Geologic Time Scale
A rhyme to remember geologic time names
by Jim Barton

Rhyme:

Camels Often Sit Down Most Peculiarly,
Perhaps Their Joints Creak,
Perhaps Early Oiling Might Prevent Permanent Hobbling or Rheumatism.
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Key:

Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian,
Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous,
Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene or Recent.

BP* Eon Era System Period Series Age Of
0.01 Phanerozoic Cenozoic Quaternary Quaternary Holocene,
or Recent		 Man
1.6         Pleistocene Mammals
5.3     Tertiary   Pliocene "
23.7         Miocene "
36.6         Oligocene "
57.8         Eocene "
66.4         Paleocene "
144   Mesozoic Mesozoic Cretaceous   Dinosaurs
208       Jurassic   "
245       Triassic   "
286   Paleozoic Paleozoic Permian   Amphibians
320       Carboniferous
Pennsylvanian		   "
360       Carboniferous
Mississippian		   Fish
408       Devonian   "
438       Silurian   "
505       Ordovician   Trilobites
570       Cambrian   "
2500 Proterozoic     Pre-Cambrian   Bacteria & Algae to soft-bodied multicelled animals
4000 Archaean          
4700? Priscoan          
BP* - Million years Before Present, Geological Society of America, 1983
? - Formation of the Solar System, Elsevier Science Publishers, 1987