The Cretaceous Period Essay

So what killed the dinosaurs? Without having any background education in science it is hard for the general public to comprehend such matters and they rely on the knowledge of the scientists in this field. Although there has been much research on the subject nobody has come up with a conclusive answer. And we are left to read the countless articles, all having their own opinions as to the mass extinction. One such theory is that a shift in the solar system could have caused the mass destruction. According to an article published in Nature magazine,

A dinosaur has an antorbital fenestra with an open hole hip socket. The definition differs from the term used informally because it helped understand how the dinosaur moved and how they were categorized as species. There are four general characteristics that dinosaurs have as a result of their synapomorphies which are permeated acetabulum, ball-shaped head on proximal femur, the Cnemial crest on the proximial tibia, and an ascending process on astragalus. These four dinosaur synapomorphies are related to vertical limb support.

The Cretaceous – Tertiary mass extinction, commonly referred to as the KT extinction, occurred 65 million years ago. As the most recant extinction event it is more easily studied as more evidence has been preserved than for the earlier extinctions. This extinction is the most commonly known, as it is the extinction of the dinosaurs, but the smallest scale mass extinction with only 76% of species dying out.

Jurassic Park is a science fiction novel written by Michael Crichton which was published in 1990. The book follows a mysterious island that is inhabited by genetically engineered dinosaurs created by a bioengineering firm. The story lets us watch as visitors land on the island at the request of the rich billionaire who owns the island and the bioengineering firm, which is named InGen to revel in the wonder that they have created. We follow all the miss-steps until all is lost and the island has to be destroyed. The novel is one to give us insight into what can happen when we try to play god and foreshadows what possibly could go wrong by taking that next step into genetics that could be considered reckless and dangerous. Crichton lets us

this mass extinction is what brought us the jurassic period, and from the Jurassic period, or the

Shifting from the end of the Permian period 250 million years ago into the next era, the Triassic period occurred between 250 and 199 million years ago and was know for further diversifying life on land. After the Permian period, the Triassic period was largely successful in adapting and evolving, as the world was going through many changes. The land mass known as Pangea began its separation, which would be completed in the Jurassic period. The climate was relatively more severe during this time, with hotter summers and colder winters, but because of the warmer atmosphere, there were no polar ice caps at this time. Towards the center of Pangea, it was mostly a dry desert climate. As for life on earth, most of the marine life had been wiped

The main dinosaurs that died off were Sauropod dinosaurs, long necked, four legged dinosaurs, and stegosauridae, class holding Stegosaurus. Other species that died include ammonites, similar to the living animals called nautilus, many marine reptiles, and bivalves, relatable to modern mollusca. Not much is known about this extinction. It is mainly linked to climate change. So far, no connection to volcanic activity or an asteroid has been made. This extinction gave way to the Cretaceous Period.

Over 98% of all organisms that have lived on Earth are now extinct. A mass extinction event occurs when a large number of species die out within a small time frame (relative to the age of Earth). Mass extinctions are intensively studied for both cause and effect, as there is usually room for debate regarding catalysts that precede the extinction and the massive influx of new biological species that follows. There have been five major mass extinctions, dubbed the “Big Five,” that have wiped out at least 50% of the species living at those times. The most well known mass extinction of the Big Five, with the decimation of every species of non-avian dinosaur, is the Cretaceous-Paleogene

Nobody knows for sure exactly how the dinosaurs became extinct. However scientists have speculated for decades about possible events that caused the dinosaurs to die out. Possibilities range from asteroids, to volcanoes, to climate changes. One of the more popular or well-known extinction theories involves the belief that an asteroid struck the Earth, causing devastating effects, and triggering mass extinctions around the end of the Cretaceous period.

The scientists believe that the herbivores ran out of plants, and trees and so all of the herbivores died and after all of the herbivores died, all of the Carnivores died as well. Another theory is that a big asteroid hit the Earth, and the asteroid caused a global extinction.. The final theory that the scientists thought of happening was a disease. Disease may of happened from one dinosaur getting sick and then it just passed on from dinosaur to dinosaur.

According to the research made by Alvarez (1980), it was due to an asteroid impact that single-handedly destroyed dinosaurs to extinction. Advocacy of this mechanism has been aided by the availability and tangibility of supporting evidence in the form of impact craters- the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan Peninsula's date and timing of impact (dating produced an almost exact date of 65 million years ago), location, enormous size-170 km (Hildebrand et al.1991) and its high iridium content ( a metal not commonly found at the Earth's surface) make it seem that with a theoretical asteroid 10 km big caused the crater great damage at the end of the Cretaceous (Alvarez et al. 1980).

The biggest mystery surrounding the dinosaur is how did they die? For over 130 million years dinosaurs ruled the earth. Then 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, they died out.

Jurassic is a period of time with Dinosaurs, rodents and birds. There were also island seas consisting of sharks, sea monsters and blood-red planktons. The existing plants in that period were cycads, ferns and conifers. The Mesozoic era was about 245 million years ago to 65 years ago, so it almost lasted about 180 years in total. The Mesozoic era is divided into three periods of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Mesozoic era means middle animals and it is the era, which the word’s fauna has changed from what is in the Paleozoic era and the most famous organisms of this era are dinosaurs. In the Mesozoic era, the extinction of more than 90 percent of species in the earth was observed and the reason behind it was mostly volcanic eruptions and climate changes. On the other hand, this era had massive changes that represented ecological niches and rise to new creatures such as rodent-size mammals and first dinosaurs. In Triassic, which was the first period of Mesozoic, the mammals and first dinosaurs existed. Later than that, the second period was Jurassic, which giant shaped dinosaurs and other kinds of dinosaurs were developed. Besides that the first flowering plants and primitive birds, with long teeth appeared in that era as well.

When, where and how did dinosaurs live? Dinosaurs arose around 200 million years ago and lived and evolved for about 185 million years. There were 5 eras in which dinosaurs were alive; the Archezoic Era, Proterozoic Era, Palezoic Era, Mesozoic Era and the Cenozoic Era (“Dinosaurs”). Dinosaurs roamed the entire Earth when all continents were

Rapid climate change also ends up on the suspect list of possible dinosaur extinction events. During the latter part of the Cretaceous Period continents broke up causing volcanoes to erupt and fill the sky with gas and ash resulting in a drastic climate change (“Dinosaurs Climate Change and Biodiversity”). The shifting of continents changed the Earth’s landscape, altering weather patterns and overall climate (“Dinosaur Extinction Theories”). Also, over a long period of time, climate gradually changed. Ocean habits changed, temperatures grew much more extreme causing scorching summers and frigid winters (Norell, Dingus, and Gaffney). Radical temperature changes like these led to a green-house effect, making life for the dinosaurs a lot