IId Dinosaurs and The K-T Boundary and IIe Extinctions

Discovering our predecessors:
The history of life in rocks
Hydrothermal
H d th l vents
t and
d the
th origin
i i off life
lif
Investigating the origin of life in ancient rocks
The Cambrian explosion
Dinosaurs and the K/T boundary
Extinctions and what they tell us
cmex.ihmc.us/vikingcd/puzzle/EvoLife.GIF
MESOZOIC ERA: AGE OF DINOSAURS
Summary of important events during the Mesozoic
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
DINOSAURS
Name literally means “terrible lizards”
Land reptiles that lived from the Late Triassic to the

Cretaceous (230 to 65 million years ago)
Arose from the thecodonts of the archosaur group of reptiles

to become the most dominant vertebrates on land in the
Mesozoic
Evolution of the archosaurs (“ruling reptiles”) is a very

significant event in the history of life on land, since they not
only led to the evolution of dinosaurs and birds, but also to
the pterosaurs and crocodiles
DINOSAURS
Dinosaur Family Tree
lizard-hipped
Ornithischian
bird-hipped
www.cincyevolution.com/education/Education/Dinosaur_Evolutionary_Tree_files/Dinosaur%20Family%20Tree.jpg
DINOSAURS
iooe.org/articles/dinosaurs-evolved-to-birds/Hip%20Structure.jpg
DINOSAURS
Dinosaur Family Tree
lizard-hipped
Ornithischian
bird-hipped
www.cincyevolution.com/education/Education/Dinosaur_Evolutionary_Tree_files/Dinosaur%20Family%20Tree.jpg
ORNITHISCHIAN (BIRD-HIPPED) DINOSAURS
Stegosaurus
roof lizard
Late Jurassic and Cretaceous

Locality: North America (Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming)

Triceratops
three-horned face
- an herbivore with three horns, one in the nose and the other two on each eye
Cretaceous
L
Locality:
lit NNorth
th A
America
i
Ankylosaurus
fused lizard
Late Cretaceous
Location: North America (Alberta, Canada & Montana, USA)

Heterodontosaurus
different toothed lizard
Early Jurassic
Locality: South Africa
SAURISCHIAN (LIZARD-HIPPED) DINOSAURS
Tyrannosaurus
tyrant
Late Cretaceous
Locality: North America (Alberta, Montana, Saskatchewan, Texas and
W
Wyoming)
i ) anddAAsia
i (M
(Mongolia)
li )

Apatosaurus / Brontosaurus
deceptive lizard
Late Jurassic
Locality: North America (Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming)
Compsognathus
elegant/refined/dainty jaw
Late Jurassic
Locality: Southern Germany & France

Oviraptor
egg thief
Late Cretaceous
Locality: Mongolia
DINOSAURS
Archaeopteryx
Late Jurassic | Locality: Solnhofen, Germany
-the earliest known bird; traced to the saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs

- intermediate between small predatory theropods (skull, long tail and hind
li b d
limbs, details
t il off th
the wrist
i t and
d ankle)
kl ) and
d more advanced
d d birds
bi d (wishbone,
( i hb
elongate fingers, feathers)
PTEROSAURS
Remember that the term ‘dinosaurs’ is NOT used for the
flying reptiles (pterosaurs) such as:
Pteranodon
Late Cretaceous
Spread: 7 m
Locality: North America (Kansas) and
Europe (England)
Pterodactylus
Late Jurassic
Spread: 75 cm
Locality: Africa (Tanzania) and Europe
(Germany, France and England)
PTEROSAURS
Rhamphorhynchus
Late Jurassic
Length: 1 m
Locality: Africa (Tanzania) and
Europe (Germany)
Pterodaustro
Late Jurassic
Spread: 1.2 m
Locality: South America (Argentina)
MARINE REPTILES
Nor is the term ‘dinosaurs’ used for the large marine reptiles
(plesiosaurs) that lived during that time.
Plesiosaurus
Jurassic
Length: 2.3 m
Locality: Europe (Germany & England).
I hth
Ichthyosaurus
Jurassic
Length: 2 m
Locality: Europe (Germany & England)
MARINE REPTILES
Mixosaurus Kronosaurus
mixed reptile Krono’s lizard (Kronos was the Greek
god of time)
Mixosaurus was an Early Triassic
ichthyosaur which lived before the other This 40ft long reptile was a sea-dwelling
ichthyosaurs like Ichthyosaurus and plesiosaur of the Early Cretaceous
Ophthalmosaurus. period, and it had a huge 12ft long skull.
Kronosaurus had long flippers and a
short neck.
Latin: creta, chalk
Continued diversification of ammonites and belemnoids

belemnoids;; Rudists
became major reef builders
Placental and marsupial mammals diverge; Dinosaurs still dominant
Seedless plants and gymnosperms still common but angiosperms

evolved and diversify rapidly; Co-
Co-evolution of flowering plants and
insect pollenators
Opening of the Atlantic Ocean
Extinction of ammonites, rudists,

rudists, planktonic foraminifera, dinosaurs,
flying and marine reptiles and some marine invertebrates at the end of
the Cretaceous
images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/009/cache/cretaceous-collection_907_600x450.jpg
CRETACEOUS - TERTIARY EXTINCTION
Occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago; widely

known as the
Non-avian dinosaurs, mosasaurs (marine lizards),

plesiosaurs (marine reptiles), pterosaurs (flying reptiles)
and many species of plants, and invertebrates became
extinct

Ammonites
“fish of the Mesozoic seas”
were similar in shape and form to the modern Nautilus
very common in the oceans of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras

(3 mm to 3 m large)
Pelecypods
strange-looking bivalves
related to the present-day

y mollusks such as clams, mussels, etc.
front back
Sellaea sp. Eoradiolites robustus (Palmer, 1928)
So, why did these animals die out at the K-T?
There is no conclusive answer to this big mystery.

Scientists are still trying to find answers. The
fossil record is inherently incomplete and so we
do not have the complete picture.
Occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago; widely

known as the
Non-avian dinosaurs, mosasaurs (marine lizards),

plesiosaurs (marine reptiles), pterosaurs (flying reptiles)
and many species of plants, and invertebrates became
extinct
Probably caused by one or more catastrophic events:

(1) massive
i asteroid
t id impact(s)
i t( ) (e.g.,
( Chi
Chicxulub
l b impact)
i t)
(2) increased volcanic activity (e.g., Deccan traps)
A gradual phenomenon resulting from a combination of

several events
Most popular theory

theory::
Bolide impact
probably a large meteorite, an asteroid or a
comet
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Impact_event.jpg
How big should an asteroid be to destroy a continent?
www.dhushara.com/book/upd2/jun01/scano/nsx4.htm
CHICXULUB IMPACT AND MASS EXTINCTION

Chicxulub Crater
Images from en.wikipedia.org
CHICXULUB IMPACT AND MASS EXTINCTION
EVIDENCE FOR BOLIDE IMPACT

K-T boundary
a geological signature, usually a thin band, dated to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma
K-T Boundary with 1-in iridium layer (arrow) exposed 10 miles west of Trinidad, Colorado.
The element iridium is very rare on Earth but concentrated in meteors and comets.
The same iridium layer is found in several exposures around the world, and corresponds in
age withith the
th Chicxulub
Chi l b meteor
t crater
t ini Mexico's
M i ' Yucatan
Y t P i l The
Peninsula. Th coall layers
l
above and below the iridium suggests a swampy environment when the layer was laid down
in this area of Colorado.
www.sciencebuzz.org/sites/default/files/images/KT_boundary_pan.jpg
Shocked Quartz
crystalline structure of quartz are deformed along planes inside the
crystal (shock lamellae)
p
discovered in nuclear test sites and impact craters
Shocked quartz
Chesapeake Bay impact crater
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:820qtz.jpg

Tektites
Greek τεκτός tektos, molten
natural glass rocks, which most scientists argue were formed by the
p
impact of large
g meteorites on the Earth's surface
tektites.co.uk/resources/_wsb_551x392_tektite+home.jpg
MASS EXTINCTIONS
www.nhm.ac.uk/palaeontology/a&ss/nm/kt.gif
MASS EXTINCTIONS
Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs)
extremely large accumulation of igneous rocks in the earth's crust
Extinction of dinosaurs and the Age of mammals
2.bp.blogspot.com/_bvFVsOKB92g/SvpHuT_IXtI/AAAAAAAACoQ/MaxBKJxaJhU/s400/smbc-dinosave.jpg
CENOZOIC ERA: AGE OF MAMMALS
End of ice age; Age of Homo sapiens
Extinction of many large

mammals
Appearance of first known

human-like primates
Rise of monocotyledons; Apes

evolve
Beginning of age of mammals;

Radiation of modern birds
appy eople lay usic, thers at izza

(Giovanni Arduino, 1759)
www.third-millennium-
library.com/readinghall/UniversalHistory/THE_OLD_WORLD/Cambridge_Ancient_History/VOLUME_I/Images/Tertiary-fauna.gif
CENOZOIC: AGE OF MAMMALS
kangaroo
www.bbc.co.uk/nature/images/ic/credit/640x395/p/pa/paleocene/paleocene_1.jpg
PLEISTOCENE FAUNA
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Ice_age_fauna_of_northern_Spain_-_Mauricio_Ant%C3%B3n.jpg/800px-
Ice_age_fauna_of_northern_Spain_-_Mauricio_Ant%C3%B3n.jpg
PLEISTOCENE FAUNA
Bering land bridge
roughly (1,600 km) wide (north to south) at its greatest extent; joined
present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the
Pleistocene ice ages
www.flyingsquirrels.com/Graphics/be
ring_land_bridge1.gif
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beringia_land_bridge-noaagov.gif
PLEISTOCENE FAUNA
La Brea Tar Pits
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/U
A_tar_bubble_la_brea_CA.jpg/220px
USA_tar_bubble_la_brea_CA.jp
www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/quaternary/labrea2.gif
The La Brea Tar Pits in the middle of the City of Los Angeles,
Angeles California
contains one of the most well-preserved Pleistocene fossil sites in the
world.
Tar pits form when crude oil seeps to the surface through fissures in the Earth's
crust; the light fraction of the oil evaporates, leaving behind the heavy tar, or
asphalt, in sticky pools.
PLEISTOCENE FAUNA
La Brea Tar Pits
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/La_Brea_Tar_Pits.jpg
A number of carnivores and scavengers found at La Brea are no longer found in

North America: native horses, camels, mammoths and mastodons, long-horned
bison, and saber-toothed cats
It is thought that carnivores may have chased their prey into the tar pits, getting
trapped themselves. Scavengers may have been attracted to the trapped animals
and became trapped, too.
PLEISTOCENE EXTINCTIONS
Pleistocene Extinction
Different from the K-T and P-T extinctions in that it primarily
affected large (i.e. more than 44 kg) terrestrial mammals
cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/f45fb3346a428120451cf32265967331_1M.png
PLEISTOCENE FAUNAL EXTINCTIONS
thebioblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/extinct-pleistocene-animals.jpg
PLEISTOCENE EXTINCTION
Human overpredation (Overkill Hypothesis)
Apparent coincidence in time

between the arrival of humans in
North America and the
disappearance of the large
mammals.
• The Clovis people were the first to
enter the New World and spread
quickly across the landscape,
encountering g large
g animals,, such
as mammoth, that had not yet
learned to fear human hunters. As
a result, Clovis hunters were able
to easily kill the large animals and
rapidly hunted them to extinction.
Climate Change
• Coincidence in time between the extinction event

and the extensive environmental changes during the
end of the last glacial stage;
• Shift from more equable to more seasonal climate
coincided with the extinction of the large mammals
from all parts of the world;
• Suggests
S t th
thatt as the
th Ice
I Age
A waned d climate
li t changed
h d
so drastically that animals were not able to adapt.
Disease
• Dinosaurs and mammoths were

migrating
i ti animals,
i l ttravelling
lli iin h
herds;
d
• Land bridges between continents may

have been exposed = exchange of
species between continents;
• Possibility of transfer of “exotic”

exotic germs
to other species which are not immune to
them, thereby causing diseases and
death.
HOLOCENE EXTINCTIONS
Humans
Are we causing extinction today?
During the other extinctions in earth
history, natural causes were
i
involved.
l d B But today,
d we are
changing our environment rapidly.
Some experts say we are in the midst of one of

the fastest mass extinctions in the 4.5 billion-
year history of the earth. This dramatic loss of
species poses a major threat to human
existence in the next century.
Are we headed for extinction?
yourweatherblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Apocalypse-Signs.jpg
HOLOCENE EXTINCTION
withfriendship.com/images/h/36702/Human-extinction-picture.jpg

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IId Dinosaurs and The K-T Boundary and IIe Extinctions

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Discovering our predecessors:

The history of life in rocks

Investigating the origin of life in ancient rocks

The Cambrian explosion

Dinosaurs and the K/T boundary

Extinctions and what they tell us

MESOZOIC ERA: AGE OF DINOSAURS

Summary of important events during the Mesozoic

Name literally means “terrible lizards”

Land reptiles that lived from the Late Triassic to the

Arose from the thecodonts of the archosaur group of reptiles

Evolution of the archosaurs (“ruling reptiles”) is a very

Late Jurassic and Cretaceous

ORNITHISCHIAN (BIRD-HIPPED) DINOSAURS

ORNITHISCHIAN (BIRD-HIPPED) DINOSAURS

SAURISCHIAN (LIZARD-HIPPED) DINOSAURS

SAURISCHIAN (LIZARD-HIPPED) DINOSAURS

-the earliest known bird; traced to the saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs

Latin: creta, chalk

Continued diversification of ammonites and belemnoids

Placental and marsupial mammals diverge; Dinosaurs still dominant

Seedless plants and gymnosperms still common but angiosperms

Opening of the Atlantic Ocean

Extinction of ammonites, rudists,

Occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago; widely

Non-avian dinosaurs, mosasaurs (marine lizards),

CRETACEOUS - TERTIARY EXTINCTION

were similar in shape and form to the modern Nautilus

very common in the oceans of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras

related to the present-day

So, why did these animals die out at the K-T?

There is no conclusive answer to this big mystery.

Occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago; widely

Non-avian dinosaurs, mosasaurs (marine lizards),

Probably caused by one or more catastrophic events:

A gradual phenomenon resulting from a combination of

CRETACEOUS - TERTIARY EXTINCTION

Most popular theory

How big should an asteroid be to destroy a continent?

CHICXULUB IMPACT AND MASS EXTINCTION

Images from en.wikipedia.org

EVIDENCE FOR BOLIDE IMPACT

EVIDENCE FOR BOLIDE IMPACT

CENOZOIC ERA: AGE OF MAMMALS

End of ice age; Age of Homo sapiens

Extinction of many large

Appearance of first known

Rise of monocotyledons; Apes

Beginning of age of mammals;

appy eople lay usic, thers at izza

CENOZOIC: AGE OF MAMMALS

A number of carnivores and scavengers found at La Brea are no longer found in

PLEISTOCENE FAUNAL EXTINCTIONS

Human overpredation (Overkill Hypothesis)

Apparent coincidence in time

• Coincidence in time between the extinction event

• Dinosaurs and mammoths were

• Land bridges between continents may

• Possibility of transfer of “exotic”

Some experts say we are in the midst of one of

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