Cenozoic

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Mammals are the dominant terrestrial vertebrates of the Cenozoic.
The Cenozoic Era (/snzok/ or /sinzok/;
also Cnozoic, Caenozoic or Cainozoic; meaning "new life",
from Greek kainos "new", and zoe"life"
[1]
) is the
current and most recent of the three Phanerozoic geological
eras, following the Mesozoic Era and covering the period
from 66 million years ago to the present.
The era began 65 million years ago. The Cenozoic is also
known as the Age of Mammals, because the extinction of
many groups allowed mammals to greatly diversify.
Early in the Cenozoic, following the K-Pg event, the planet was
dominated by relatively small fauna, including small mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. From a
geological perspective, it did not take long for mammals and birds to greatly diversify in the absence of the
large reptiles that had dominated during the Mesozoic. Some birds grew larger than the average human. This
group became known as the "terror birds," and were formidable predators. Mammals came to occupy almost
every available niche (both marine and terrestrial), and some also grew very large, attaining sizes not seen in
most of today's mammals.
Climate-wise, the Earth had begun a drying and cooling trend, culminating in the glaciations of the Pleistocene
Epoch, and partially offset by the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. The continents also began looking
roughly familiar at this time and moved into their current positions.
Cenozoic era
66 - 0 million years ago
Events of the Cenozoic
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Mesozoic
Paleogene
Neogene
Quaternary




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Phanerozoic

An approximate timescale of key Cenozoic events.
Axis scale: Ma before present.
Contents
[hide]
1 Subdivisions
2 Tectonics
3 Climate
4 Life
5 See also
6 References
7 Bibliography
Subdivisions[edit]
The Cenozoic is divided into three periods: The Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary; and seven epochs:
The Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene,Pleistocene, and Holocene. The Quaternary Period
was officially recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy in June 2009,
[2]
and the
former Tertiary Period was officially disused in 2004.
[3]
The common use of epochs during the Cenozoic
helps paleontologists better organize and group the many significant events that occurred during this
comparatively short interval of time. There is also more detailed knowledge of this era than any other because
of the relatively young strata associated with it.
Tectonics[edit]
Geologically, the Cenozoic is the era when the continents moved into their current positions. Australia-New
Guinea, having split from Pangea during the early Cretaceous, drifted north and, eventually, collided
with South-east Asia; Antarctica moved into its current position over the South Pole; theAtlantic Ocean widened
and, later in the era, South America became attached to North America.
India collided with Asia 55 to 45 million years ago; Arabia collided with Eurasia, closing the Tethys ocean,
around 35 million years ago.
[4]

Climate[edit]
The PaleoceneEocene Thermal Maximum of 55.8 million years ago was a significant global warming event;
however, since the Azolla event of49 million years ago, the Cenozoic Era has been a period of long-term
cooling. After the tectonic creation of Drake Passage, when South America fully detached from Antarctica
during the Oligocene, the climate cooled significantly due to the advent of the Antarctic Circumpolar
Current which brought cool deep Antarctic water to the surface. The cooling trend continued in the Miocene,
with relatively short warmer periods. When South America became attached to North America creating
the Isthmus of Panama, the Arctic region cooled due to the strengthening of the Humboldt andGulf
Stream currents,
[5]
eventually leading to the glaciations of the Quaternary ice age, the current interglacial of
which is the Holocene Epoch.
Life[edit]
During the Cenozoic, mammals proliferated from a few small, simple, generalized forms into a diverse
collection of terrestrial, marine, and flying animals, giving this period its other name, the Age of Mammals,
despite the fact that birds still outnumbered mammals two to one. The Cenozoic is just as much the age
of savannas, the age of co-dependent flowering plants and insects, and the age of birds. Grass also played a
very important role in this era, shaping the evolution of the birds and mammals that fed on it. One group that
diversified significantly in the Cenozoic as well were the snakes. Evolving in the Cenozoic, the variety of snakes
increased tremendously, resulting in many colubrids, following the evolution of their current primary prey
source, the rodents.
In the earlier part of the Cenozoic, the world was dominated by the gastornid birds,
terrestrial crocodiles like Pristichampsus, and a handful of primitive large mammal groups
like uintatheres,mesonychids, and pantodonts. But as the forests began to recede and the climate began to
cool, other mammals took over. The Cenozoic is full of mammals both strange and familiar,
includingchalicotheres, creodonts, whales, primates, entelodonts, saber-toothed
cats, mastodons and mammoths, three-toed horses, giant rhinoceros like Indricotherium, and brontotheres.