Mnemonics for remembering the geological time scale

So much time to remember, so much time to forget.

The periods of geological time, from oldest to youngest, are as follows:

Ediacaran
-----Palaeozoic-----
Cambrian
Ordovician
Silurian
Devonian
Carboniferous
Permian
-----Mesozoic-----
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
-----Cainozoic-----
Palaeogene
Neogene
(OK, and the Quaternary too)

John Phillips, the British geologist who redefined the Palaeozoic, and coined the Mesozoic and Kainozoic.


Students (and, indeed, many qualified geologists) have great difficulty remembering the correct order, so mnemonics are required. The best I can come up with that includes every period is:

Eating Chips On Sundays Doubles Calorie Points, Thus Jogging Can Prove Notably Queasy.

Alternatively:

Eating Crisps On Sunday Doubles Calorie Points, Though Juice Can Prove Nutritious.
[Add 'Quentin' to the end of either if you wish to remember the Quaternary.]

If you need only to remember the Palaeozoic periods, I suggest:

Cricket On Sundays Develops Catching Practice.

And, excluding the Ediacaran, and sticking only to Phanerozoic periods, I have a more provocative proposition:

Clearly Only Some Dimwit Could Possibly Think Jesus Christ's Pertinent Now [Quentin].

And if you can't remember the periods after all those suggestions, well you'll just have to come up with your own!


Comments

Hen Goodchild said…
The last one could work for all time periods if you were from Yorkshire.

Eeee...