Mesozoic Era
The Mezosoic Era Ended with the Extinction of which animals?
What are dinosaurs?
Fun Fact! The Mesozoic Era ended with the extinction of dinosaurs, marking the conclusion of the Cretaceous period, around 66 million years ago. This mass extinction event wiped out about 75% of Earth's species, including non-avian dinosaurs.
This group of animals is the dominant life form of the Cenozoic era
What are mammals?
Fun Fact! Mammals are incredibly diverse, ranging from the tiny bumblebee bat, weighing less than a penny, to the enormous blue whale, the largest animal ever to exist on Earth!
The Precambrian is divided into these three eons.
What is Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic?
Fun Fact! The Hadean Eon is named after Hades the greek god of the underworld, because of how molten and fiery the earth was back then!
What is the study of fossils called
Fun Fact! Georges Cuvier is known as the “father” of this profession
What is Paleontology?
This period of the Mesozoic Era is the oldest, marking the rise of the first dinosaurs.
What is the Triassic Period?
Fun Fact! The Triassic Period, the first period of the Mesozoic Era, saw the emergence of the first dinosaurs around 230 million years ago. The period also marked the beginning of the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea.
This event marks the beginning of the Cenozoic era, characterized by the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
Fun Fact! The Asteroid that caused this hit the earth with the force of a billion atomic bombs!
What is the K-T boundary event?
This major event during the Proterozoic Eon was caused by cyanobacteria and dramatically increased Earth's oxygen levels.
What is the Great Oxygenation Event?
This fossilized tree resin can preserve organisms as original remains.
What is amber?
This period is when the first birds, like Archaeopteryx, appeared.
What is the Jurassic Period?
Fun Fact! The popular clothing and outerwear brand Arc’teryx was named after the Archaeopteryx and use it as their logo.
We are currently living in this epoch, which began approximately 11,700 years ago after the last Ice Age.
What is the Holocene epoch?
Fun Fact! The Holocene epoch has witnessed the rise of human civilization, from the development of agriculture to the building of cities and the invention of the internet!
These photosynthetic bacteria dominated the Archean eon and helped oxygenate Earth’s atmosphere.
What are stromatolites?
Fun Fact! Stromatolites are still around today, after 3.5 billion years!
If you find a fossilized dinosaur footprint, what kind of fossil have you found?
Fun Fact! These fossils show more than just the dinosaurs footprint, you can even find its size and speed!
What is a trace fossil?
This group of marine reptiles, known for their long necks, thrived during the Mesozoic Era.
What are plesiosaurs?
Fun Fact! Plesiosaurs, large marine reptiles with long necks and small heads, dominated the seas during the Mesozoic Era. They were part of the diverse marine life during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
During the Cenozoic era, Earth's climate experienced this gradual cooling trend, culminating in the glaciation of the poles.
What is global cooling or polar glaciation?
This term describes periods of extreme glaciation during the late Proterozoic Eon when most of Earth was covered in ice.
What is snowball Earth?
These fossils can be used to correlate rock layers across the world.
Fun Fact! Ammonites are one of the more famous of these fossils, they also lived for over 300 million years!
What are Index fossils?
The extinction at the end of the Mesozoic is often attributed to this impact event (Be specific).
What is the Chicxulub asteroid impact?
Fun Fact! The extinction at the end of the Mesozoic Era is also linked to massive volcanic activity from the Deccan Traps, which released gases that disrupted the climate and contributed to the dinosaurs' extinction.
This evolutionary process during the Cenozoic era led to the diversification of mammals into ecological niches vacated by the dinosaurs.
What is adaptive radiation?
These extinction events in the Precambrian era, driven by oxygen level changes and glaciation, led to the rise of oxygen-dependent life forms.
What are the Precambrian mass extinctions?
This image in the link is a fossil of?
Fun Fact! These first appeared around 521 million years ago!
What is A Trilobite?