Geologic era

A geologic era is the second largest unit of time for the geologic time scale (Figure 1). Geologic eras are also referred to as "erathems" (the chronostratigraphic name) or simply "eras". Eras tend to be a few hundred million of years in length. Eras are subsections of longer eons and consist of groups of shorter periods. Era names typically end in the suffix "-ozoic".

Currently the eras are:

• Cenozoic
• Mesozoic
• Paleozoic
• And the Precambrian eras.

Figure 1. The ICS Chronostratigraphic Chart

For Further Reading

• Geologic time scale
• Geologic eon
• Geologic period
• Stratigraphy
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