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= Epoch = "Hamilton English January 22, 2017"An Epoch is used to describe a division of time that lies in-between a Period and an Age. Examples of an Epoch include the Holocene and Pliocene Epochs. This division in Geologic Time gives greater accuracy when looking to describe certain events, animals, or climate, where the Period that encapsulates it may also contain a separate epoch with its own unique features. An Epoch is a span of time hat is divided in a way that when evidence of fossils or events appear in the geographic record, they can be compared to how we suspect conditions were during that specific time frame, as opposed to having to compare it to the whole Period or Era. An Epoch contains Ages within them, which can be used to even further narrow down events and life that existed within them. Being able to divide time into Epochs, and other divisions of time, such as era or period, allows for the ability to have a better understanding of the history of Earth, what the climate and environment could have been like, and what type of life had been living on Earth at these times. By having an Epoch named within the time scale, should a fossil be discovered, then it would be possible to try and understand how the organism would have behaved or lived in its environment, using prior information about the Epoch it was found in to provide background, such as when it lived, and the environment it resided in. From there, the organism can be compared from its Epoch in the large time scale, such as how the Era and Period the Epoch is located in has shifted over time, and changed.

Epochs in the Geologic Time Scale
A list of the Epochs, and the Era in which they are contained in. There are a total of thirty four epochs that have been named. Note that before the Paleozoic Era, such as in the Proterozoic Era, there are no Epochs that have been named in them, partially due to a lack of information of those Eras. In an article by Frank D. Adams, in The Journal of Geology, he discussed conflicts in trying to identify and divide up the Proterozoic into different Epochs. Some Epochs have simply been divvied in their periods called “Upper and Lower,” Epochs. The information on epochs was obtained from the University of California Museum of Paleontology The listed epochs are also in chronological order from the most recent Epochs in the Cenozoic Era back to the oldest Epochs in the Paleozoic era.

Cenozoic Era:

The Cenozoic Era is divided into six different Epochs.

The Holocene, Pleistocene, Pliocene, Miocene, Oligocene, and Eocene Epochs.

Mesozoic Era:

The Mesozoic Era is divided into eight separate Epochs.

The Upper and Lower Cretaceous, The Upper, Lower, and Middle Jurassic, and The Upper, Lower, and Middle Triassic.

Paleozoic Era:

The Paleozoic Era is divided into twenty different Epochs.

The Lopingian, Guadeloupian, Cisuralian, Pennsylvanian, Mississippian, Upper, Lower and Middle Devonian, Pridoli, Ludlow, Wenlock, Llandovery, The Upper, Lower, and Middle Ordovician, Furongian, Series 3, Series 2, and Terreneuvian Epoch.

Origin of the Word Epoch
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the origin of the word Epoch may have come from the Greek Language, and the word Epoche, which is a word used to describe a pause in time or fixed point. The word Epoch was first seen in printed sources starting in the 1600s. This lends to a Geologic Epoch, which is a specific time frame within in a period. The word Epoch is also used in Astronomy to describe instances in time on a cosmic scale, and used in everyday language as a way to note the beginning of some type of event or time. In addition, the word Epoch can be used in a way to describe a time frame in which some type of important development or event has occurred, and that the time moving forward will have been affected as a result of those changes or developments. As a word, Epoch most always has some meaning that revolves around the idea of time, whether it is about an interval of time, a marker for reference in history, with even the origin of the word had to do with an instant of time.