Commissio Internationalis Stratigraphicaterminum Cretaceum Palaeogenicum definit ab anomalia iridii qua vestigia illisionis meteoritae iuxta Chicxulub in stratis geologicis per omnem terrarum orbem inscribuntur. Hic terminus inceptum indicat aerae, periodo, seriei et stadii, videlicet aevorum Caenozoici, Palaeogenici, Palaeocaeni, Danii.
Nomen "Caenozoicum", per exemplum Palaeozoici iam nominati, Anglice sub forma Kainozoic (scil.system) anno 1840 ab Ioanne Phillips propositum est.[3] E verbis Graecis μεσός "medius", καινός "novus", ζῷον "animal" componitur.[4]
Orthographiam "Caenozoicum" habes in contextu Theodisco ad caput libelli Fritz Frech, Das Caenozoicum. 2. Band. Quartär. Erste Abtheilung. Flora und Fauna des Quartärs (Lethea Geognostica, pars 3: Handbuch der Erdgeschichte mit Abbildungen der für die Formationen Bezeichnendsten Versteinerungen. 1904)
"As many systems or combinations of organic forms as are clearly traceable in the stratified crust of the globe, so many corresponding terms (as Palæozoic, Mesozoic, Kainozoic, &c.) may be made": John Phillips, "Palæozoic series" in Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge vol. 17 (1840) pp. 153–154
De historia nominis definitionisque vide: Mary Grace Wilmarth, The Geologic Time Classification of the United States Geological Survey Compared With Other Classifications, accompanied by the original definitions of era, period and epoch terms (United States Geological Survey Bulletin no. 769. Vasingtoniae: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1925) (p. 8 apud Google Books)
Bibliographia
William A. Berggren, Dennis V. Kent, John J. Flynn, John A. Van Couvering, "Cenozoic geochronology" in Geological Society of America Bulletin vol. 96 (1985) pp. 1407-1418
Alan Graham, "The age and diversification of terrestrial New World ecosystems through Cretaceous and Cenozoic time" in American Journal of Botany vol. 98 (2011) pp. 336-351 JSTOR
Bonnie Jacobs, A. D. Pan, Christopher Scotese, "A review of the Cenozoic vegetation of Africa" in Lars Werdelin, W. J. Sanders, edd., Cenozoic Mammals of Africa (Berkeleiae: California University Press, 2010)
Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni, Mark A. Richards, "Cenozoic plate driving forces" in Geophysical Research Letters (Iunio 1995)
Spencer Lucas, "Cenozoic Tetrapod Ichnofaunas and Ichnofacies" in S. Lucas et al., Neogene Mammals (New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin no. 44, 2008) pp. 15-23