User:Pbsouthwood/Geological timeline of South Africa

In the beginning

 * -13.8 Gya:
 * c-13.4 Gya:
 * c-13.0 Gya:
 * -11.0 Gya: Formation of the Milky Way galaxy
 * -8.8 Gya: Formation of Milky Way galactic disc
 * -4.6 Gya:
 * -4.54 Gya:
 * -4.51 Gya:
 * -11.0 Gya: Formation of the Milky Way galaxy
 * -8.8 Gya: Formation of Milky Way galactic disc
 * -4.6 Gya:
 * -4.54 Gya:
 * -4.51 Gya:
 * -4.51 Gya:

Precambrian


-4600 Mya:

Hadean
-4600 Mya:
 * -4400 Mya:
 * -4100 Mya (to -3800 Mya):
 * -4000 Mya:

Archaean
-4000 Mya:

Eoarchaean
-4000Mya (to -3600 Mya):
 * (-4100 Mya to) -3800 Mya: End
 * -3600 Mya:
 * -3700 Mya (to -2600 Mya):

Palaeoarchaean
-3600 Mya (to -3200 Mya):
 * -3500 Mya:
 * -3500 Mya:
 * -3500 Mya: Atmosphere anoxic, pressure ranged from 10 to 100 bar
 * -3500 Mya (to –3200 Mya): Tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) suite of
 * -3450 Mya: Hooggenoeg Formation of the Barberton greenstone belt (magmatism)
 * The upper part of Hooggenoeg has ultramafic massive and pillow lavas, a trondhjemitic suite of silicified felsic intrusive and flow banded rocks, and sedimentary chert beds with intrusive veins of felsic, chert and ultramafic material deposited in a shallow sea.
 * Hooggenoeg felsic rocks can be divided into two groups: an intrusive group of interlocking and shallow intrusive rocks, and a porphyritic group of rocks from the veins.
 * -3260 Mya: Largest known terrestrial meteor impact event to date near the Barberton Greenstone Belt

Mesoarchaean
-3200 Mya:
 * -3200 Mya (to -3100 Mya): Granite–monzogranite–syenite granite (GMS) suite of
 * Medium-K GMS rocks – the Dalmein and portions of Heerenveen
 * High-K GMS rocks – Heerenveen, Mpuluzi and Boesmanskop
 * Boesmanskop syenite
 * -3200 Mya?:
 * -3100 Mya: Mpuluzi granite batholith in the Barberton granite–gneiss terrane
 * -3100 Mya (to -3000 Mya): Mesoarchaean cratonic magmatism is marked by the formation of a large crescent-shaped, juvenile arc that was accreted onto the northern and western margins of the evolving Kaapvaal shield
 * -2900 Mya:
 * -2800 Mya: Breakup of Vaalbara

Neoarchaean
-2800 Mya:
 * -2720 Mya: formed by the accretion of Neoarchaean cratons and the formation of new continental crust.
 * It comprised what later became Laurentia, Baltica, Western Australia and the
 * -2500 Mya: End Neoarchaean

Proterozoic
-2500 Mya:

Siderian
-2500 Mya (to 2300 Mya):
 * -2500 Mya (to 1500 Mya): Columbia (supercontinent) assembly starts
 * -2480 Mya (to -2450 Mya): Tectonic magma-plume rifting started breakup of Kenorland
 * -2450 Mya (to –1850 Mya):
 * -2400 Mya (to -2100 Mya):
 * Banded iron formation reaches greatest extent
 * Banded iron formation reaches greatest extent

Rhyacian
-2300 Mya (to -2050 Mya):
 * The Bushveld Igneous Complex and other similar intrusions formed during this period.
 * -2300 Mya: Glacial deposits in the basin
 * -2100 Mya: Kenorland broken up, end of Huronian glaciation

Orosirian
-2050 Mya (to -1800 Mya):
 * -2023 Mya: A large asteroid impact created the Vredefort impact structure.
 * c-2000 Mya: the Kaapvaal Craton and Zimbabwe Craton in southern Africa were collided along the Limpopo Belt in the Columbia (supercontinent)
 * -1820 Mya (to -1500 Mya): Columbia (supercontinent)assembly completed, growth continued by accretion along margins

Statherian
-1800 Mya (to -1600 Mya):

Mesoproterozoic
-1600 Mya (to -1000 Mya):

Calymmian
-1600 Mya (to -1400 Mya):
 * (-1820 Mya to) -1500 Mya: Columbia (supercontinent) assembly completed, growth continued by accretion along margins]]
 * -1500 Mya to -1350 Mya: Columbia began to fragment

Ectasian
-1400 Mya (to -1200 Mya):
 * Earliest evidence of sexual reproduction

Stenian
-1200 Mya (to -1000 Mya):
 * -1100 Mya (-1230 Mya?) (to -900 Mya): formation begins of another supercontinent Rodinia by accretion and collision of fragments of Columbia

Neoproterozoic
-1000 Mya:

Tonian
-1000 Mya (to -720 Mya):
 * (-1100 Mya to) -900 Mya: Rodinia spread across the equator
 * -750 Mya (to -633 Mya): Breakup of Rodinia

Cryogenian
-720 (to -635 ):
 * -717 Mya to -635 Mya: Extreme cooling of the global climate resulted in the so-called Snowball Earth of the Cryogenian Period
 * -717 Mya to -643 Mya: Sturtian glaciation and
 * -650 Mya to -635 Mya: Marinoan glaciation

Ediacaran
-635 Mya (to -542 Mya):
 * -633 Mya (to 573 Mya): Pannotia, a relatively short-lived supercontinent, formed from continental fragments reassembled from Rodinia
 * -600 Mya: Earliest known
 * -600 Mya:
 * The Gariep and Saldania belts run along the western and southern edge of the Kalahari Craton. Also the result of the closure of the Adamastor Ocean, the marine deposits, seamounts, and, ophiolites they contain were accreted onto the Kalahari margin around -540 Mya. They include the granite at Sea Point, Cape Town visited by Charles Darwin in 1836.
 * -573 Mya: When Pannotia had formed, Africa was located at the centre
 * -560 Mya: Breakup of Pannotia began with the opening of the Iapetus Ocean
 * -550 Mya:
 * -541 Mya: End Ediacaran, Proterozoic and Precambrian

Paleozoic
-541±1 Mya:

Cambrian
-541±1 Mya:
 * -510 Mya: Rift valley development south of southern Africa and deposition of Cape Supergroup started.
 * -500 Mya:
 * Breakup of Pannonia, formation of

Ordovician

 * -484±1.9 Mya:
 * Gondwana drifting south, glaciated
 * Series of extinction events
 * c-450 Mya (to -400 Mya): Start deposition of Bokkeveld Group

Silurian
-443.8±1.5 Mya:
 * Gondwana continues southward drift, glaciated.

Devonian
-419 Mya: (to -358.9±2.5 Mya):

Early Devonian
-419.2±2.8 Mya: Early Devonian Lochkovian stage
 * -410.8±2.8Mya: Pragian stage.
 * -407.6±2.5Mya: Emsian stage.
 * (c-450 Mya to) -400 Mya: End deposition of Bokkeveld Group

Middle Devonian
-393.3±2.7 Mya: Middle Devonian Eifelian stage
 * -387.7±2.7 Mya: Givetian stage

Late Devonian
-382.7±2.8 Mya: Late Devonian Frasnian stage
 * -372.2±2.5 Mya: Famennian stage
 * -370 Mya (to 330 Mya): Start of deposition of Witteberg Group in the shallow marine conditions of what remained of the Agulhas Sea.
 * -358.9±2.5 Mya: End Devonian

Carboniferous
-358.9±0.4 Mya:
 * -335 Mya: Formation of from Gondwana and Euramerica
 * (-370 Mya to) 330 Mya: End of deposition of Witteberg Group in the shallow marine conditions of what remained of the Agulhas Sea. (upper extent of Cape Supergroup)
 * -330 Mya: Start of closure of rift with Cape Supergroup deposits

Permian
-298.9±0.15 Mya:

Mesozoic
-252±? Mya:

Triassic
-252.17±0.06 Mya:

Jurassic
-201.3±0.2 Mya: -175 Mya: Pangaea breakup – Gondwana and Laurasia

Cretaceous
-145 Mya: -70 Mya: Start African cycle of landscape development

Cenozoic
-66 Mya:

Paleogene
-66 Mya:

Paleocene
-66 Mya:

Eocene
-56 Mya:
 * -40 Mya: End African cycle of landscape development.

Oligocene
-34 Mya:

Neogene
-23.03 Mya:

Miocene
-23.03 Mya:
 * Post-African cycle I of landscape development after further uplift. Large amounts of sedimentary fill in Kalahari basin.

Pliocene
-5.333 Mya:
 * Post-African cycle II of landscape development follows uplift of central-eastern part of South Africa.

Quaternary
-2.588 Mya:

Pleistocene
-2.588 Mya:

Holocene
-11,700 BP: