Tertiary period

E234066

The Tertiary period was a major division of geologic time, spanning roughly 66 to 2.6 million years ago, during which mammals and flowering plants diversified and many modern ecosystems began to form.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Tertiary period canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf geologic period
obsolete geologic time unit
alternativeName Tertiary
Tertiary System
characterizedBy development of modern ecosystems
diversification of flowering plants
diversification of mammals
evolution of early primates
evolution of many modern mammal groups
formation of many modern mountain ranges
global cooling trend
spread of grasslands
climateTrend from warm greenhouse to cooler icehouse conditions
contains Neogene
surface form: Neogene period

Paleogene period
definedBy stratigraphic rock record
endTime about 2.6 million years ago
follows Cretaceous period
Mesozoic Era
includesEvent appearance of many modern plant families
development of modern coral reefs
development of modern marine ecosystems
early evolution of horses
early evolution of whales
evolution of early hominoids
expansion of savanna ecosystems
formation of modern ocean circulation patterns
major tectonic reorganization of Earth’s plates
onset of Antarctic glaciation
opening of the North Atlantic Ocean
radiation of birds
rise of large terrestrial mammals
uplift of the Alps
uplift of the Himalayas
partOf Cenozoic
surface form: Cenozoic Era
precedes Holocene
surface form: Holocene epoch

Quaternary period
recognizedBy 19th-century geologists
replacedBy Neogene
surface form: Neogene period

Paleogene
surface form: Paleogene period
startEvent Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary
surface form: Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
startTime about 66 million years ago
status no longer used as formal unit by International Commission on Stratigraphy
timeScaleContext Cenozoic
surface form: Cenozoic geologic time scale
usedIn older geologic literature

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Cathaya hasFossilRecordSince Tertiary period