Transcript Cenozoic Tectonics & Life

Cenozoic Tectonics & Life
Subduction in the West
• At the end of the Eocene Period, the last of the oceanic Farallon Plate
subducted beneath the Pacific Northwest.
• As a result the Cascade Mountains formed along with the volcanoes
that remain active today
Subduction in the West
• As the Farallon Plate disappeared completely under California.
• North American plate came into contact with the Pacific Plate moving
in different directions, the San Andreas Fault formed.
• Because of this there is little volcanic activity beneath central and
southern California
Continental Collisions
• Pangaea's final break up took place during the early Cenozoic Period.
• Some continents separated, others were brought together.
Continental Collisions
• Africa collided with Eurasia creating the Alps.
• The ocean that separated Laurasia from Gondwanaland today make
up the Black, Caspian, Aral, and Mediterranean Seas.
• India colliding with Asia created the Himalayas
Tectonic Forces in the Future
• Plate tectonics have shaped the Earth for the past 4.56 billion years.
• Scientists supect that in 250 million years the Atlantic Ocean
• NOPE
Cenozoic Life
• Many marine organisms such as clams, sea urchins, and sharks
survived the mass extinction of the Cretaceous Period.
• On land forests dominated the early landscape.
• As the climate cooled forests gave way to grasses and grassy savannas
Cenozoic Life
• The rise of grasslands led to the diversification of new mammals.
• Since mammals were dominant during this era, scientists call the
Cenozoic “the Age of Mammals”
Ice Age Mammals
• As the ice age began, animals evolved in the northern latitudes.
• Two of the most famous woolly mammoth and saber toothed cat
roamed earth, along with modern humans.
Humans
• Defining characteristic of humans is their bipedal locomotion (walk on
2 feet)
• The fossil record shows that the first bipedal primates appeared 6
mya
• The earliest modern human was found in Africa 195,000 years old
Migrations
• Migrations of humans were the result of the ice age
• During the ice age humans were able to cross continents as most
oceans were froizen.