The Geological periods task force is a group of editors aiming to improve Wikipedia's articles about the geological periods, as part of WikiProject Geology, WikiProject Dinosaurs and WikiProject Palaeontology.

With articles on the periods receiving around a thousand hits a day, they are some of the most visited geology articles, but many are in need of attention and expansion!

Goals

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To bring each of Wikipedia's articles on geological periods to a common standard, comprehensively covering all major aspects of the period.

Each article should begin to address the contemporary geography, geology, climate, and geochemistry, as well as detailing life at the time - the marine (including reefs) and terrestrial fauna and flora. It should also provide an outline of any significant events (for example the PETM or Cambrian explosion) and document any historical significance attached to the period.

Collaboration of the month

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This month's period for improvement is the Ediacaran. Please help expand this article in any way you can!

Worklist

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Please find any cell that interests you and try to bring it up a grade. We're aiming for an "A" in every box! (For a good example of what's expected in most categories, see Paleocene).

Period Article structure History Geography Geology Climate Events Palaeontology Geochemistry Comments
Quaternary (edit talk links history) Start B C C C Stub Stub Needed Just add a blurb about the abolition and subsequent readoption of the period by the ICS and the "History" section will be A-tier.
Neogene (edit talk links history) Start C Start C Start Stub Start Needed Include some more info in a history section and that section will be well on its way to becoming A-tier. The rest of this article needs some heavier-duty improvements.
Palaeogene (edit talk links history) C Start C C C Stub Start Needed Sadly, this article needs serious improvements or expansions in just about every area.
Cretaceous (edit talk links history) C C C B B B B Stub
Jurassic (edit talk links history) B B B   A C B   A Needed History could be A, but needs to be expanded to include the period's addition/inclusion in the ICS timescale. Also the end-Jurassic extinction events should probably be discussed a bit more - perhaps in a paragraph or two. Climate should also be expanded to include an overview of the general climatic conditions in the Jurassic. Otherwise, best article I've seen so far!
Triassic (edit talk links history) B Stub B C C   A B Needed Only issue with the paleontology section is that it needs a bit more info about the plants (if possible). Structure is almost an "A" as well, just needs a bit of reorganization with the geology-related stuff.
Permian (edit talk links history) C Stub Start Start C B B Needed
Carboniferous (edit talk links history) B   A   A   A   A   A B   A
Devonian (edit talk links history) B B C Start C C C Needed History could be A, but needs to be expanded for reason listed in "Jurassic"
Silurian (edit talk links history) C B C Start C Stub C Needed History could be A, but needs needs to be expanded for reason listed in "Jurassic"
Ordovician (edit talk links history) C C C C C B B Stub As short as it is, the geochemistry section in this article is currently the best example of the geochemistry category in any period article
Cambrian (edit talk links history) B   A   A   A   A B C   A
Ediacaran (edit talk links history) Start Stub Needed Needed Stub Start C Needed Geography and Geology are not mentioned anywhere in the article.
Cryogenian (edit talk links history) Start Stub Start Stub C Start C Needed
Tonian (edit talk links history) Stub Needed Stub Needed Needed Stub Stub Needed All periods below and including the Tonian in this list are stubs and need drastic improvements.
Stenian (edit talk links history) Stub Needed Stub Needed Needed Stub Stub Needed
Ectasian (edit talk links history) Stub Needed Needed Stub Needed Stub Start Needed
Calymmian (edit talk links history) Stub Needed Stub Stub Needed Stub Needed Needed
Statherian (edit talk links history) Stub Needed Stub Stub Needed Stub Stub Needed
Orosirian (edit talk links history) Stub Needed Needed Stub Needed Stub Needed Needed
Rhyacian (edit talk links history) Stub Needed Needed Stub Needed Stub Needed Needed
Siderian (edit talk links history) Stub Needed Needed Stub Needed Start Needed Stub

You can help by assessing articles in each of the areas listed above. The grading scale is as follows:

  A Well written, comprehensive and fully sourced report of all aspects of the subject. May form a separate article (e.g. "Ediacaran biota"), which the main article summarises.
B Reasonably comprehensive but room for improvement.
C Makes a good stab at addressing the issue; all the major components are at least noted, but significant expansion is necessary.
Start A good start: at least a paragraph addressing the topic.
Stub Topic is only briefly mentioned somewhere in the article.
Needed Topic is missing from the article.

We're also looking to create a uniform look and feel to all articles about geological time periods. To this end we're working on the infobox template listed below. If you can think of any way to improve this box, please speak up!

{{Infobox geologic timespan}}

Participation

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Everybody is encouraged to help out with the tasks listed above, as they wish! You may also wish to add this page to your watchlist to keep an eye on developments.

Anyone wishing to formally indicate their membership of the project is encouraged to add their signature to the list below:

Project banner

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Place {{WikiProject Geology|class=|importance=|Geological periods=|Geological periods-importance=}} onto any new article's talk page for it to be recognised and assessed under the scope of this task force. An article's assessment is generated from the class and importance parameters and helps organise relevant articles for improvement. When assessed, the class and importance parameters are filled in, like this:

{{WikiProject Geology|class=Start|importance=Mid|Geological periods=yes|Geological periods-importance=High}}

and the banner looks like this:

 Geology: Periods Start‑class Mid‑importance
 Wikipedia:WikiProject Geology/Periods is part of WikiProject Geology, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use geology resource. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information.
StartThis article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
MidThis article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
This article is supported by the Geological periods task force (assessed as High-importance).


Shortcuts: {{WikiProject Geology}}, {{WPGEOLOGY}}, {{WPGeology}}, {{WP Geology}}

The article is classified in the appropriate subcategories of Category:Geological periods articles. For more information visit the WikiProject Geology assessment page: Wikipedia:WikiProject Geology/Assessment