GENERAL GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Mesozoic Era is literally the era of “middle life.” It is also known as the age of dinosaurs. It lasted from 245 to 65 million years ago and is divided into the three periods described inFigure below. The Mesozoic began with the supercontinent Pangaea.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Mesozoic Era (251.9 to 66 million years ago) was the “Age of Reptiles.” During the Mesozoic, Pangaea began separating into the modern continents, and the modern Rocky Mountains rose. Dinosaurs, crocodiles, and pterosaurs ruled the land and air.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Cenozoic (from the Greek kainos meaning “new” and zoe meaning “life") era is an interval of about 65 million years defined on the geologic timescale as spanning roughly from 65 million years ago (mya) to the present and ongoing into the foreseeable future.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Cenozoic Era. The Cenozoic Era is the most recent of the three major subdivisions of animal history. The other two are the Mesozoic and Paleozoic Eras. The Cenozoic spans only about 65 million years, from the end of the Cretaceous Period and the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs to the present.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Paleozoic Era (542–251 million years ago) comes from the Greek word for “old life, ” and is characterized by the introduction of invertebrates (such as trilobites and crinoids), land plants, and vertebrates (such as fish). All of Indiana’s bedrock is Paleozoic in age.