The Tertiary geological time interval covers roughly the time span between the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs and beginning of the most recent Ice Age, approximately 65 million to 1. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets 8 million years ago.

At the beginning of the period, mammals replaced reptiles as the dominant vertebrates. Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia are air-breathing Cold-blooded Vertebrates that have skin covered in scales as opposed to hair or feathers Vertebrates are members of the Subphylum Vertebrata, Chordates with backbones or spinal columns The grouping sometimes includes Each epoch of the Tertiary was marked by striking developments in mammalian life. The earliest recognizable hominoid relatives of humans, Proconsul and Australopithecus, also. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Proconsul was an early Genus of Primates that existed from 27 to 17 million years ago during the Miocene epoch first in Kenya The Genus Australopithecus ( Latin australis "of the south" Greek πίθηκος pithekos "ape" Modern types of birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates were either already numerous at the beginning of the period or appeared early in its history. Prehistoric amphibian Amphibians (class Amphibia such as Frogs Toads Salamanders Newts Gymnophiona, Sirens and Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two An invertebrate is an Animal lacking a Vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal Species — all animals except those in the Chordate Modern families of flowering plants evolved. The flowering plants or angiosperms ( Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta) are the most widespread group eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Marine invertebrates and non-mammal marine vertebrates experienced only modest evolution.

Tectonic activity continued as Gondwana finally split completely apart, and India collided with the Eurasian plate. Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere Gondwana (ɡɒnˈdwɑːnə originally Gondwanaland) was a southern Supercontinent that existed about 500 to 200 Ma ago India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Eurasian Plate is a Tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional Continents of Europe South America was connected to North America toward the end of the Tertiary. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a Antarctica — which was already separate — drifted to its current position over the South Pole. The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth. Widespread volcanic activity was prevalent. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the Climates during the Tertiary slowly cooled, starting off in the Paleocene with tropical-to-moderate worldwide temperatures and ending up with extensive glaciations at the end of the period. Climate encompasses the temperatures humidity rainfall atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorogical factors in a given region over long periods of The Paleocene or Palaeocene, "early dawn of the recent" is a geologic epoch that lasted from 65 "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period.

Historical use of the term

The term Tertiary was first used by Giovanni Arduino in 1759. Giovanni Arduino ( October 16, 1714 &ndash March 21, 1795) was an Italian Geologist who is known as the "Father of He classified geologic time into primitive (or primary), secondary, and tertiary periods based on observations of geology in northern Italy. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest ^[4] Later a fourth period, the Quaternary, was applied. In 1828, Charles Lyell incorporated a Tertiary period into his own, far more detailed system of classification. The year 1828 ( MDCCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap Sir Charles Lyell 1st Baronet, KT, FRS (14 November 1797 &ndash 22 February 1875 was a Scottish Lawyer, Geologist, and protagonist He subdivided the Tertiary period into four epochs according to the percentage of fossil mollusks resembling modern species found in those strata. FOSSIL is a standard protocol for allowing serial communication for Telecommunications programs under the DOS Operating system. Molluscs are animals belonging to the phylum Mollusca. There are around 250000 extant Species within the phylum with an estimated 70000 In Geology and related fields a stratum (plural strata) is a layer of rock or Soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguishes He used Greek names: Eocene, Miocene, Older Pliocene and Newer Pliocene. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Although these divisions seemed adequate for the region to which the designations were originally applied (parts of the Alps and plains of Italy), when the same system was later extended to other parts of Europe and to America it proved to be inapplicable. Therefore, later the use of mollusks was abandoned from the definition and the epochs were renamed and redefined. With current terminology, what was called the Tertiary began at the start of the Paleocene and lasted through the end of the Pliocene.

Climate

See: Zachos 2001

References