PALEOZOIC ERA (542 Mya - 251 Mya)

Andrea Villalba, Fabiola Ferrabone, Alfredo de Obaldia, Nicole Cortez

About 400 million years ago the surface of Earth looked like this. The continents united to form Pangaea.

Cambrian Period(542-488 Mya)

Cambrian Explosionalgae evolvemost of the water is populated by armored arthropods (trilobites)Rodinia breaks up and becomes Gondwana

Ordovician Period(488-444 Mya)

abundance of marine speciesfirst arthropods go ashore to colonize GondwanaOrdovician-Silurian extinction

Silurian Period(444-416 Mya)

4 continentscorals, mollusks, and jawless fishevolution of vascular plants

Devonian Period(416 - 359 Mya)

fish evolve into the first tetrapodsfirst trees evolvefirst amphibians evolve70% of the species go extinct in the Late Devonian extinction

Carboniferous Period(359 - 299 Mya)

tetrapods evolve into reptilesglaciation of Gondwana

Permian Period(299 - 251 Mya)

Pangaea is formedPanthalassic Ocean surrounds PangaeaPERMIAN EXTINCTION

Environmentcontinuous continental shift (Rodinia fragments into Gondwana)

inicially warm during the Cambrian, followed by an ice age

Pangaea’s interior was likely very dry

Floramainly aquatic during the early Paleozoicsmall vascular plants beside lakesdense forests during the Carboniferous Period

Cooksonia

Faunavertebrates appear in the form of fish during the Devonian periodarthropodsfish evolve into tetrapodsreptiles increase in number by the late Permian

Trilobite

Dimetrodon

Tiktaalik rosae

Mass Extinction(Permian Period)

Theories

1. Siberian Traps eruptions produced ash clouds

2. Greenhouse effect triggered by the sudden release of methane from the sea floor

Mass ExtinctionConsequences

95% of marine species died

70% of terrestrial vertebrates became extinct

recovery of life on Earth took 10 million years

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