Mesozoic

Era
M O Z A
P N A
o Mesozoic means “middle life”, deriving from the
Greek prefix for “between” and zō on meaning
“animal” or “living being”.
o preceded by the Paleozoic ("ancient life")
o succeeded by the Cenozoic ("new life")
o 252 to 66 million years ago.
o It is also called the Age of Reptiles
o The era is subdivided into three major periods: the
Triassic (245-208 Million Years Ago), Jurassic (208-
146 Million Years Ago), and Cretaceous (146-65
Million Years Ago)
o Beginning: Permian–Triassic extinction event
o Ending: Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
o dramatic rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea, which
gradually split into a northern continent, Laurasia,
and a southern continent, Gondwana.
o Laurasia became North America and Eurasia, while
Gondwana split into South America, Africa,
Australia, Antarctica and the Indian subcontinent,
which collided with the Asian plate during the
Cenozoic, giving rise to the Himalayas.
o The Mesozoic was a time of significant tectonic,
climate and evolutionary activity.
o The climate of the Mesozoic was varied, alternating
between warming and cooling periods. Overall,
however, the Earth was hotter than it is today.
STEGOSAURUS PLESIOSAURIA PTEROSAUR AMMONOIDEA APATOSAURUS

ARCHAEOPTERYX ICHTHYOSAUR TRICERATOPS PTEROSAUR PLESIOSAURIA

 TRIASSIC PERIOD
At the start of the Triassic period, 250 million years ago, the Earth was just
recovering from the Permian/Triassic Extinction , which witnessed the
demise of over two-thirds of all land-dwelling species and a whopping 95
percent of ocean-dwelling species. In terms of animal life, the Triassic was
most notable for the diversification of archosaurs into pterosaurs, crocodiles,
and the earliest dinosaurs, as well as the evolution of therapsids into the first
true mammals.
 CLIMATE AND GEOGRAPHY
During the Triassic period, all of the Earth's continents were
joined together into a vast, north-south landmass called Pangaea
(which was itself surrounded by the enormous ocean
Panthalassa). There were no polar ice caps, and the climate at the
equator was hot and dry, punctuated by violent monsoons. Some
estimates put the average air temperature across most of the
continent at well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Conditions were
wetter in the north (the part of Pangaea corresponding to
modern-day Eurasia) and the south (Australia and Antarctica).
 TERRESTRIAL LIFE
During the Triassic period, all of the Earth's continents were joined together
into a vast, north-south landmass called Pangaea (which was itself
surrounded by the enormous ocean Panthalassa). There were no polar ice
caps, and the climate at the equator was hot and dry,
punctuated by violent monsoons. Some estimates put the
average air temperature across most of the continent at
well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Conditions were
wetter in the north (the part of Pangaea corresponding to
modern-day Eurasia) and the south (Australia and
Antarctica).
 MARINE LIFE
Because the Permian Extinction depopulated the world's oceans, the Triassic
period was ripe for the rise of early marine reptiles. These included not only
unclassifiable, one-off genera like Placodus and Nothosaurus but the very
first plesiosaurs and a flourishing breed of "fish lizards," the ichthyosaurs.
(Some ichthyosaurs attained truly gigantic sizes; for
example, Shonisaurus measured 50 feet long and weighed in the vicinity of 30
tons!) The vast Panthalassa Ocean soon found
itself restocked with new species of
prehistoric fish, as well as simple
animals like corals and cephalopods.
 PLANT LIFE
The Triassic period wasn't nearly as lush and green as the later Jurassic and
Cretaceous periods, but it did see an explosion of various land-dwelling
plants, including cycads, ferns, Gingko-like trees, and seed plants. Part of the
reason there were no plus-sized Triassic herbivores (along the lines of the
much later Brachiosaurus) is that there simply wasn’t enough vegetation to
nourish their growth.
 THE TRIASSIC/JURASSIC
EXTINCTION EVENT
Not the most well-known extinction event, the Triassic/Jurassic
extinction was a fizzle compared to the earlier Permian/Triassic extinction
and the later Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) extinction. The event, nevertheless,
witnessed the demise of various genera of marine reptiles,
as well as large amphibians and certain branches of
archosaurs. We don't know for sure, but this extinction
may have been caused by volcanic eruptions, a global
cooling trend, a meteor impact, or some combination
thereof. 
 JURASSIC PERIOD
Thanks to the movie Jurassic Park, people identify the Jurassic period, more
than any other geological time span, with the age of dinosaurs. The Jurassic is
when the first gigantic sauropod and theropod dinosaurs appeared on Earth,
a far cry from their slender, man-sized ancestors of the preceding Triassic
period. But the fact is that dinosaur diversity reached its peak in the
ensuing Cretaceous period.
 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
The Jurassic period witnessed the breakup of the Pangaean supercontinent
into two big pieces, Gondwana in the south (corresponding to modern-day
Africa, South America, Australia, and Antarctica) and Laurasia in the north
(Eurasia and North America). At about the same time,
intra-continental lakes and rivers formed that opened
new evolutionary niches for aquatic and terrestrial life.
The climate was hot and humid, with steady rainfall,
ideal conditions for the explosive spread of lush, green
plants.
 TERRESTRIAL LIFE
Dinosaurs: During the Jurassic period, relatives of the small, quadrupedal,
plant-eating prosauropods of the Triassic period gradually evolved into multi-
ton sauropods like Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus. This period also saw the
concurrent rise of medium- to large-sized theropod dinosaurs
like Allosaurus and Megalosaurus. This helps explain the evolution of the
earliest, armor-bearing ankylosaurs and stegosaurs.
 TERRESTRIAL LIFE
Mammals: The mouse-sized early mammals of the Jurassic period, only
recently evolved from their Triassic ancestors, kept a low profile, scurrying
around at night or nesting high up in trees so as not to get squashed under the
feet of bigger dinosaurs. Elsewhere, the first feathered dinosaurs began to
appear, typified by the extremely bird-
like  Archaeopteryx and Epidendrosaurus. It's possible that the first
true prehistoric birds had evolved by the end of the Jurassic period, though
the evidence is still sparse. Most paleontologists believe that modern birds
descend from the small, feathered theropods of the Cretaceous period.
 MARINE LIFE
Just as dinosaurs grew to bigger and bigger sizes on land, so the marine
reptiles of the Jurassic period gradually attained shark- (or even whale-) sized
proportions. The Jurassic seas were filled with
fierce pliosaurs like Liopleurodon and Cryptoclidus, as well as sleeker, less
frightening plesiosaurs like  Elasmosaurus. Ichthyosaurs, which dominated
the Triassic period, had already begun their decline. Prehistoric fish were
abundant, as were squids and sharks,
providing a steady source of nourishment
for these and other marine reptiles.
 AVIAN LIFE
By the end of the Jurassic period, 150 million years ago, the skies were filled
with relatively advanced pterosaurs like Pterodactylus, Pteranodon,
and Dimorphodon. Prehistoric birds had yet to fully evolve, leaving the skies
firmly under the sway of these avian reptiles (with the exception of some
prehistoric insects).
 PLANT LIFE
Gigantic plant-eating sauropods like Barosaurus and Apatosaurus couldn’t
have evolved if they didn’t have a reliable source of food. In fact, the
landmasses of the Jurassic period were blanketed with thick, tasty coats of
vegetation, including ferns, conifers, cycads, club mosses, and horsetails.
Flowering plants continued their slow and steady evolution, culminating in
the explosion that helped fuel dinosaur diversity during the ensuing
Cretaceous period.
 CRETACEOUS PERIOD
The Cretaceous period is when dinosaurs attained their maximum diversity,
as ornithischian and saurischian families branched off into a bewildering
array of armored, raptor-clawed, thick-skulled, and/or long-toothed and long-
tailed meat- and plant-eaters. The longest period of the Mesozoic Era, it was
also during the Cretaceous that the Earth began to assume something
resembling its modern form. At that time,  life was dominated not by
mammals but by terrestrial, marine and avian reptiles.
 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
During the early Cretaceous period, the inexorable breakup of the Pangaean
supercontinent continued, with the first outlines of modern North and South
America, Europe, Asia and Africa taking shape. North America was bisected
by the Western Interior Sea (which has yielded countless fossils of marine
reptiles), and India was a giant, floating island in the Tethys Ocean. Conditions
were generally as hot and muggy as in the preceding Jurassic period, albeit
with intervals of cooling. The era also saw rising sea levels and the spread of
endless swamps—yet another ecological niche in which dinosaurs (and other
prehistoric animals) could prosper.
 TERRESTRIAL LIFE
Dinosaurs: Dinosaurs really came into their own during the Cretaceous
Period. Over the course of 80 million years, thousands of meat-eating
genera roamed the slowly separating continents. These
included raptors, tyrannosaurs and other varieties of theropods,
including the fleet-footed ornithomimids ("bird mimics"), the strange,
feathered therizinosaurs, and an uncountable profusion of
small, feathered dinosaurs, among them the uncommonly
intelligent Troodon.
 TERRESTRIAL LIFE
The classic herbivorous sauropods of the Jurassic period had pretty
much died out, but their descendants, the lightly armored titanosaurs,
spread to every continent on earth and attained even more massive
sizes.  Ceratopsians (horned, frilled dinosaurs) like Styracosaurus
and Triceratops became abundant, as did hadrosaurs (duck-billed
dinosaurs), which were especially common at this time, roaming the
plains of North America and Eurasia in vast herds. Among the last
dinosaurs standing by the time of the K/T Extinction were the plant-
eating ankylosaurs and pachycephalosaurs ("thick-headed lizards").
 TERRESTRIAL LIFE
Mammals: During most of the Mesozoic Era, including the Cretaceous period,
mammals were sufficiently intimidated by their dinosaur cousins that they
spent most of their time high up in trees or huddling together in underground
burrows. Even so, some mammals had enough breathing room, ecologically
speaking, to allow them to evolve to respectable
sizes. One example was the 20-pound Repenomamus,
which actually ate baby dinosaurs.
 MARINE LIFE
Shortly after the beginning of the Cretaceous period, the ichthyosaurs ("fish
lizards") disappeared.  They were replaced by vicious mosasaurs,
gigantic pliosaurs like Kronosaurus, and slightly
smaller plesiosaurs like Elasmosaurus. A new breed of bony fish, known as
teleosts, roamed the seas in enormous schools. Finally, there was a wide
assortment of ancestral sharks; both fish and sharks would benefit immensely
from the extinction of their marine reptile antagonists.
 AVIAN LIFE
By the end of the Cretaceous period, pterosaurs (flying reptiles) had finally
attained the enormous sizes of their cousins on land and in the sea, the 35-
foot-wingspan Quetzalcoatlus being the most spectacular example. This was
the pterosaurs' last gasp, though, as they were gradually replaced by the first
true prehistoric birds. These early birds evolved from land-dwelling feathered
dinosaurs, not pterosaurs, and were better adapted for changing climatic
conditions.
 PLANT LIFE
As far as plants are concerned, the most important evolutionary change of the
Cretaceous period was the rapid diversification of flowering plants. These
spread across the separating continents, along with thick forests and other
varieties of dense, matted vegetation. All of this greenery not only sustained
the dinosaurs, but it also allowed the co-evolution of a wide variety of insects,
especially beetles.
THE CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY
EXTINCTION EVENT ( END OF
MESOZOIC ERA)
 THE CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY
EXTINCTION EVENT ( END OF
MESOZOIC ERA)
Also called Cretaceous-Paleogene Mass Extinction, it was the most recent large
extinction event in the history of our planet. It occurred roughly around 66 to 65
million years ago, wiping out all the non-avian dinosaurs, along with scores of
other plant and animal species. Unlike the previous Permian-Triassic Mass
Extinction Event, the K-Tr extinction occurred suddenly and had effects on the
entire planet.
 THE CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY
EXTINCTION EVENT ( END OF
MESOZOIC ERA)
Strong evidence suggests the impact of an asteroid that probably made the
Chicxulub Crater in Yucatá n Peninsula, Mexico, and caused the entire food
chain to collapse. The impact would have had caused a large shock wave,
which must have killed everything in its path. The generation of giant
tsunamis and huge clouds of dust in the atmosphere must have been
contributing factors in case of the asteroid collision. Other causes include the
drastic drop in sea levels during the Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous
Era, which must have killed numerous organisms in the marine regions,
further affecting the food chain on land.
 THE CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY
EXTINCTION EVENT ( END OF
MESOZOIC ERA)
Another cause, which is said to be a logical one is the eruption of Deccan Traps
(the largest flood basalt traps in the Indian Subcontinent), around 65 million years
ago. The date coincides with that of the asteroid impact, and hence, both these
causes are often said to have occurred in combination, which was enough to wipe
out more than half the life on Earth. According to research, at least 75% of all
organisms (both flora and fauna) died in this event, which accounts for about two-
thirds of all the organism that existed on our planet at that time. Thus, the Age of
Reptiles was over, and the Age of the Mammals began.
http://
www.science.earthjay.com/instruction/CR_eureka/2016_spring/GEO_02/lectures/lecture_16/Mesozoic
%20Era%20Timeline%20and%20Important%20Facts.html

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-three-ages-of-dinosaurs-1091932
https://www.livescience.com/38596-mesozoic-era.html

https://www.livescience.com/43295-triassic-period.html

https://www.livescience.com/37584-paleozoic-era.html
GROUP 2 (G1) ATENCIO, KEITH S.
(G2) AUSTRIA PAULA MARIZ C.
(G3) BACANI, ABIGAIL S.
(G5) CORTEZ, CHESKA MAE S.
(G14) PINEDA, EUNICE CHRISTENELLIE P.
(B5) DAVID, ARMIN ERNEST III G.
(B7) DAVID, MICHAEL ADRIAN T.
(B8) DIZON, FRANCO ANDREI NIKKI B.
(B18) TAN, MARC JEREMY R.
(B19) TULABUT, JUSTIN PAUL T.