Phanerozoic Eon
Main article: Phanerozoic The Phanerozoic is the current eon on Earth, which started approximately 542 million years ago. It consists of three eras: The Paleozoic , Mesozoic , and Cenozoic ,and is the time when multi-cellular life greatly diversified into almost all the organisms known today. The Paleozoic ("old life") era was the first and longest era of the Phanerozoic eon, lasting from 542 to 251 Ma.During the Paleozoic, many modern groups of life came into existence. Life colonized the land, first plants, then animals. Two major extinctions occurred. The continents formed at the break-up of Pannotia and Rodinia at the end of the Proterozoic slowly moved together again, forming the supercontinent Pangaea in the late Paleozoic. The Mesozoic ("middle life") era lasted from 251 Ma to 66 Ma.It is subdivided into the Triassic , Jurassic , and Cretaceous periods. The era began with the Permian–Triassic...