Tertiary 30253 221934956 2008-06-26T19:32:01Z Jonathan Cardy 4071608 Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/209.147.60.127|209.147.60.127]] ([[User talk:209.147.60.127|talk]]) to last version by William Ortiz {{for|other meanings of the word "tertiary"|Wiktionary:tertiary}} {{include timeline|Cenozoic}} The '''Tertiary''' geological time interval covers roughly the time span between the demise of the non-[[bird|avian]] [[dinosaur]]s and beginning of the most recent [[Ice Age]], approximately 65 million to 1.8 million years ago. At the beginning of the period, [[mammal]]s replaced [[reptile]]s as the dominant [[vertebrate]]s. Each epoch of the Tertiary was marked by striking developments in mammalian life. The earliest recognizable [[hominoid]] relatives of [[human]]s, ''[[Proconsul (genus)|Proconsul]]'' and ''[[Australopithecus]]'', also. Modern types of birds, reptiles, [[amphibia]]ns, [[fish]], and [[invertebrate]]s were either already numerous at the beginning of the period or appeared early in its history. Modern families of [[Angiosperm|flowering plants]] [[evolution|evolved]]. Marine invertebrates and non-mammal marine vertebrates experienced only modest evolution. [[Plate tectonics|Tectonic]] activity continued as [[Gondwana]] finally split completely apart, and [[India]] collided with the [[Eurasian plate]]. [[South America]] was connected to [[North America]] toward the end of the Tertiary. [[Antarctica]] &mdash; which was already separate &mdash; drifted to its current position over the [[South Pole]]. Widespread [[Volcanism|volcanic]] activity was prevalent. [[Climate]]s during the Tertiary slowly cooled, starting off in the [[Paleocene]] with tropical-to-moderate worldwide temperatures and ending up with extensive [[glaciation]]s at the end of the period. ==Historical use of the term== The term Tertiary was first used by [[Giovanni Arduino (geologist)|Giovanni Arduino]] in 1759. He classified geologic time into primitive (or primary), secondary, and tertiary periods based on observations of geology in northern [[Italy]].<ref>Carl O. Dunbar, Historical Geology, 2nd ed. (1964), John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. 352</ref> 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. He subdivided the Tertiary period into four epochs according to the percentage of [[fossil]] [[mollusk]]s resembling modern species found in those [[stratum|strata]]. He used [[Greek language|Greek]] names: Eocene, Miocene, Older Pliocene and Newer Pliocene. 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: [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/292/5517/686.pdf Zachos 2001] {{Expand-section|date=June 2008}} ==References== {{reflist}} {{Paleogene Footer}} {{Neogene Footer}} [[Category:Cenozoic]] [[ca:Terciari]] [[cs:Třetihory]] [[da:Tertiær]] [[de:Tertiär (Geologie)]] [[es:Período terciario]] [[eo:Terciaro]] [[fr:Tertiaire (géologie)]] [[hr:Tercijar]] [[is:Tertíertímabilið]] [[he:שלישון]] [[ka:მესამეული სისტემა]] [[hu:Harmadkor]] [[nl:Tertiair]] [[ja:第三紀]] [[no:Tertiær]] [[nn:Tertiærtida]] [[pl:Trzeciorzęd]] [[pt:Terciário]] [[ro:Terţiar]] [[ru:Третичный период]] [[sk:Terciér]] [[sl:Terciar]] [[sh:Tercijar]] [[fi:Tertiäärikausi]] [[sv:Tertiär]] [[vi:Phân đại Đệ Tam]]