The
Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya (million years ago) to Mya, that is, from the end of the
TriassicThe Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
to the beginning of the
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the
MesozoicThe Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. However, the end of the Jurassic period did not witness any major extinction event. The start and end of the period are defined by carefully selected locations; the uncertainty in dating arises from trying to date these horizons.
The chronostratigraphic term "Jurassic" is directly linked to the
Jura MountainsThe Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
.
Alexander von HumboldtFriedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
recognized the mainly
limestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
dominated mountain range of the Jura Mountains as a separate formation that was not at the time included in the established stratigraphic system defined by
Abraham Gottlob WernerAbraham Gottlob Werner , was a German geologist who set out an early theory about the stratification of the Earth's crust and coined the word Neptunism...
and named it “Jurakalk” in 1795. The name “Jura” is derived from the Celtic root “jor”, which was Latinised into “juria”, meaning forest (i.e. “Jura” is forest mountains).
By the beginning of the Jurassic, the
supercontinentIn geology, a supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. The assembly of cratons and accreted terranes that form Eurasia qualifies as a supercontinent today.-History:...
PangaeaPangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
had rifted into two landmasses,
LaurasiaIn paleogeography, Laurasia was the northernmost of two supercontinents that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from approximately...
to the north and
GondwanaIn paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
to the south. This created more coastlines and caused a change in global climate from hot and dry to warm and humid, and many of the arid deserts of the Triassic were replaced by lush rainforests. The dinosaurs continued to dominate the land, and reached their peak in this period as they diversified into a wide variety of groups, ranging from the carnivorous theropods to the massive, herbivorous sauropods. Marine reptiles such as
ichthyosaurIchthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins...
s and
plesiosaurPlesiosauroidea is an extinct clade of carnivorous plesiosaur marine reptiles. Plesiosauroids, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods...
s ruled the oceans, while
pterosaurPterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
s, flying reptiles and the first airborne vertebrates, took to the sky.
Divisions
The Jurassic period is divided into
Early JurassicThe Early Jurassic epoch is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic period...
,
MiddleThe Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from 176-161 million years ago. In European lithostratigraphy, rocks of this Middle Jurassic age are called the Dogger....
, and
Late JurassicThe Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 161.2 ± 4.0 to 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago , which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age...
epochsAn epoch is a subdivision of the geologic timescale based on rock layering. In order, the higher subdivisions are periods, eras and eons. We are currently living in the Holocene epoch...
. The Jurassic System, in
stratigraphyStratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
, is divided into Lower Jurassic,
MiddleThe Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from 176-161 million years ago. In European lithostratigraphy, rocks of this Middle Jurassic age are called the Dogger....
, and Upper Jurassic
seriesSeries are subdivisions of rock layers made based on the age of the rock and corresponding to the dating system unit called an epoch, both being formally defined international conventions of the geological timescale. A series is therefore a sequence of rock depositions defining a...
of rock formations, also known as
Lias,
Dogger and
Malm in Europe. The separation of the term
Jurassic into three sections goes back to Leopold von Buch (* 1774, † 1853). The
faunal stageIn chronostratigraphy, a stage is a succession of rock strata laid down in a single age on the geologic timescale, which usually represents millions of years of deposition. A given stage of rock and the corresponding age of time will by convention have the same name, and the same boundaries.Rock...
s from youngest to oldest are:
| Upper/Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 161.2 ± 4.0 to 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago , which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age...
|
|
TithonianIn the geologic timescale the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic epoch or the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic series. It spans the time between 150.8 ± 4 Ma and 145.5 ± 4 Ma...
|
( ± 4.0 – 145.5 ± 4.0 Mya) |
KimmeridgianIn the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age or stage in the Late or Upper Jurassic epoch or series. It spans the time between 155.7 ± 4 Ma and 150.8 ± 4 Ma . The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian and precedes the Tithonian....
|
(155.7 ± 4.0 – 150.8 ± 4.0 Mya) |
OxfordianThe Oxfordian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the earliest age of the Late Jurassic epoch, or the lowest stage of the Upper Jurassic series. It spans the time between 161.2 ± 4 Ma and 155.7 ± 4 Ma...
|
(161.2 ± 4.0 – 155.7 ± 4.0 Mya) |
| Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from 176-161 million years ago. In European lithostratigraphy, rocks of this Middle Jurassic age are called the Dogger....
|
|
CallovianIn the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age or stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 164.7 ± 4.0 Ma and 161.2 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the Oxfordian....
|
(164.7 ± 4.0 – 161.2 ± 4.0 Mya) |
BathonianIn the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age or stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 167.7 Ma to around 164.7 Ma...
|
(167.7 ± 3.5 – 164.7 ± 4.0 Mya) |
BajocianIn the geologic timescale, the Bajocian is an age or stage in the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 171.6 Ma to around 167.7 Ma . The Bajocian age succeeds the Aalenian age and precedes the Bathonian age....
|
(171.6 ± 3.0 – 167.7 ± 3.5 Mya) |
AalenianThe Aalenian is a subdivision of the Middle Jurassic epoch/series of the geologic timescale that extends from about 175.6 Ma to about 171.6 Ma . It was preceded by the Toarcian and succeeded by the Bajocian.-Stratigraphic definitions:...
|
(175.6 ± 2.0 – 171.6 ± 3.0 Mya) |
| Lower/Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic epoch is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic period...
|
|
ToarcianThe Toarcian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, an age or stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic. It spans the time between 183.0 Ma and 175.6 Ma...
|
(183.0 ± 1.5 – 175.6 ± 2.0 Mya) |
PliensbachianThe Pliensbachian is an age of the geologic timescale or stage in the stratigraphic column. It is part of the Early or Lower Jurassic epoch or series and spans the time between 189.6 ± 1.5 Ma and 183 ± 1.5 Ma . The Pliensbachian is preceded by the Sinemurian and followed by the Toarcian.The...
|
(189.6 ± 1.5 – 183.0 ± 1.5 Mya) |
SinemurianIn the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age or stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic epoch or series. It spans the time between 196.5 ± 2 Ma and 189.6 ± 1.5 Ma...
|
(196.5 ± 1.0 – 189.6 ± 1.5 Mya) |
HettangianThe Hettangian is the earliest age or lowest stage of the Jurassic period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 199.6 ± 0.6 Ma and 196.5 ± 1 Ma . The Hettangian follows the Rhaetian and is followed by the Sinemurian.In Europe stratigraphy the Hettangian is a part of the time span in...
|
(199.6 ± 0.6 – 196.5 ± 1.0 Mya) |
Paleogeography and tectonics
During the early Jurassic period, the
supercontinentIn geology, a supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. The assembly of cratons and accreted terranes that form Eurasia qualifies as a supercontinent today.-History:...
PangaeaPangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
broke up into the northern supercontinent
LaurasiaIn paleogeography, Laurasia was the northernmost of two supercontinents that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from approximately...
and the southern supercontinent
GondwanaIn paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
; the
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
opened in the new rift between North America and what is now Mexico's
Yucatan PeninsulaThe Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
. The Jurassic North
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
was relatively narrow, while the South Atlantic did not open until the following Cretaceous period, when Gondwana itself rifted apart. The
Tethys SeaThe Tethys Ocean was an ocean that existed between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia during the Mesozoic era before the opening of the Indian Ocean.-Modern theory:...
closed, and the
NeotethysIn biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...
basin appeared. Climates were warm, with no evidence of
glaciationA glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
. As in the Triassic, there was apparently no land near either pole, and no extensive ice caps existed.
The Jurassic geological record is good in western
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, where extensive marine sequences indicate a time when much of the continent was submerged under shallow tropical seas; famous locales include the
Jurassic CoastThe Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
and the renowned late Jurassic
lagerstätteA Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness.Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....
n of
HolzmadenHolzmaden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany that lies between Stuttgart and Ulm.The ground in and around the city contains rich layers of well preserved fossils of the Jurassic period. The fossils are found in the 160 million year old Posidonia Shale and displayed in the local Museum Hauff...
and
SolnhofenThe Solnhofen Plattenkalk is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organisms such as sea jellies...
. In contrast, the North American Jurassic record is the poorest of the Mesozoic, with few outcrops at the surface. Though the
epicontinentalAn epeiric sea is a shallow sea that extends over part of a continent.Epeiric seas are usually associated with the marine transgressions of the geologic past, which have variously been due to either global eustatic sea level changes, local tectonic deformation, or both, and are occasionally...
Sundance SeaThe Sundance Sea was an epeiric sea that existed in North America during the mid to late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. It was an arm of what is now the Arctic Ocean, and extended through what is now western Canada into the central western United States...
left marine deposits in parts of the northern plains of the United States and Canada during the late Jurassic, most exposed sediments from this period are continental, such as the
alluvialAlluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
deposits of the
Morrison FormationThe Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone and limestone and is light grey, greenish...
.
The Jurassic was a time of
calcite seaA calcite sea is one in which low-magnesium calcite is the primary inorganic marine calcium carbonate precipitate. An aragonite sea is the alternate seawater chemistry in which aragonite and high-magnesium calcite are the primary inorganic carbonate precipitates...
geochemistry in which low-magnesium
calciteCalcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 380-470°C, and vaterite is even less stable.-Properties:...
was the primary inorganic marine precipitate of calcium carbonate.
Carbonate hardgroundsCarbonate hardgrounds are surfaces of synsedimentarily cemented carbonate layers that have been exposed on the seafloor . A hardground is essentially, then, a lithified seafloor. Ancient hardgrounds are found in limestone sequences and distinguished from later-lithified sediments by evidence of...
were thus very common, along with calcitic ooids, calcitic cements, and invertebrate faunas with dominantly calcitic skeletons (Stanley and Hardie, 1998, 1999).
The first of several massive
batholithA batholith is a large emplacement of igneous intrusive rock that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust...
s were emplaced in the northern
CordilleraThe American Cordillera is a cordillera that consists of an essentially continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica. From north to south, this sequence of overlapping and parallel ranges begins with the...
beginning in the mid-Jurassic, marking the
Nevadan orogenyThe Nevadan Orogeny was a major mountain building event that took place along the western edge of ancient North America between the Mid to Late Jurassic...
. Important Jurassic exposures are also found in Russia, India, South America, Japan, Australasia and the United Kingdom.
In Africa, Early Jurassic strata are distributed in a similar fashion to Late Triassic beds, with more common outcrops in the south and less common fossil beds which are predominated by tracks to the north. As the Jurassic proceeded, larger and more iconic groups of dinosaurs like sauropods and ornithopods proliferated in Africa. Middle Jurassic strata are neither well represented nor well studied in Africa. Late Jurassic strata are also poorly represented apart from the spectacular Tendeguru fauna in Tanzania. The Late Jurassic life of Tendeguru is very similar to
thatThe Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has a wide assortment of taxa represented in its fossil record, including dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone and...
found in western North America's
Morrison FormationThe Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone and limestone and is light grey, greenish...
.
Aquatic and marine
During the Jurassic period, the primary vertebrates living in the seas were
fishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and marine
reptileReptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s. The latter include
ichthyosaurIchthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins...
s who were at the peak of their diversity,
plesiosaursPlesiosauria is an order of Mesozoic marine reptiles. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the Early Jurassic Period and became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until the K-T extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period.The name "plesiosaur" is used to refer to the order...
,
pliosaurPliosauroidea is an extinct clade of marine reptiles. Pliosauroids, also commonly known as pliosaurs, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. The pliosauroids were short-necked plesiosaurs with large heads and massive toothed jaws. These swimming reptiles were not dinosaurs but distant...
s, and marine
crocodilesCrocodilia is an order of large reptiles that appeared about 84 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period . They are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria...
of the families
TeleosauridaeThe teleosaurids were marine crocodyliforms similar to the modern gharial that lived from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. They had long snouts, indicative of piscivory and were the closest relatives to the Metriorhynchidae, the Mesozoic crocodilians that returned to the sea and evolved...
and
MetriorhynchidaeMetriorhynchidae is an extinct family of metriorhynchoid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous period of Europe, North America and South America. Metriorhynchids are fully aquatic crocodyliforms. Their forelimbs were small and paddle-like, and unlike living crocodilians,...
.
In the
invertebrateAn invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
world, several new groups appeared, including
rudistsRudists are a group of box, tube or ring shaped marine heterodont bivalves that arose during the Jurassic, and became so diverse during the Cretaceous that they were major reef-building organisms in the Tethys Ocean.- Shell description :...
(a
reefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
-forming variety of
bivalvesBivalvia is a taxonomic class of marine and freshwater molluscs. This class includes clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, and many other families of molluscs that have two hinged shells...
) and belemnites. The Jurassic also had diverse encrusting and
boringBioerosion describes the erosion of hard ocean substrates – and less often terrestrial substrates – by living organisms. Marine bioerosion can be caused by mollusks, polychaete worms, phoronids, sponges, crustaceans, echinoids, and fish; it can occur on coastlines, on coral reefs, and...
(sclerobiont) communities, and it saw a significant rise in the
bioerosionBioerosion describes the erosion of hard ocean substrates – and less often terrestrial substrates – by living organisms. Marine bioerosion can be caused by mollusks, polychaete worms, phoronids, sponges, crustaceans, echinoids, and fish; it can occur on coastlines, on coral reefs, and...
of carbonate shells and hardgrounds. Especially common is the ichnogenus (
trace fossilTrace fossils, also called ichnofossils , are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings , urolites , footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities...
)
GastrochaenolitesGastrochaenolites is a trace fossil formed as a clavate boring in a hard substrate such as a shell, rock or carbonate hardground. The aperture of the boring is narrower than the main chamber and may be circular, oval, or dumb-bell shaped...
.
During the Jurassic period about four or five of the twelve
cladeA clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
s of planktonic organisms that exist in the fossil record either experienced a massive evolutionary radiation or appeared for the first time.
Terrestrial
On land, large
archosaurArchosaurs are a group of diapsid amniotes whose living representatives consist of modern birds and crocodilians. This group also includes all extinct non-avian dinosaurs, many extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosauria, the archosaur clade, is a crown group that includes the most...
ian reptiles remained dominant. The Jurassic was a golden age for the large herbivorous dinosaurs known as the sauropods—
CamarasaurusCamarasaurus meaning 'chambered lizard', referring to the hollow chambers in its vertebrae was a genus of quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaurs. It was the most common of the giant sauropods to be found in North America...
,
ApatosaurusApatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
,
DiplodocusDiplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
,
BrachiosaurusBrachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of North America. It was first described by Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Grand River Canyon of western Colorado, in the United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax,...
, and many others—that roamed the land late in the period; their mainstays were either the
prairiePrairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
s of
fernA fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
s, palm-like
cycadCycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...
s and
bennettitalesBennettitales is an extinct order of seed plants that first appeared in the Triassic period and became extinct toward the end of the Cretaceous...
, or the higher coniferous growth, according to their adaptations. They were preyed upon by large theropods as for example
CeratosaurusCeratosaurus meaning "horned lizard", in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal...
,
MegalosaurusMegalosaurus is a genus of large meat-eating theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period of Europe...
,
TorvosaurusTorvosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period...
and
AllosaurusAllosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
. All these belong to the 'lizard hipped' or
saurischiaSaurischia meaning 'lizard' and ischion meaning 'hip joint') is one of the two orders, or basic divisions, of dinosaurs. In 1888, Harry Seeley classified dinosaurs into two orders, based on their hip structure...
n branch of the
dinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s.
During the Late Jurassic, the first birds, like
ArchaeopteryxArchaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...
,
evolvedEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
from small coelurosaurian dinosaurs.
OrnithischiaOrnithischia or Predentata is an extinct order of beaked, herbivorous dinosaurs. The name ornithischia is derived from the Greek ornitheos meaning 'of a bird' and ischion meaning 'hip joint'...
n dinosaurs were less predominant than saurischian dinosaurs, although some like stegosaurs and small
ornithopodOrnithopods or members of the clade Ornithopoda are a group of ornithischian dinosaurs that started out as small, bipedal running grazers, and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world, and dominated the North American...
s played important roles as small and medium-to-large (but not sauropod-sized) herbivores. In the air,
pterosaurPterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
s were common; they ruled the skies, filling many ecological roles now taken by
birdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s. Within the undergrowth were various types of early mammals, as well as
tritylodontTritylodontids were small to medium-sized, highly specialized and extremely mammal-like cynodonts. They were the last family of the non-mammalian synapsids. One of the last cynodont lines to appear, the Tritylodontidae descended from a Cynognathus-like cynodont...
mammal-like reptiles, lizard-like
sphenodontsSphenodontia is an order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living genus, the tuatara , and only two living species...
, and early
lissamphibiaThe subclass Lissamphibia includes all recent amphibians and means smooth amphibia.Extant amphibians fall into one of three orders — the Anura , the Caudata or Urodela , and the Gymnophiona or Apoda .Although the ancestry of each group is still unclear, all share certain common characteristics,...
ns.
The rest of the Lissamphibia evolved in this period, introducing the first
salamanderSalamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
s and
caecilianThe caecilians are an order of amphibians that superficially resemble earthworms or snakes. They mostly live hidden in the ground, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. All extant caecilians and their closest fossil relatives are grouped as the clade Apoda. They are mostly...
s.
Flora
The arid, continental conditions characteristic of the
TriassicThe Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
steadily eased during the Jurassic period, especially at higher latitudes; the warm, humid climate allowed lush jungles to cover much of the landscape.
GymnospermThe gymnosperms are a group of seed-bearing plants that includes conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetales. The term "gymnosperm" comes from the Greek word gymnospermos , meaning "naked seeds", after the unenclosed condition of their seeds...
s were relatively diverse during the Jurassic period. The Conifers in particular dominated the flora, as during the Triassic; they were the most diverse group and constituted the majority of large trees. Extant conifer families that flourished during the Jurassic included the
AraucariaceaeAraucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, is a very ancient family of coniferous trees. It achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide...
,
CephalotaxaceaeThe family Cephalotaxaceae is a small grouping of conifers, with three genera and about 20 species, closely allied to the Taxaceae, and included in that family by some botanists. They are restricted to east Asia, except for two species of Torreya found in the southwest and southeast of the USA;...
,
PinaceaePinaceae are trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly known as Coniferales. Pinaceae are supported as monophyletic by its protein-type sieve...
,
PodocarpaceaePodocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs. It contains 19 genera if Phyllocladus is included and if Manoao and Sundacarpus are recognized....
,
TaxaceaeThe family Taxaceae, commonly called the yew family, includes three genera and about 7 to 12 species of coniferous plants, or in other interpretations , six genera and about 30 species....
and
TaxodiaceaeThe Taxodiaceae were at one time regarded as a distinct plant family comprising the following ten genera of coniferous trees:*Athrotaxis*Cryptomeria*Cunninghamia*†Cunninghamites*Glyptostrobus*Metasequoia*Sciadopitys...
. The extinct Mesozoic conifer family
CheirolepidiaceaeCheirolepidiaceae is a family of extinct coniferous plants.This family of conifers, superficially similar to Cupressaceae, was a significant part of the flora of the Mesozoic, around . They are united by the possession of a distinctive pollen type assigned to the form genus Classopollis...
dominated low latitude vegetation, as did the shrubby
BennettitalesBennettitales is an extinct order of seed plants that first appeared in the Triassic period and became extinct toward the end of the Cretaceous...
.
CycadCycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...
s were also common, as were
ginkgoGinkgo , also spelled gingko and known as the Maidenhair Tree, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives...
s and Dicksoniaceous tree ferns in the forest. Smaller
fernA fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
s were probably the dominant undergrowth. Caytoniaceous seed ferns were another group of important plants during this time and are thought to have been shrub to small-tree sized. Ginkgo plants were particularly common in the mid- to high northern latitudes. In the Southern Hemisphere, podocarps were especially successful, while
GinkgoGinkgo , also spelled gingko and known as the Maidenhair Tree, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives...
s and Czekanowskiales were rare.
In the oceans modern
coralline algaeCoralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls...
appeared for the first time.
External links