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The Triassic Period: 251-200 mya

The Jurassic Period: 200 155 mya


The Cretaceous Period: 155 65 mya

THE MESOZOIC ERA


186 MILLION YEARS: 251 TO 65.5 MYA
RECAP: PALEOZOIC ERA

PANGEA SUPERCONTINENT
Early paleozoic evolution of
100 MY
marine invertebrates
Greehouse World
Late Paleozoic evolution of land
Volcanism & Permian Mass Extinction
plants and amphibians
Arid climate
Evaporites
Palaeogeography
Palaeoclimate
Evolution of REPTILES
Marine Diversification

TRIASSIC PERIOD
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY: BREAK UP OF PANGEA IN THE LATE TRIASSIC ~ 220 MYA

1. Laurasia (North America) separated from


Gondwanaland (Africa)
Rift Valley & block faults
Widening of the Atlantic Ocean
BLOCK FAULTING & MOUNTAINS
Normal Faulting occurs in places
where the lithosphere is being
stretched

Block faulting refers to a


system of normal faults
resulting in a series of down
dropped pieces of the Earths
crust (Grabens) and uplifted
uplifted pieces of the Earths
crust (Horsts or Block
Mountains)

Grabens form extensive rift valleys


BREAK UP OF PANGEA

2. Rifting and separation of Africa, India, and


Antarctica.
Large volumes of basalt were extruded.
BREAK UP OF PANGEA

3. Eurasia moved clockwise (to the south),


partially closing the Tethys Sea.
BREAK UP PANGEA

4. Final stage occurred early in the Ceonozoic


~ 45 mya
Laurentia separated from Baltica

Australia separated from Antarctica

Total time required for the fragmentation of


Pangaea was 150 MY
PALAEOCLIMATE: WARM

The early Triassic climate may have been the


hottest time for life on earth.

PALEOZOIC GLACIERS METLED

Distribution of glacial tillites (blue


triangles), coal (red circles) and
evaporites (green areas) during the
Permian Period in the Late
Paleozoic Era, about 250 million
years ago.
PALEOCLIMATE: INTENSE STORMS

Middle Pangea was very dry and warm while


the coast was battered with several monsoons
and storms.
NO EVIDENCE FOR GLACIERS OR ICE

Climatic warming was related


to continental drift and the
breakup of Pangea during the
Mesozoic Era. As the
continents moved away from
the South Pole, conditions
were no longer favorable for
glaciers to exist.
PALEOCLIMATE: EVAPORITES

Pangea was far from sea


and arid
Evaporite deposits
accumulated as dry areas
became intermittently
flooded by the sea as the
continents began to rift
apart in the Late Triassic.
PETRIFIED FORESTS
Petrified Forests National
Park, Arizona
Arizona lay near the equator
Climate was tropical &
humid
Forest extended from texas
to Utah - conifers
N. Amrerica separated &
volcanisms along its
southeastern edge poduced
large ash deposits
Flooding & SiO2 from the
ash petrified the wood and
other animal fossils
PALEOCLIMATE: OCEAN CIRCULATION
As the continents
separated, water was able
to circulate in the
equatorial and mid-
latitudes.
Water retains heat better
than land, and the
circulation of seawater
distributed the warmth
between the separating
continents and around the
globe.
THE TETHYS SEA

Limy sea warm, shallow, carbonate sea


Bivalves, cephalopods, crinoids and corals
CLIMATE AND SEA LEVEL AFFECT DIVERSITY

With the disappearance


of the glaciers, sea level
rose
Reaching maximum
level in the Cretaceous
RIFTING AND FRAGMENTATION OF PANGEA

Mid-Atlantic ridge system developed as the


Atlantic Ocean widened
The basaltic rocks that were extruded were hot
& thermally inflated
Displaced a considerable volume of sea water
onto the continents.
EPICONTINENTAL SEAS PROVIDED AN EXTENSIVE HABITAT FOR SHALLOW MARINE ORGANISMS

Both curves show an increase through the Jurassic and Cretaceous, a dip at the
end of the Jurassic and a peak in the Late Cretaceous.
MARINE DIIVERSIFICATION

The Permian Mass Extinction was followed by


Evolutionary Diversification in the Triassic
Echinoids replaced crinoids
ECHINOIDS

Sand dollars, sea


biscuits, and sea
urchins.
Two types
The regular echinoids
are globular or nearly
spherical (sea urchins).
1. REGULAR

2. IRRGULAR

The irregular echinoids are flattened with a


strongly superimposed bilateral symmetry (sand
dollars).
SCLERACTINIAN CORALS

First appeared in the Triassic


Rugose corals were tetracorals, with septae
arranged in patterns of four, but scleractinian
corals are hexacorals with septae arranged in
patterns of six.
Rugose corals were made of calcite, but
scleractinian corals are made of aragonite.
MOLLUSCS

Rudist Bivalves
important reef formers
became extinct at or near the end of the Cretaceous

Rudists were reef-forming molluscs, NOT corals.


BIVALVES REPLACED BRACHIOPODS

WHY?
CEPHALOPODS

Overall during the Mesozoic there was a


decline in sessile benthos
The ability to swim or burrow may have been
the best defense against increasingly diverse
predators.
Cephalopods were nektonic (swimmers)
Ammonoids, nautiloids, belemnoids, and squids
THE MESOZOIC COULD BE CALLED THE "AGE OF AMMONOIDS".

The geologic range of ammonoid cephalopods


is Devonian to Cretaceous.
Ammonoids are useful in biostratigraphy and
worldwide correlation of Mesozoic rocks
theywere abundant,
morphologically variable,

widely distributed,

and had short geologic ranges (evolved rapidly).


AMMONOID SUTURES
Sutures are the seam
where internal partitions
called septa intersect
the outside wall of the
shell.
The septae are
convoluted or wrinkled,
and the sutures make
more complex patterns.
The three suture
patterns of the
ammonoids
are goniatite, ceratite,
and ammononite.
NAUTILOID CEPHALOPODS HAVE SMOOTHLY CURVED SEPTA.

The geologic range of nautiloid cephalopods is


Cambrian to Recent.
BELEMNITES

Geologic range: Mississippian to Eocene - all


extinct.
Internal calcareous shell (which resembles a
cigar in size, shape, and color) called a rostrum
FISHES

Chondrichthyes and
the Osteichthyes
Decline during the
Permian extinction, and
both groups rediversified
during the Mesozoic
FISHES
The fishes that existed
during the Triassic had the
following primitive
characteristics:
Diamond-shaped scales
Scales with little or no
overlap
Skeletons partly
cartilaginous
Simple primitive jaws
Asymmetrical tails
LAND DIVERSIFICATION
PERMIAN TRIASSIC
Permian tetrapods were
replaced by therapsids Labyrinthodonts Dinosaurs
Thecanodonts Crocodiles
Occupying vacant niches Procolophonoids Pterosaurs
Prolacertiforms Turtles
Co-evolution of predator- Rhyncosaurs Lizards
prey systems Mammal-like Frogs
Eg. Dinosaurs out- reptiles Salamanders
competing thecanodonts &
rhyncosaurs
Break up of Pangea
Increased dispersal &
endemism
PLANT DIVERSIFICATION

Seed-bearing plants
Conifers and
Ginkgos Replace
Ferns and Lycopods
FIRST MAMMAL EMERGED FROM CYNODONTS

THERAPSIDS The first mammals, small


Cynodonts and rodent-like, emerged
a variety of herbivores and from this group at about
predators that were the
closest relatives of the
the same time the
mammals. dinosaurs appeared, in
the late Triassic.
REPTILES DOMINATED
(two holes) - dinosaurs, archosaurs, flying reptiles, birds,
and all groups of living reptiles except turtles

(lower hole
(upper
only) -
hole only) -
Types of reptiles based on pelycosaurs,
extinct
the number of openings therapsids,
marine
behind the eye and mammals
reptiles

(no holes) - amphibians, the earliest


known reptile (Hylonomus), and turtles
REPTILES ARE WELL ADAPTED TO THE HOT DRY TRIASSIC

Cold-blooded reptiles seemed to live better in


the desert-like land environment than
the Therapsids, or mammal-like reptiles
Archosaurs:
crocodiles,
extinct flying reptiles, dinosaurs, and
thecodonts.
FIRST FLYING VERTEBRATE: FLYING REPTILES
Pterosaurs
Reconstructions:
Bones
Distortion caused by
crushing: origins and
relationships
Muscles
muscle scars on the bones,
and comparison with
related living animals:
phylogenetic bracketing Paleoenvironment
Skin known from shoreline or marine
deposits lived near oceans or
Preserved in several
inland seas
specimens on wing, throat,
head crest & feet
MARINE REPTILES: BACKWARD EVOLUTION?

Colonizing the sea to Marine reptiles fed on


take advantage of an ammonoids, sharks, and
abundant food source bony fishes that
populated the seas.
Nothosaurs (Triassic only) Placodonts (Triassic only)
First reptiles to invade the sea Broad armored bodies
Paddle-like limbs (sea-like) Blunt teeth crushed mollusc shells
MARINE REPTILES
Adaptations to living in a
marine environment
included:
Paddle-shaped limbs
Streamlined bodies
Modified lungs for greater
efficiency
Reproductive modifications
for birth at sea in some
groups (others, like the sea
turtles, return to land to lay
eggs)
MARINE REPTILES
Crocodiles
Crocodiles evolved in Triassic
as terrestrial animals
This was the last important
group of early Mesozoic
marine reptiles to evolve
Some adapted to marine
environment by earliest
Jurassic.
Rare by the Cretaceous
Rapid swimmers.
Evolved from archosaurs
(related to dinosaurs)
Paleogeography
Palaeoclimate
Diversification of Reptiles

JURASSIC
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY

Early Jurassic
Pangea was breaking up
between modern North
America, Africa, and South
America.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY

Middle Jurassic
these rifts were opening
up the Central Atlantic
Ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico formed.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY

Rifting between North


America and Eurasia
began forming the
North Atlantic Ocean
while closing the Tethys
Ocean.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY

Volcanic activity began


along adjacent margins
of East Africa,
Antarctica, and
Madagascar, where the
South Atlantic Ocean
would later form.
PALEOCLIMATE

Global climate was warm and moist


Desert and seasonally wet conditions were present
throughout much of Africa, South America, and
southern North America.
GULF OF MEXICO SALT DOMES

Evaporites were deposited during the Late


Triassic and Jurassic in the Gulf of Mexico area.
Arid climate

Seawater from the Atlantic Ocean was


concentrated.
Thick beds of gypsum and salt, more than
1000 m thick, were deposited.
SALT DOMES: MAJOR OIL AND GAS TRAPS

Salt has a low density


Flows plastically when
compressed
Flows upward, forming
structures that resemble
intrusions, and causing
the sediment above
them to arch upward into
a dome shape
SQUIDS

Squids were numerous during the Jurassic and


Cretaceous. Soft parts are preserved in a few
rare specimens. Squids may have evolved from
Triassic belemnites.
MARINE REPTILES
Ichthyosaurs ("fish-lizards")The most fish-like of the
Mesozoic reptiles
Resemble dolphins, but with upright rather than
horizontal tail fins
Top predators
Large eyes to pursue prey
Had live young, not eggs
Became rare and disappeared during the
Cretaceous
MARIEN REPTILES
Plesiosaurs
Evolved from Nothosaurs
Fed on fish using slender curved teeth
Short, broad body and extraordinarily long
neck with small head
Up to 40 feet long (12 m).
Large, many-boned, paddle-like limbs
Paleogeography
Paleoclimate
Mass Extinction

CRETACEOUS
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY: 3RD STAGE OF PANGEA BREAKUP

The Atlantic rift


extended
northward,
Eurasia moved
clockwise (to the
south), partially
closing the Tethys
Sea.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY: 3RD STAGE OF PANGEA BREAKUP

South America
began to split from
Africa by the Late
Jurassic, and
completely
separated by the
Late Cretaceous.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY: 3RD STAGE OF PANGEA BREAKUP

Australia
remained
connected with
Antarctica.
India was moving
northward toward
Asia.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY: 3RD STAGE OF PANGEA BREAKUP

Greenland began to separate from Europe


(Baltica), but remained attached to North
America (Laurentia).
PALAEOCLIMATE: GREENHOUSE CLIMATE
Warmest
time in
Earths
history
~20C
at poles
& lower
latitudes
warmer
than
35C
PALEOCLIMATE: HIGH CO2
High concentrations of greenhouse gases
The Cretaceous could provide clues about how the
Earth system could respond to future global warming

FLOODING!!
MARINE DIVERSIFICATION
Several groups of
unicellular
organisms adopted
a planktonic mode
of life
(foraminifera,
diatoms, and
coccolithophorids)
major change in
ocean chemistry or
food chains in the
Cretaceous which
led to this
development.
CRETA (IN CRETACEOUS) MEANS CHALK

A white, fine-grained variety of limestone


composed of microscopic shells (called
coccoliths)
RADIOLARIANS & FORAMINIFERA
Both appeared in the Paleozoic
Proliferated in the Cretaceous
Marine cretaceous sections characterized by marl &
chalk (foramnifera & coccoliths).. Chert & diatomite
(radiolarians)
Globigerina ooze & Siliceous ooze
Stratigraphic correlation
Small size, strong tests, large numbers, fossils
unbroken
Palaeoenvironmental indicators - foraminifera
Sensitive indicators of water temperature & salinity
ECONOMIC VALUE

The largest oil and gas deposits in the world


(Middle East and North Africa) come
from Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary
rocks that were deposited in shelf and reef
areas of the Tethys Seaway.
Microorgansims accumulate in rocks provide
organic content for oil source rocks
Rudist bivalve reefs Cretaceous reservoirs

Salt domes Jurassic oil traps


GASTROPODS

Predatory gastropods appeared in the Cretaceous.


They were able to drill circular holes in shells in
order to extract the soft parts of the organism for
food.
This was a new mode of predation not seen
before.
You have probably seen bivalve shells on the beach
which were drilled or bored into by carnivorous
gastropods. A common living example of a carnivorous
gastropod is the moon snail.
MARINE REPTILES
Mosasaurs: Cretaceous only
Up to 50 ft long (15 m)
Probably top predators
Attacked ammonoids, as
evidenced by bite marks on
ammonoid shells.
MARINE REPTILES
Sea turtles
Evolved during the
Cretaceous
Grew to 12 feet long
(4 m)
Genus Archelon and
others
FISHES

The teleost fishes appeared during the


Cretaceous. This group contains the dominant
groups of marine and freshwater fishes in the
world today.
ANGIOSPERMS APPEAR IN THE EARLY CRETACEOUS
EARLY MESOZOIC DIVERSITY

Diversity was low (as


indicated by the number
of genera), following the
Permian extinctions
PERMIAN MASS EXTINCTION RECOVERY
Recovery was slow for
many groups:
molluscs re-expanded to
become much more
diverse than in the
Paleozoic,
Rudist bivalves
modern reef-building
corals,
Screlactinians
swimming reptiles, and
new kinds of fishes
appeared
TRIASSIC MASS EXTINCTION

20% of all marine animal


families became extinct
Conodonts
Placodonts (marine
reptiles)
DIVERSITY INCREASED IN THE JURASSIC AND CRETACEOUS

2500 genera of marine


animals existed during
the Late Cretaceous
Paleozoic had ~1000 to
1500 genera
DIVERSITY INCREASED IN THE JURASSIC AND CRETACEOUS

New types of marine


predators
teleost fishes, crabs, and
carnivorous gastropods
Decline of organisms
which lived attached to
the seafloor
brachiopods and stalked
crinoids
increase in predators in
the Cretaceous seas
LATE CRETACEOUS EXTINCTION
The disappearance of the
Dinosaurs
Pterosaurs (flying reptiles)
Late Cretaceous Mass Ammonoids (cephalopod molluscs)
Extinction: Large marine
80% of all species reptiles (ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs &
mosasaurs)
20% of all families
Rudists (bivalve molluscs)
and many other invertebrate taxa
Drastic reductions in
Coccolithophores (calcareous
phytoplankton)
Planktonic foraminifera
Radiolarians
Belemnoids (cephalopod molluscs)
Echinoids
Bryozoans
CAUSES

1. ENVIRONMENTAL 2. BOLIDE IMPACT


CHANGE CATASTROPHIC & SHORT
TRENDs SUCH AS TIME SPAN
VOLCANSIMS
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Early Cretaceous
shallow warm, epeiric
seas
Remarkable
diversification of life
Late Cretaceous Global
lowering of sea level
Slowing of sea floor
spreading rates
Loss of habitat
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Cretaceous warm stable Harsher climates on land


climate with no epicontinental
seas
Extreme seasonal
changes
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

VOLCANISMS Anoxia
Ontong-Java plateau, The Enhanced productivity in
Caribbean/Columboan surface waters due to
plateau, Madagascar greenhouse warming
Rise and Broken Ridge = Volcanic ash can change
1,000,000 km3
the alkalinity of the
Emmission of CO2
oceans
greenhouse warming
sulfuric acid in the
Volcanic ash can be a
atmosphere and acid rain
source of iridium
BOLIDE IMPACT

Crater at Chicxulub on Yucatan Penninsula in Mexico


BOLIDE IMPACT
A thin layer of clay with a concentration of iridium, found at
the boundary at the end of the Cretaceous Period
BOLIDE IMPACT

Shocked quartz
Shock lamellae produced when high pressure shock
waves travel though quartz bearing rocks
BOLIDE IMPACT

Tektites
Tiny glass spherules
Droplets of molten rock thrown into the atmosphere during
the impact event
BOLIDE IMPACT
dust blocked out the
sunlight for
months/years
impact winter
Prevention of
photosynthesis and
collapse of primary
producers on land &
sea
The Strangelove Ocean
A reduction in ocean productivity
following the Permian extinction caused
the negative excursion of 13C.
STRANGELOVE OCEAN

Decrease of plankton
productivity
CO2 not utilized during
photosynthesis
Atmospheric CO2
increases
Resulting in major
climatic changes

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