Also known as the stratigraphical column, this is the separation of geological time into eras and periods, as in the table below.
Era | Period | Epoch | End date, million years |
|---|
Quaternary | | Holocene (recent) | |
| | Pleistocene (glacial) | |
Tertiary | | Pliocene | 2 |
(Cenozoic) | | Miocene | |
| | Oligocene | |
| | Eocene | |
Secondary | Cretaceous | | 65 |
(Mesozoic) | Jurassic | | 135 |
| Triassic | | 190 |
Primary | Permian | | 225 |
(Palaeozoic) | Carboniferous | | 280 |
| Devonian | | 345 |
| Silurian | | 395 |
| Ordovician | | 440 |
| Cambrian | | 500 |
| Precambrian | | 570 |