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)