525.00 MILLION YEARS AGO - 515.00 MILLION YEARS AGO : Antrim Plateau Forms

Antrim Plateau Forms

        The Antrim Plateau in northwestern Australia forms from flood basalts, layers of cooled lava built up gradually by repeated outpourings from fissures in the ground. 

530.00 MILLION YEARS AGO : Animals Preserved in Burgess Shale

Animals Preserved in Burgess Shale

        Very unusual soft-bodied animals, including trilobites and other marine invertebrates, are buried under ocean sediment and preserved in a fossil bed in Canada known as the Burgess Shale.

540.00 MILLION YEARS AGO : Chengjiang Animals Flourish

Chengjiang Animals Flourish

        The first soft-bodied animals of the Phanerozoic Eon include a wide variety of marine invertebrates, some of which are large predators. Fossils of these animals have been found near Chengjiang in Yunnan, southern China.

550.00 MILLION YEARS AGO : Gondwanaland Forms

Gondwanaland Forms

        Continents in the southern hemisphere move together to form a single landmass near the south pole. This landmass is called Gondwanaland. 

        Gondwanaland, ancient landmass that consisted of the present continents of South America, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica as well as the Indian subcontinent. Gondwanaland is believed to have been intact at least twice, about 350 million years ago and about 200 million years ago. Between these two periods all seven of the present-day continents probably formed a single landmass called Pangaea. 

570.00 MILLION YEARS AGO : Phanerozoic Eon Begins

Phanerozoic Eon Begins

        The Phanerozoic Eon begins with rising ocean levels and the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia. A northern landmass called Laurentia forms near the equator. Plate tectonics continues to increase the volume and area of the forming continents. The Phanerozoic Eon began about 570 million years ago and continues to the present.

570.00 MILLION YEARS AGO - 500.00 MILLION YEARS AGO : Cambrian Period

Cambrian Period

        The seas of the Cambrian Period are teeming with new forms of life. There are abundant animals with hard parts, such as the trilobite. During this period, all of the animal groups evolve rapidly, including the chordates, ancestors to all vertebrates. By the end of the Cambrian Period, rising global sea levels flood most of the continental landmasses.

570.00 MILLION YEARS AGO - 240.00 MILLION YEARS AGO : Paleozoic Era

Paleozoic Era

        The Paleozoic Era begins about 570 million years ago with the first shelled animals.It ends about 240 million years ago with the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history. During this era, the continents of the southern hemisphere remain joined, making up the landmass known as Gondwanaland. Toward the end of the era, the continents of the northern hemisphere join together and merge with Gondwanaland to form a single landmass called Pangaea.