geologic events
The Paleozoic era began 544 million years ago, and ended 245 million years ago. Many geologic events have occurred in the Paleozoic era. Ancient continents south of the Ecuador are Gowanda, and Pan-African Orgeny. Scientists discovered this about 544 million years ago. 505 million years ago, ice caps covered North America. An ice cap is a glacier; a thick layer of ice and snow that covers fewer than 50,000 square kilometers. 360 million years ago, the Appalachian mountains formed. This happened when the Euramerica continent smashed into Gowandaland. This pushed up the land to form the Appalachian mountains. Pangea formed 280 million years ago. We know this because different continents fit together, and scientists have found fossils that lived on different continents, and could not have crossed water.
Development of life
The vertebrate arises at about 500 million years ago. The first vertebrate was the Jawless fish. The Jawless fish had a series of teeth to cling to its food because it didn't have a jaw. Plants on land grew 475 million years ago. Algae was the first plant to live outside of the water. This plant is like modern moss. Mostly moss and mushrooms lived outside of the water at this time. Lungfish were created 416 million tears ago. This fish evolved during long periods of mud puddles and no water, so a fish that could breath in air evolved to help that problem. Insects formed 400 million years ago. The Permiana was the ancestor of the dragonfly. The Permiana's wingspan could exceed 2 feet, and grew about 17 inches on its body. Amphibians formed 360 million years ago. The most well known amphibian is the Ichythyostega, found in Greenland. The Elginepton was found in the rocks of Scotland. Reptiles were formed 300 million years ago. The earliest known reptile was the Hylonomous lyelli. It was the first animal known to fully adapt to life on land. They were 20 centimeters including the tail. They were found in Nova Scotia. The Paleozoic mass extinction happened 245 million years ago. The extinction happened because the continents were moving, so the climate changed. This caused 90 percent of life on the Earth to be extinct.