CRETACEOUS

COME STAY IN THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD!

• It is 145 million to 66 million years ago.
• It is after the Jurassic period, and before the Paleogene period.
• It is in the Mesozoic era.

CLIMATE

• Temperatures are warmer than any temperatures in our time.
• Ice sheets and glaciers are basically nonexistent.
• There are warm, shallow seas for you to relax and swim.

EVENTS AND ATTRACTIONS

• Global volcanism increased.
• The final breakup of Pangaea occurred.
• Rise in sea levels, resulting in the push up of the Rocky Mountains.
• Explosion of chalk deposition.
• Multiple asteroid impacts, like the Manson impact 74, that created a huge tsunami.

ANIMALS

• There are many animals to see here!
• Theropods, including Tyrannosaurus rex, continued as apex predators until the end of the Cretaceous
• Birds, theropods, avians,Stegosaurus, Iguanodon&Ceraopsians are a few animals that lived during this time.

PLANTS

• Flowering plants begin to appear in this time period.
• Plants like the beech, fig, magnolia, and sassafras were here.
• Willow, elm, grape, laurel, birch, oak, & maple also made their appearance.

BEGINNING AND ENDING

• It was the shortest period of the Mesozoic era.
• Mass extinction of shallow water species ended the Jurassic period.
• This began the cretaceous period.
• The extinction of the dinosaurs ended the cretaceous period.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

• Pangea began to change into two different continents.
• The northern one, Laurasia, is today Europe, Asia, and North America.
• Southern one, Gondwana, is present-day Africa, South America, Australia, India, Antarctica, &Madagascar.

RESOURCES

• http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mesozoic/cretaceous/cretaceous.php
• http://eas.unl.edu
• http://paleobiology.si.edu/geotime
• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/mesozoic/cretaceous/