View source for Earth history timeline


4540 million: Solar System & Earth form

4520 million: Our Moon (Luna) forms

4000 million: Oldest rocks on Earth

3500 million: Blue-green algae appears

600 million: Animals with hard parts appear

500 million: First vertebrates appear

425 million: First land plants appear

380 million: First amphibians appear

252 million: Great dying; 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates become extinct

245 million: First dinosaurs appear 

245 million: First mammals appear

120 million: Flowering plants & hardwoods appear

65 million: Extinction of the dinosaurs

62 million: Placental mammals appear

35 million: Grazing animals diversify

5 million: Australopithecus appears

1.6 million: Most recent glacial cycle begins

20 thousand: Last glacial maximum

12 thousand: Interglacial begins