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Mesozoic Era
(Age of the Dinosaurs)
225,000,000 years ago to 65,000,000 years ago
Warm Climate
Three Periods
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Mesozoic Era
Triassic Period (225-180 MYA)
Pangaea (supercontinent) formed
Mesozoic Era
Triassic Period (225-180 MYA)
First Dinosaurs (small in size)
Mesozoic Era
Triassic Period (225-180 MYA)
Conifers and Cycad Forests Dominate (Gymnosperms)
Mesozoic Era
Jurassic Period (180-135 MYA)
Pangaea starts to separate
Mesozoic Era
Jurassic Period (180-135 MYA)
Dinosaurs Dominate: Allosaurus,
Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Stegasaurus.
Mesozoic Era
Jurassic Period (180-135 MYA)
1st mammals (small rodents).
Mesozoic Era
Cretaceous Period (135-65 MYA)
Continents in modern positions
Mesozoic Era
Cretaceous Period (135-65 MYA)
Flower plants
(angiosperms) evolve
& dominate
Mesozoic Era
Cretaceous Period (135-65 MYA)
Mass Extinction: 50% of all plant and animal
groups die out
Alvarez’s Meteor Impact Theory- iridium
layer (common in meteors), dust blocked
out the sun.
Cenozoic Era
(Age of the Mammals)
65,000,000 years ago to Present Day
Two Periods
Tertiary
Quaternary
Cenozoic Era
Tertiary Period
(65 MYA to 1.8 MYA)

Warm and humid climate

Mammals dominate: increasing in size

Earliest prehistoric humans (approx. 4 MYA).

Flowering plants (angiosperms) dominate

Grasses develop, grazing animals become even
larger
The Great
Ice Age
Cenozoic Era
Quaternary Period (1.8 MYA to Present)

The “Great Ice Age”, ice sheets covered 30% of
all land

Land & ice bridges connected many continents
allowing animal migration

North American elephants (mastodons,
mammoths), giant sloths & armadillos, and sabertoothed cats go extinct.

Modern humans evolve, maybe causing the
above extinctions from over hunting.