer associated with a major meteorite impact and subsequent K-Pg extinction event.
Geologic timespan.lower_gssp_location: El Kef Section, El Kef, Tunisia

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image: Ice age fauna of northern Spain - Mauricio Antón.jpg

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Commons category: Cenozoic
start time: 66000000-0
sRGB color hex triplet: F2F91D

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~15 min read

Article

12 sections

Contents

Nomenclature
Divisions
Paleogene
Neogene
Quaternary
Tectonics
Climate
Life
See also
References
Further reading
External links

The Cenozoic is commonly 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.