The Neoproterozoic Era lasted from one billion to 541 million years ago. The era began with the Oxygen Catastrophe and banded iron formations in the Siderian Period. The Rhyacian Period saw the creation of the Bushveld Formation and Huronian glaciation. The Orosirian Period was characterized by oxygenic atmosphere, the Vredefort and Sudbury Basin meteorite impacts, and an increase in orogeny. The Statherian Period was the time of the first eukaryotes and the Columbia super-continent. Platform covers expanded during the Calymmian Period, and green algae colonized the sea during the Ectasian Period. The creation of super-continent Rodinia in the Stenian Period caused metamorphic belts to form all over the world. The Tonian Period was where the first multi-celled eukaryotes occurred, and it was followed by the "Snowball Earth" Cryogenian Period. As the Neoproterozoic Era drew to a close, many animals began evolving in the Ediacaran Period. The evolution of those animals would cause the Cambrian Explosion.
