Cretaceous
hideThe Cretaceous (pronounced /kriːˈteɪʃəs/), Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide (chalk), is a geologic period and system from circa 145.5 ± 4 to 65.5 ± 0.3 million years ago (Ma). In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period. It is the youngest period of the Mesozoic era, and at 80 million years long, the longest period of the Phanerozoic eon. The end of the Cretaceous defines the boundary between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. In many foreign languages this period is known as "chalk period".
The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate and high eustatic sea level. The oceans and seas were populated with now extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists; and the land by dinosaurs. At the same time, new groups of mammals and birds as well as flowering plants appeared. The Cretaceous ended with one of the largest mass extinctions in Earth history, the K-T extinction, when many species, including the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, disappeared.
For more information about Cretaceous, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with cretaceous period
Oldest known spider's web found in amber
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Pieces of amber containing parts of a spider's web have been found in East Sussex and dated back to the Cretaceous period 140 million years ago, which makes it the oldest spider's web known.
Bye bye 'Hogwarts dinosaur'? New analyses of dinosaur growth may wipe out one-third of species
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Paleontologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Museum of the Rockies have wiped out two species of dome-headed dinosaur, one of them named three years ago - with great ...
Crushed bones reveal literal dino stomping ground
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 14, 2009 |
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Imagine the gruesome sound of bones snapping as a thirsty, 30-ton dinosaur tramples a heap of fresh carcasses on his way to a rapidly shrinking lake.
'Tiny' new T-Rex ancestor found in China (w/ Video)
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A 9-foot dinosaur from northeastern China had evolved all the hallmark anatomical features of Tyrannosaurus rex at least 125 million years ago. University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno ...
Extinction runs in the family
Aug 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Global calamities like the one that doomed most dinosaurs forever alter the varieties of life found on Earth, but new research shows that it doesn't take a catastrophe to end entire lineages. ...
Darwin's mystery explained
Jul 14, 2009 |
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The appearance of many species of flowering plants on Earth, and especially their relatively rapid dissemination during the Cretaceous (approximately 100 million years ago) can be attributed to their capacity to transform ...
Down Under dinosaur burrow discovery provides climate change clues (w/ Video)
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 10, 2009 |
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On the heels of his discovery in Montana of the first trace fossil of a dinosaur burrow, Emory University paleontologist Anthony Martin has found evidence of more dinosaur burrows - this time on the other ...
Diuscovery in amber reveals ancient biology of termites
May 14, 2009 |
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The analysis of a termite entombed for 100 million years in an ancient piece of amber has revealed the oldest example of "mutualism" ever discovered between an animal and microorganism, and also shows the ...
Dinosaurs declined before mass extinction
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 30, 2009 |
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Dinosaurs were dying out much earlier than the mass extinction event 65 million years ago, Natural History Museum scientists report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society journal today.
Scientists discover 2 new dinosaur species
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 22, 2009 |
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Researchers from Field Museum in Chicago have helped discover two new dinosaur species in China's Gobi Desert: a 5-foot-tall forebear of Tyrannosaurus rex and a half-ton beaked dinosaur reminiscent of a giant ostrich.
