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The Middle Jurassic, called the Dogger in the European system of classification, is the second epoch of the Jurassic
Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period that extends from about annum to  Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous....
 Period. It lasted from 176-161 million years ago.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m4358736",this)' onMouseout='hide("m4358736")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Pangaea">Pangaea
Pangaea

Pangaea, Pang?a or Pangea was the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
 began to separate into Laurasia
Laurasia

Laurasia was a supercontinent that most recently existed as a part of the split of the Pangaean supercontinent in the late Mesozoic era . It included most of the landmasses which make up today's continents of the northern hemisphere, chiefly Laurentia , Baltica, Siberia , Kazakhstania, and the North China Craton and East China Craton craton...
 and Gondwana
Gondwana

Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland is the name given to a southern precursor-supercontinent and then as a remnant separated from Laurasia 180- during the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed about 500 to 200 Annum ago into two large segments. and the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
 formed. Tectonic activities are active on eastern Laurasia as the Cimmerian plate
Cimmerian Plate

The Cimmerian Plate is an ancient tectonic plate that comprises parts of present-day Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malay Peninsula regions....
 continues to collide with Laurasia's southern coast, completely closing the Paleo-Tethys Ocean
Paleo-Tethys Ocean

The Paleo-Tethys Ocean was an ancient Paleozoic ocean. It was located between the paleocontinent Gondwana and the so called Hunic terranes. These are divided into the European Hunic and Asiatic Hunic ....
.






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The Middle Jurassic, called the Dogger in the European system of classification, is the second epoch of the Jurassic
Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period that extends from about annum to  Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous....
 Period. It lasted from 176-161 million years ago.

Paleogeography

Pangaea
Pangaea

Pangaea, Pang?a or Pangea was the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
 began to separate into Laurasia
Laurasia

Laurasia was a supercontinent that most recently existed as a part of the split of the Pangaean supercontinent in the late Mesozoic era . It included most of the landmasses which make up today's continents of the northern hemisphere, chiefly Laurentia , Baltica, Siberia , Kazakhstania, and the North China Craton and East China Craton craton...
 and Gondwana
Gondwana

Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland is the name given to a southern precursor-supercontinent and then as a remnant separated from Laurasia 180- during the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed about 500 to 200 Annum ago into two large segments. and the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
 formed. Tectonic activities are active on eastern Laurasia as the Cimmerian plate
Cimmerian Plate

The Cimmerian Plate is an ancient tectonic plate that comprises parts of present-day Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malay Peninsula regions....
 continues to collide with Laurasia's southern coast, completely closing the Paleo-Tethys Ocean
Paleo-Tethys Ocean

The Paleo-Tethys Ocean was an ancient Paleozoic ocean. It was located between the paleocontinent Gondwana and the so called Hunic terranes. These are divided into the European Hunic and Asiatic Hunic ....
. A subduction zone on the coast of western North America continues to create the Ancestral Rocky Mountains
Geology of the Rocky Mountains

The geology of the Rocky Mountains reveals a discontinuous series of mountain ranges with distinct geological origins. Collectively these make up the Rocky Mountains, a mountain system that stretches from Canada through central New Mexico and which is part of the great mountain system known as the Western Cordillera ....
.

Life


Marine life

During this time, marine life (including ammonite
Ammonite

Ammonites are an Extinction group of marine animals of the Subclass Ammonoidea in the class Cephalopoda, phylum Mollusca. They are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific Geologic time scale....
s and bivalves) flourished. Ichthyosaur
Ichthyosaur

Ichthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins. Ichthyosaurs thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fossil evidence, they first appeared approximately 245 million years ago and disappeared about 90 million years ago, about 25 million years before the dinosaurs became extinct....
s, although common, are reduced in diversity; while the top marine predators, the pliosaur
Pliosaur

The Pliosaurs were Marine reptiles from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Period . They originally included members of the family Pliosauridae, of the Order Plesiosauria, but several other genera and families are now also included; the number and details of which vary according to the classification used....
s, grew to the size of killer whale
Orca

The Killer Whale or Orca , less commonly, Blackfish or Seawolf, is the largest species of the dolphin family. It is found in all the world's oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctica regions to warm, tropical seas....
s and larger (e.g. Pliosaurus
Pliosaurus

Pliosaurus is a genus of extinct marine reptiles, from the Mesozoic era. It is included in the family Pliosauridae. It was a large predatory reptile and its diet would have included fishes, squids and other marine reptiles....
, Liopleurodon
Liopleurodon

'Liopleurodon' is a genus of large, Carnivore marine reptile belonging to the Pliosauroidea, a clade of short-necked plesiosaurs. Two species of Liopleurodon lived during the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic Period , while the third, L....
). Plesiosaurs became common at this time, and metriorhynchid crocodilians
Crocodilia

Crocodilia 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....
 first appear.

Terrestrial life

New types of dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s evolved on land (including Cetiosaurs
Cetiosaurus

Cetiosaurus meaning 'whale lizard', from the Ancient Greek cetus/??t?? meaning 'sea monster' and saurus/sa???? meaning 'lizard', was a sauropod dinosaur from the Mid to Late Jurassic Period in what are now Europe and Africa....
, brachiosaurs
Brachiosauridae

Brachiosauridae are a family of dinosaurs, whose members are known as brachiosaurids. They were herbivore quadrupeds with longer forelegs than hind legs - the name derives from the Greek language for arm lizard - and long, 45-degree angle necks....
, megalosaurs and hypsilophodonts).

Descendants of the therapsids, the cynodont
Cynodont

Cynodonts, or 'dog teeth', are a taxon of Therapsids which includes modern mammals and their extinct close relatives. They were one of the most diverse groups of therapsids....
s were still flourishing along with the dinosaurs even though they were shrew
Shrew

Shrews are small, superficially mouse-like mammals of the Family Soricidae. Although their external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, the shrews are not rodents and not closely related: the shrew family is part of the order Soricomorpha....
-sized; none exceeded the size of a badger
Badger

Badger is the common name for a specific group of carnivora mammals, which belong to the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, ferrets, wolverines, and relatives....
. A group of cynodonts, the Trithelodonts were becoming rare and eventually became extinct at the end of this epoch. The Tritylodonts were still common though. Mammaliformes, who evolved from a group of cynodonts were also rare and less significant at this time. It was at this epoch that the "true" mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s evolved.

Flora

Conifers were dominant in the Middle Jurassic. Other plant
Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s, such as ginkgo
Ginkgo

Ginkgo , frequently misspelled as "Gingko", and also known as the Maidenhair Tree after Adiantum, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives....
es, cycad
Cycad

File:Cycad cone.jpgCycads are a group of seed plants characterized by a large crown of compound Leaf and a stout trunk . They are evergreen, gymnospermous, dioecious plants having large pinnately compound leaves....
s, and fern
Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta....
s were also common.