The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago ( to ), is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene

Paleogene

The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...

 Period in the Cenozoic

Cenozoic

The Cenozoic era is the current and most recent of the three Phanerozoic geological eras and covers the period from 65.5 mya to the present. The era began in the wake of the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous that saw the demise of the last non-avian dinosaurs and...

 Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene

Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...

 Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by the emergence of the first modern mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s. The end is set at a major extinction event

Extinction event

An extinction event is a sharp decrease in the diversity and abundance of macroscopic life. They occur when the rate of extinction increases with respect to the rate of speciation...

 called Grande Coupure (the "Great Break" in continuity), which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia

Popigai crater

The Popigai crater in Siberia, Russia is tied with Manicouagan Crater as the fourth largest verified impact crater on Earth. A large bolide impact created the diameter crater 35.7 ± 0.2 million years ago during the late Eocene . The crater is 1½ hours from the outpost of Khatanga...

 and in what is now Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay impact crater

The Chesapeake Bay impact crater was formed by a bolide that impacted the eastern shore of North America about 35 million years ago, in the late Eocene epoch. It is one of the best-preserved "wet-target" or marine impact craters, and the largest known impact crater in the U.S...

.