The era of ancient life that ends with the rise of the dinosaurs. During this time pretty much everything that happened went down in the sea. Features the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian periods.

Preceded by the Precambrian, followed by the Mesozoic

Pa`le*o*zo"ic (?), a. [Paleo- + Gr. life, fr. to live.] Geol.

Of or pertaining to, or designating, the older division of geological time during which life is known to have existed, including the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous ages, and also to the life or rocks of those ages. See Chart of Geology.

 

© Webster 1913.

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