Synonyms
Definition
The most recent era of the earth’s history, which began 65.5 million years ago (mya), is known as the “Cenozoic Era.” This is that time frame in which the geological changes gave rise to the world map’s current face, and the biological changes enriched it with today’s flora and fauna. Despite representing only 1.4% of the earth’s history, comprehensive knowledge is available pertaining to this era.
Introduction
Cenozoic, spelled initially as Kaniozoic, means “recent life” as newer forms of life, similar to the present-day biota appeared during this era. Cenozoic derives its name from two Greek words kainós, meaning “new,” and zoic, meaning “animal life” (Harland et al. 1990). British geologist John Phillips coined the term in the year 1840.
Anthropologically, Cenozoic is significant because the entire primate evolution and the subsequent human evolution occurred during this era. Besides primates, other mammals, birds,...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bijl, P., Bendle, J., Bohaty, S., Pross, J., Schouten, S., Tauxe, L., Stickley, C., Mckay, R., Röhl, U., Olney, M., Sluijs, A., Escutia, C., & Brinkhuis, H. (2013). Eocene cooling linked to early flow across the Tasmanian Gateway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110, 9645–9650. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1220872110.
Brusatte, S. L., Butler, R. J., Barrett, P. M., Carrano, M. T., Evans, D. C., Lloyd, G. T., Mannion, P. D., Norell, M. A., Peppe, D. J., Upchurch, P., & Williamson, T. E. (2015). The extinction of the dinosaurs. Biological Reviews, 90, 628–642. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12128.
Burke, K. D., Williams, J. W., Chandler, M. A., Haywood, A. M., Lunt, D. J., & Otto-Bliesner, B. L. (2018). Pliocene and Eocene provide best analogs for near-future climates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115, 13288–13293. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.180960011.
Chiarenza, A. A., Farnsworth, A., Mannion, P. D., Lunt, D. J., Valdes, P. J., Morgan, J. V., & Allison, P. A. (2020). Asteroid impact, not volcanism, caused the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117, 17084–17093. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006087117.
Costa, E., Garcés, M., Sáez, A., Cabrera, L., & López-Blanco, M. (2011). The age of the “Grande Coupure” mammal turnover: New constraints from the Eocene–Oligocene record of the Eastern Ebro Basin (NE Spain). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 301(1–4), 97–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.01.005.
Daniel, J. F., Bercovici, A., Berv, J. S., Dunn, R., Fastovsky, D. E., Lyson, T. R., Vajda, V., & Gauthier, J. A. (2018). Early evolution of modern birds structured by global forest collapse at the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Current Biology, 28, 1825–1831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062.
Gutjahr, M., Ridgwell, A., Sexton, P. F., Anagnostou, E., Pearson, P. N., Pälike, H., Norris, R. D., Thomas, E., & Foster, G. L. (2017). Very large release of mostly volcanic carbon during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Nature, 548(7669), 573–577. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23646.
Harland, W. B., Armstrong, R. L., Cox, A. V., Craig, L. E., Smith, D. G., & Smith, A. G. (1990). The Chronostratic scale. In A geologic time scale 1989 (p. 31). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Haywood, A. M., Dowsett, H. J., Valdes, P. J., Lunt, D., Francis, J. E., & Sellwood, B. (2008). Introduction. Pliocene climate, processes and problems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 367, 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2008.0205.
Holbourn, A. E., Kuhnt, W., Clemens, S. C., Kochhann, K. G., Jöhnck, J., Lübbers, J., & Andersen, N. (2018). Late Miocene climate cooling and intensification of southeast Asian winter monsoon. Nature Communications, 9, 1584. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03950-1.
Hutchinson, D., Coxall, H. K., Lunt, D., Steinthorsdottir, M., Boer, A. M., Baatsen, M., Heydt, A. V., et al. (2020). The Eocene-Oligocene transition: A review of marine and terrestrial proxy data, models and model-data comparisons. Climate of the Past Discussions, 1–71. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2020-68.
Keller, G., Bhowmick, P. K., Upadhyay, H., Dave, A., Reddy, A. N., Jaiprakash, B. C., & Adatte, T. (2011). Deccan volcanism linked to the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary mass extinction: New evidence from ONGC wells in the Krishna-Godavari Basin. Journal of the Geological Society of India, 78, 399–428. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-011-0107-3.
Keller, G., Mateo, P., Punekar, J., Khozyem, H., Gertsch, B., Spangenberg, J., Bitchong, A. M., & Adatte, T. (2018). Environmental changes during the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction and Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: Implications for the Anthropocene. Gondwana Research, 56, 69–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2017.12.002.
Krijgsman, W., Hilgen, F., Raffi, I., Sierro, F. J., & Wilsonk, D. S. (1999). Chronology, causes and progression of the Messinian salinity crisis. Nature, 400, 652–655. https://doi.org/10.1038/23231.
Lindow, B. E. K., & Dyke, G. J. (2006). Bird evolution in the Eocene: Climate change in Europe and a Danish fossil fauna. Biological Reviews, 81, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1017/S146479310600707X.
Pagani, M., Zachos, J. C., Freeman, K. H., Tipple, B., & Bohaty, S. (2005). Marked decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations during the Paleogene. Science, 309, 600–603. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1110063.
Pimiento, C., Griffin, J. N., Clements, C. F., Silvestro, D., Varela, S., Uhen, M. D., & Jaramillo, C. (2017). The Pliocene marine megafauna extinction and its impact on functional diversity. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1(8), 1100–1106. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0223-6.
Speijer, R., Scheibner, C., Stassen, P., & Morsi, A. M. (2012). Response of marine ecosystems to deep-time global warming: A synthesis of biotic patterns across the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences, 105, 6–16.
Stanley, G. D., Jr. (2001). Introduction to reef ecosystems and their evolution. In G. D. Stanley Jr. (Ed.), The history and sedimentology of ancient reef systems (pp. 1–39). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
Walker, M., Head, M. J., Lowe, J., Berkelhammer, M., BjÖrck, S., Cheng, H., Cwynar, L. C., et al. (2019). Subdividing the Holocene Series/Epoch: Formalization of stages/ages and subseries/subepochs, and designation of GSSPs and auxiliary stratotypes. Journal of Quaternary Science, 34, 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3097.
Willeit, M., Ganopolski, A., Calov, R., & Brovkin, V. (2019). Mid-Pleistocene transition in glacial cycles explained by declining CO2 and regolith removal. Science Advances, 5(4), eaav7. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav7337.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
David, A., Gautam, A. (2021). Cenozoic Era. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1954-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1954-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences