an emergent
website design
by
peter jay stein, md, ma
atmosphere
asthenosphere
lithosphere
regolith
biosphere
hydrosphere




This 54 page synopsis of the evolution
of the Earth, the origin and progression of life, and the
emergence of humans as descendants of the hominin lineage, divides the last 4.57 billion years into progressively overlapping, imagistic, time segments, to outline our place in biological existence.
magnetosphere
ionosphere
FORTY-THREE
Emergent Paleocene Epoch: 66 - 56 mya
Features of the Paleocene Epoch: 66 - 56 mya
This epoch follows the Cretaceous-Paleogene, "K-T" Dinosaur extinction event.
% of marine (ocean-dwelling) animals that went extinct approx 66 mya
(data from The Cretaceous-Paleogene Mass Extinction, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, youtube):
90% primary producers (microscopic plankton);
< 20% bony and cartilaginous fishes (mostly the larger, predatory fishes);
35% echinoderms
60% corals
100% belemnoids and ammonoids
100% rudists and inoceramids
100% mosasaurs and pleisosaurs
% of terrestrial animals that went extinct:
> 90% birds
83% lizards and snakes
12% turtles
20% crocodilians
22% salamanders
75% mammals:
91% marsupials
70% multituberculates
57% placentals
100% pleisosaurs
100% avian dinosaurs
