Proterozoic Eon

2500-542 million years

Range of the Proterozoic eon in the geologic time scale.

2500-1600 million years

Range of the Paleoproterozoic Era.

Siderian, Rhyacian, Orosirian, Statherian

Period divisions of the Paleoproterozoic Era.

Wopmay Orogeny

One of the first orogenies during the Paleoproterozoic.
Showed evidence of Wilson Cycle.

Wilson Cycle

The cyclical opening and closing of ocean basins caused by movement of the Earth's plates.

Rocknest Formation

Sequence of sedimentary rocks capping the rocks of the Wopmay Orogeny.

Banded iron formations

Unique, shallow marine deposits made up of alternating bands of chert and iron oxides that formed due to locally high oxygen levels produced by stromatolites.

Hudsonian Orogeny

The event that separates Paleoproterozoic from Mesoproterozoic geologic history. It was a period of intense folding, metamorphism, and westward thrust faulting.

1600-1000 million years

Range of the Mesoproterozoic Era.

Keweenawan Rift

A failed continental rift within Laurentia that formed 1200-1000 million years.
Abundant source of copper.

Grenville Orogeny

The orogeny that occurred about 1 billion years ago and yielded the belt of deformed and metamorphosed rocks that underlie the eastern fifth of the North American continent.
The final phase of Proterozoic growth of Laurentia.

Laurentia

Ancient continent formed during the Proterozoic that is the core of modern-day North America.

Rodinia

A supercontinent older than Pangaea that formed about 1.1 billion years ago and began to break up about 750 million years ago.

Panthalassa and Iapetus Oceans

Oceans formed after the break up of Rodinia 750 million years ago.

1000-542 million years

Range of the Neoproterozoic Era.

Tonian, Cryogenian, Ediacaran

Period divisions of the Neoproterozoic.

Cryogenian glaciation

Varangian glaciation.
Massive glaciation that occurred during the Cryogenian period 850-635 million years ago.

Gowganda Formation

Evidence of the first glaciation event.
Has age of 2600-2100 million years (Paleoproterozoic).

Guntflint chert

Chert deposits in NW Lake Superior that holds fossil records of age 1900 million years ago.

Eukaryote

A cell that contains a nucleus and membrane bound organelles.

Prokaryote

A unicellular organism that lacks a nucleus and membrane bound organelles.

Acritarchs

An extinct group of apparently eukaryotic phytoplankton whose earliest representatives are in Proterozoic rocks.
Oldest eukaryotic cells.
Unicellular, spherical, and ornamented.

Metazoan

Multicellular animals that possess more than one kind of cell and have their cells organized into tissues and organs.
Only present during the Proterozoic.

Ediacaran biota

An early group of macroscopic, soft-bodied, multicellular eukaryotes known from fossils that range in age from 635 million to 542 million years old.

Discoidal, frondlike, elongated

3 primary group of organisms that flourished during the Ediacaran.

1000-850 million years

Range of the Tonian Period.

850-635 million years

Range of the Cryogenian Period.

635-542 million years

Range of the Ediacaran Period.

Vredefort Crater

Largest impact crater on Earth located in South Africa that has an age of 2.02 billion years.

Sudbury Crater

Second largest impact crater on Earth located in Ontario, Canada and has an age of 1.85 billion years.

Mirovia

Super ocean that surrounded Rodinia.

Nuna

A supercontinent that formed during the Paleoproterozoic and fragmented during the Mesoproterozoic. Also called Columbia or Hudsonland.

Bangiomorpha

Oldest algal fossil definitely related to modern algae Bangia. Has an age of 1.2 Ga. First eukaryote.

Panotia

Also called the Vendian supercontinent or Greater Gondwana or the Pan-African supercontinent that formed 650 Ma and fragmented 550 Ma.