Die Kiiste, 74 ICCE (2008), 1-17
3
Table 1: Geological Time Scales. *Ma = Abbreviation for mega-annum (10 6 years); a million years. Note
on the Tertiary and the Quaternary: The Tertiary and Quaternary have been eliminated from the most
recent International Stratigraphic Charts. The Quaternary was formerly considered to be made up of
the Holocene and the Pleistocene. The Paleogene and older Neogene were defined as the Tertiary
(International Commission on Stratigraphy - ICS, 2003)
Eon
Precambnan
Proterozoic
Arch can
Era
Pei lod
Sub-Pei iod
Epoch
Ma*
Holocene
001
Neogene
Pleistocene
Pliocene
it
SJ
Cenozoic
Miocene
330
Oligocene
339
Paleogene
Eocene
558
Paleocene
655
Cretaceous
145.5
Mesozoic
Jurassic
1996
Tnassic
3510
Penman
3990
Carboniferous
Pennsylvanian
316.1
Mtssissippian
3593
Paleozoic
Devonian
4160
Silurian
443.7
Ordovician
4863
Cambrian
5430
Fig. 1: Total thickness of sediments deposited in the Middle-European and Danish Depression since
middle Perm. The red line marks the more than 2000 km long “Sorgenfrei-Tornquist-Teisseyre-Zone”
(Ziegler, 1990, modified)