CretaceousPeriod

145-65.5 MILLION YEARS

PLANT LIFE• Flowering plants (angiosperms) appear• Grasses appear

MARINE LIFE• Diatoms: Eukaryotic algae

plankton • Modern Sharks

• Mosasaur: Marine Reptile

TERRESTRIAL LIFEDinosaurs Dominate

TERRESTRIAL LIFELets peak in on the

Mammals Early Cretaceous Late Cretaceous Marsupial Mammals Placental Mammals

CREEPY, CRAWLY LIFE• 1st Butterflies• 1st Bees

• Ants, termites, aphids, and

grasshoppers

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

Pangaea Has

TotallySplit

WHERE DO THE DINOS GO?• K-T Extinction Event

(K is for CretaceousT is for Tertiary)

• 2nd Largest Extinction Event in historySurvivedSeverely Affected Extinct

Ferns Diatoms 85% of all lifeSeed Producing Plants Brachiopods DinosaursMammals MollusksPterosaursBirds Fish IchthyosaursTurtlesPlesiosaursCrocodilesLizardsSnakesAmphibians

•

• Meteor Impact?• Disease?• Volcanism?• Glaciation?• Combo?

PICTURE IT