- published: 21 Feb 2013
- views: 77161
Tertiary is an officially deprecated but still widely used term for a geologic period from 65 million to 2.6 million years ago, a time span that lies between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start of the Cenozoic Era, spanning to the beginning of the most recent ice age, at the end of the Pliocene Epoch. The Tertiary also included the early Pleistocene.
The Tertiary is no longer recognized as a formal unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, its traditional span being divided between the Paleogene and Neogene Periods of the Cenozoic Era.
The term Tertiary was first used by Giovanni Arduino during the mid-18th century. He classified geologic time into primitive (or primary), secondary, and tertiary periods based on observations of geology in northern Italy. Later a fourth period, the Quaternary, was applied. In the early development of the study of geology, the periods were thought to correspond to the Biblical narrative, the rocks of the Tertiary being thought to be associated with the Great Flood. In 1828, Charles Lyell incorporated a Tertiary Period into his own, far more detailed system of classification. He subdivided the Tertiary Period into four epochs according to the percentage of fossil mollusks resembling modern species found in those strata. He used Greek names: Eocene, Miocene, Older Pliocene and Newer Pliocene. Although these divisions seemed adequate for the region to which the designations were originally applied (parts of the Alps and plains of Italy), when the same system was later extended to other parts of Europe and to America, it proved to be inapplicable. Therefore, the use of mollusks was abandoned from the definition and the epochs were renamed and redefined.
(Steve Swindells)
Now he's a double agent playing espionage
Now he's a trouble maker with his playing cards
Up in the briefing room they plan there strategies
But he works on his own he's living dangerously
Hear them walking
Pacing floors and
climbing up the walls
Hear them talking
Telling lies on
Transatlantic calls.
Treachery It's hanging in the cloud
Treachery It's hiding in the crowd
People walk along the while with sensitivity
Some whisper in the wings of a conspiracy
Some like to keep there distance and identity
But always walk alone with some uncertainty
See them filing
Information
Covering there tracks
See them smiling
Admiration
With knives behind their backs
Treachery It's hanging in the cloud
Treachery It's hiding in the crowd
Treachery
Treachery
Treachery
It's hanging in the clouds.
Treachery
Treachery
Treachery