Aconcagua
The Cenozoic Era.
The earth continued its changing process during this era. The distribution of continents and oceans became more and more similar to that of present day.
The drifting of continents caused India and Asia to collide 40 Ma at a speed of 10 cm. per year, thus giving birth to the Himalayas. At the same time, the Andean orogeny was taking place and the Andes Range appeared as a result of the collision between the South-American and the Nazca Plates.
This era is characterized by the spreading of mammals, which had already appeared in the Mesozoic but had been overshadowed by the dinosaurs.
After the latter were extinct, the former rapidly diversified and occupied the niches which had been left vacant.
The first hominids (Australopithecus) appeared during this era. These modern man’s ancestors appeared in Africa almost 5 Ma. The first representatives of the homo genus date back to 2 Ma, while modern-shaped man, to 150,000 years in SE Africa.
