| Jurassic | |||||||||||
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| Previous period Triassic |
Following period Cretaceous | ||||||||||
The Jurassic is a period in Earth's history. It extends from 201 MYA to 145 MYA, and this was the time dinosaurs flourished. The period is sometimes referred to "golden age of dinosaurs". This period began after Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. It was named by by Alexandre Brongniart because of the extensive marine limestone exposures of the Jura Mountains. Jurassic is broken into three parts - Early (lower), Middle and Late (Upper)
Geography and climate
At the end of the Triassic period, the super continent Pangaea broke into two continents, Laurasia and Gondwana. This caused the massive Tethys sea to become closed. The climate during the early Jurassic was warm. Since their was no land on either pole, there were no polar caps either. Much of Europe was submerged beneath shallow tropical sea. During the late Jurassic, most exposed sediments from this period are continental.
A time when life on Earth was at its most spectacular, the creatures here bathed in a warm, tropical climate. There were no icecaps at the poles. Flowers and broadleaved trees had yet too evolved. In the air and on the land, the world was dominated by reptiles and by far the most common are the dinosaurs. But they were not the only giants. Huge pterosaurs ruled the skies and below them, massive marine reptiles harvested the rich oceans. It had already been over 70 million years since dinosaurs first appeared on Earth. And in this greener world, they had evolved into a myriad of different forms. This was a world dominated by giants.
Plant life
Thanks to the warm, humid climate, lush jungles covered much of the landscape. Tall forests covered much of the land, opening a evolutionary niche for new kinds of animals, such as birds and large sauropod dinosaurs. Conifers mostly dominated the landscape. Cycads and Ginkos were flourishing in humid Jurassic forests and jungles. Small ferns dominate the undergrowth.
Animals
Jurassic period was explosion of life. Many new species of archosaurs emerged in this period. Jurassic is well known by it's titanic sauropods, early birds, many new types of pterosaurs and marine life. This is a list of all Jurassic animals that appeared in the Impossible pictures series and documentaries:
Invertebrates
- Damselfly
- Dung beetle
- Perisphinctes
- Horseshoe crab
- Jellyfish
- Squid
- Bark beetle
- Dragonfly
- Scorpion
Fish
Pterosaurs
- Anurognathus
- Unknown type of Pterosaur
- Rhamphorhynchus
Marine Reptiles
Dinosaurs
- Allosaurus
- Apatosaurus
- Brachiosaurus
- Diplodocus
- Dryosaurus
- Eustreptospondylus
- Ornitholestes
- Othnelia
- Stegosaurus
Other reptiles
- Iguana (lizard)
Amphibians
- Toad
- Axolotl