The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, at the start of the Cenozoic era, spanning to the beginning of the most recent Ice Age, at the end of the Pliocene Epoch.
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The term Tertiary was first used by Giovanni Arduino in 1759. He classified geologic time into primitive (or primary), secondary, and tertiary periods based on observations of geology in northern Italy.[1] Later a fourth period, the Quaternary, was applied. In early geology, the periods were thought to correspond to the Biblical narrative, the rocks of the Tertiary being thought to be associated with the Great Flood.[2] Only with the 19th century did a non-Biblical view of the geological history appear. In 1828, Charles Lyell incorporated a Tertiary Period into his own, far more detailed system of classification. He subdivided the Tertiary Period into four epochs according to the percentage of fossil mollusks resembling modern species found in those strata. He used Greek names: Eocene, Miocene, Older Pliocene and Newer Pliocene. Although these divisions seemed adequate for the region to which the designations were originally applied (parts of the Alps and plains of Italy), when the same system was later extended to other parts of Europe and to America, it proved to be inapplicable. Therefore, the use of mollusks was abandoned from the definition and the epochs were renamed and redefined.
The Tertiary is not presently recognized as a formal unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy,[3] its traditional span being divided between the Paleogene and Neogene Periods. The Tertiary also included the early Pleistocene.
Tectonic activity continued as Gondwana finally split completely apart, and India collided with the Eurasian plate. South America was connected to North America toward the end of the Tertiary. Antarctica — which was already separate — drifted to its current position over the South Pole. Widespread volcanic activity was prevalent.
Climates during the Tertiary slowly cooled, starting off in the Paleocene with tropical-to-moderate worldwide temperatures and ending before the first extensive glaciation at the start of the Quaternary.
| Paleogene Period | ||
|---|---|---|
| Paleocene Epoch | Eocene Epoch | Oligocene Epoch |
| Danian | Selandian Thanetian |
Ypresian | Lutetian Bartonian | Priabonian |
Rupelian | Chattian |
| Neogene Period | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Miocene | Pliocene | ||
| Aquitanian | Burdigalian Langhian | Serravallian Tortonian | Messinian |
Zanclean | Piacenzian | ||