Cenozoic

On this page resides nformation about the Cenozoic era in Grand Junction geology.

The Cenozoic (meaning "new life") era was divided into two periods, which were the Quaternary and Tertiary period. The two periods were then divided into seven epochs [note: theTertiary period was divided into two more categories. These were called Neogene and Paleogene.] The epochs within the Quaterary period were the Holocene and Pleistocene epochs. The epochs within the Tertiary period were the Pliocene, Miocene, Oligocene, Eocene, and Paleocene epochs. In the Neogene division of the Tertiary period, the epochs were the Pliocene and Miocene epochs. In the paleogene division, the epochs were the Oligocene, Eocene, and Paleocene epochs. If that was a little confusing, or if you are more of a visual learner, a table has been provided below displaying the same information.

A good way to think about the duration of the Cenozoic era is to think of the the Earths' history as a book with 1,000 pages, and that the Cenozoic era is only the last 13 pages. Most of these pages are the Tertiary period, and they house some critical points in the geologic history of Colorado. The beginning of the Tertiary period is when the Rocky Mountains were born. This event was called the Laramide Orogeny. The word orogeny means "mountain building".