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121-642: Cotswolds The Inferior Oolite is a sequence of Jurassic age sedimentary rocks in Europe. It was deposited during the Middle Jurassic . The Inferior Oolite Group as more recently defined is a Jurassic lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata ) in southern and eastern England . It has been variously known in the past as the Under Oolite (or Oolyte), the Inferior Oolite,

242-755: A book entitled Description of the Terrains that Constitute the Crust of the Earth or Essay on the Structure of the Known Lands of the Earth. In this book, Brongniart used the phrase terrains jurassiques when correlating the "Jura-Kalkstein" of Humboldt with similarly aged oolitic limestones in Britain, thus coining and publishing the term "Jurassic". The German geologist Leopold von Buch in 1839 established

363-592: A cliff face north of the hamlet of East Quantoxhead , 6 kilometres east of Watchet , Somerset , England , within the Blue Lias , and was ratified in 2000. The beginning of the Sinemurian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Vermiceras quantoxense . Albert Oppel in 1858 named the Pliensbachian Stage after the hamlet of Pliensbach in the community of Zell unter Aichelberg in

484-555: A dominant component of Jurassic floras. The Late Triassic and Jurassic was a major time of diversification of conifers, with most modern conifer groups appearing in the fossil record by the end of the Jurassic, having evolved from voltzialean ancestors. Araucarian conifers have their first unambiguous records during the Early Jurassic, and members of the modern genus Araucaria were widespread across both hemispheres by

605-630: A full stratigraphy of the locality is given below Ornithopod tracks geographically located in North Yorkshire, England. Ornithopod and theropod tracks present in North Yorkshire, England. A supposed dermal spine long thought to be from a stegosaur is actually a caudal vertebra referable to Archosauria indet. Cetiosaurus C. epioolithicus Indeterminate Duriavenator D. hesperis "Skull elements." Magnosaurus M. nethercombensis "Dentaries, vertebrae, pubis, femora, [and] tibiae." M. hesperis "Skull elements." Moved to

726-524: A global episode of oceanic anoxia , ocean acidification , and elevated global temperatures associated with extinctions, likely caused by the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces . The end of the Jurassic, however, has no clear, definitive boundary with the Cretaceous and is the only boundary between geological periods to remain formally undefined. By the beginning of the Jurassic,

847-647: A kink in one of the plate boundaries, resulting in the formation of the Pacific Plate at the centre of the junction. During the Middle to early Late Jurassic, the Sundance Seaway , a shallow epicontinental sea , covered much of northwest North America. The eustatic sea level is estimated to have been close to present levels during the Hettangian and Sinemurian, rising several tens of metres during

968-408: A northward direction, separating it from Antarctica and allowing complete oceanic circulation around Antarctica for the first time. This motion, together with decreasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, caused a rapid cooling of Antarctica and allowed glaciers to form. This glaciation eventually coalesced into the kilometers-thick ice sheets seen today. Other major events took place during

1089-453: A result of high ocean acidity and temperature inhibiting its mineralisation into apatite; the abundance of phosphorus in marine environments caused further eutrophication and consequent anoxia in a positive feedback loop. The end-Jurassic transition was originally considered one of eight mass extinctions, but is now considered to be a complex interval of faunal turnover, with the increase in diversity of some groups and decline in others, though

1210-657: A symposium of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in November 1926. Wegener originally proposed that the breakup of Pangaea was caused by centripetal forces from Earth's rotation acting on the high continents. However, this mechanism was easily shown to be physically implausible, which delayed acceptance of the Pangaea hypothesis. Arthur Holmes proposed the more plausible mechanism of mantle convection , which, together with evidence provided by

1331-576: A tour of the region in 1795, German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt recognized carbonate deposits within the Jura Mountains as geologically distinct from the Triassic aged Muschelkalk of southern Germany , but he erroneously concluded that they were older. He then named them Jura-Kalkstein ('Jura limestone') in 1799. In 1829, the French naturalist Alexandre Brongniart published

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1452-492: Is Austrohamia minuta from the Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) of Patagonia, known from many parts of the plant. The reproductive structures of Austrohamia have strong similarities to those of the primitive living cypress genera Taiwania and Cunninghamia . By the Middle to Late Jurassic Cupressaceae were abundant in warm temperate–tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, most abundantly represented by

1573-737: Is native to the Inferior Oolite of Burton Bradstock . Within Dorset, the Oolite is not subdivided into separately named formations, but is simply considered the Inferior Oolite Formation, sometimes subdivided into the Lower and Upper Inferior Oolite Formations. Within the vicinity of Yeovil it is divided into members which are in ascending order the Corton Denham Member, which predominantly consists of blue siltstone

1694-674: Is about 2.5 m thick with the transitional top consisting of green Marl, the Oborne Ironshot Member, the term "ironshot" refers to ferruginised Oolite. The upper portion of which contains intensely bioturbated limestone. Moving Into the Upper Inferior Oolite the Sherborne Limestone Member, which consists of exposed yellow brown fresh grey bioclastic limestone, while the overlying Combe Limestone Member, consists of rubbly limestone and marl,

1815-632: Is based on standard European ammonite zones, with other regions being calibrated to the European successions. The oldest part of the Jurassic Period has historically been referred to as the Lias or Liassic, roughly equivalent in extent to the Early Jurassic, but also including part of the preceding Rhaetian . The Hettangian Stage was named by Swiss palaeontologist Eugène Renevier in 1864 after Hettange-Grande in north-eastern France. The GSSP for

1936-711: Is currently on a collision course with eastern Asia . Both Australia and India are currently moving northeast at 5–6 centimeters (2–3 in) per year. Antarctica has been near or at the South Pole since the formation of Pangaea about 280 Ma. India started to collide with Asia beginning about 35 Ma, forming the Himalayan orogeny and closing the Tethys Ocean; this collision continues today. The African Plate started to change directions, from west to northwest toward Europe, and South America began to move in

2057-523: Is dated to the Tithonian, approximately 146.06 ± 0.16 Mya. Another major structure is the Puchezh-Katunki crater , 40 kilometres in diameter, buried beneath Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in western Russia. The impact has been dated to the Sinemurian, 195.9 ± 1.0 Ma. At the beginning of the Jurassic, all of the world's major landmasses were coalesced into the supercontinent Pangaea , which during

2178-565: Is followed by the Kimmeridgian Warm Interval (KWI) between 164 and 150 million years ago. Based on fossil wood distribution, this was one of the wettest intervals of the Jurassic. The Pangaean interior had less severe seasonal swings than in previous warm periods as the expansion of the Central Atlantic and Western Indian Ocean provided new sources of moisture. A prominent drop in temperatures occurred during

2299-470: Is fourth order, with a periodicity of approximately 410,000 years. During the Early Jurassic the world's oceans transitioned from an aragonite sea to a calcite sea chemistry, favouring the dissolution of aragonite and precipitation of calcite . The rise of calcareous plankton during the Middle Jurassic profoundly altered ocean chemistry, with the deposition of biomineralized plankton on

2420-534: Is identical for all contemporaneous samples, can be subtracted, leaving the portion that shows continental drift and can be used to help reconstruct earlier continental latitudes and orientations. Pangaea is the most recent supercontinent reconstructed from the geologic record and therefore is by far the best understood. The formation of supercontinents and their breakup appears to be cyclical through Earth's history. There may have been several others before Pangaea. Paleomagnetic measurements help geologists determine

2541-475: Is marked by a globally documented high amplitude negative carbon isotope excursion, as well as the deposition of black shales and the extinction and collapse of carbonate-producing marine organisms, associated with a major rise in global temperatures. The TOAE is often attributed to the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces and the associated increase of carbon dioxide concentration in

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2662-727: Is named after the city of Aalen in Germany. The Aalenian was defined by Swiss geologist Karl Mayer-Eymar in 1864. The lower boundary was originally between the dark clays of the Black Jurassic and the overlying clayey sandstone and ferruginous oolite of the Brown Jurassic sequences of southwestern Germany. The GSSP for the base of the Aalenian is located at Fuentelsaz in the Iberian range near Guadalajara, Spain , and

2783-706: Is the origin of the name of the Kimmeridgian. The stage was named by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1842 in reference to the Kimmeridge Clay . The GSSP for the base of the Kimmeridgian is the Flodigarry section at Staffin Bay on the Isle of Skye , Scotland , which was ratified in 2021. The boundary is defined by the first appearance of ammonites marking the boreal Bauhini Zone and the subboreal Baylei Zone. The Tithonian

2904-517: The Glossopteris flora, whose distribution would have ranged from the polar circle to the equator if the continents had been in their present position; similarly, the freshwater reptile Mesosaurus has been found in only localized regions of the coasts of Brazil and West Africa . Geologists can also determine the movement of continental plates by examining the orientation of magnetic minerals in rocks . When rocks are formed, they take on

3025-741: The Caledonian orogeny . As Avalonia inched towards Laurentia, the seaway between them, a remnant of the Iapetus Ocean, was slowly shrinking. Meanwhile, southern Europe broke off from Gondwana and began to move towards Euramerica across the Rheic Ocean . It collided with southern Baltica in the Devonian. By the late Silurian, Annamia ( Indochina ) and the South China Craton split from Gondwana and moved northward, shrinking

3146-472: The Early Cretaceous . The opening of the Tethys Ocean also contributed to the warming of the climate. The very active mid-ocean ridges associated with the breakup of Pangaea raised sea levels to the highest in the geological record, flooding much of the continents. The expansion of the temperate climate zones that accompanied the breakup of Pangaea may have contributed to the diversification of

3267-527: The Iapetus Ocean and Paleoasian Ocean. Most of these landmasses coalesced again to form the relatively short-lived supercontinent Pannotia, which included large areas of land near the poles and a small strip connecting the polar masses near the equator. Pannotia lasted until 540  Ma , near the beginning of the Cambrian and then broke up, giving rise to the continents of Laurentia, Baltica, and

3388-841: The Jurassic , completely closing the Proto-Tethys Ocean. By the Early Permian , the Cimmerian plate split from Gondwana and moved towards Laurasia, thus closing the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and forming the Tethys Ocean in its southern end. Most of the landmasses were all in one. By the Triassic , Pangaea rotated a little, and the Cimmerian plate was still travelling across the shrinking Paleo-Tethys until

3509-629: The Loire Valley of France , lends its name to the Toarcian Stage. The Toarcian was named by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1842, with the original locality being Vrines quarry around 2 km northwest of Thouars. The GSSP for the base of the Toarcian is located at Peniche, Portugal , and was ratified in 2014. The boundary is defined by the first appearance of ammonites belonging to the subgenus Dactylioceras ( Eodactylites ) . The Aalenian

3630-630: The Middle Jurassic . By the Late Triassic , the Paleo-Tethys had closed from west to east, creating the Cimmerian Orogeny . Pangaea, which looked like a C , with the Tethys Ocean inside the C , had rifted by the Middle Jurassic. Pangaea existed as a supercontinent for 160 million years, from its assembly around 335 Ma (Early Carboniferous) to its breakup 175 Ma (Middle Jurassic). During this interval, important developments in

3751-509: The Paleo-Tethys and subsequent Tethys Oceans . Pangaea is the most recent supercontinent to have existed and the first to be reconstructed by geologists . The name "Pangaea" is derived from Ancient Greek pan ( πᾶν , "all, entire, whole") and Gaia or Gaea ( Γαῖα , " Mother Earth , land"). The first to suggest that the continents were once joined and later separated may have been Abraham Ortelius in 1596. The concept that

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3872-732: The Swabian Alb , near Stuttgart , Germany. The GSSP for the base of the Pliensbachian is found at the Wine Haven locality in Robin Hood's Bay , Yorkshire , England, in the Redcar Mudstone Formation , and was ratified in 2005. The beginning of the Pliensbachian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Bifericeras donovani . The village Thouars (Latin: Toarcium ), just south of Saumur in

3993-571: The Triassic–Jurassic extinction event . These events resulted in disaster fauna showing little diversity and high cosmopolitanism, including Lystrosaurus , which opportunistically spread to every corner of Pangaea following the Permian–Triassic extinction event. On the other hand, there is evidence that many Pangaean species were provincial , with a limited geographical range, despite the absence of geographical barriers. This may be due to

4114-564: The supercontinent Pangaea had begun rifting into two landmasses: Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. The climate of the Jurassic was warmer than the present, and there were no ice caps . Forests grew close to the poles, with large arid expanses in the lower latitudes. On land, the fauna transitioned from the Triassic fauna, dominated jointly by dinosauromorph and pseudosuchian archosaurs , to one dominated by dinosaurs alone. The first stem-group birds appeared during

4235-580: The Aalenian, precessionally forced climatic changes dictated peatland wildfire magnitude and frequency. The European climate appears to have become noticeably more humid at the Aalenian-Bajocian boundary but then became more arid during the middle Bajocian. A transient ice age possibly occurred in the late Bajocian. The Callovian-Oxfordian boundary at the end of the MJCI witnessed particularly notable global cooling, potentially even an ice age. This

4356-803: The Bathonian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Gonolkites convergens , at the base of the Zigzagiceras zigzag ammonite zone . The Callovian is derived from the Latinized name of the village of Kellaways in Wiltshire , England, and was named by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1852, originally the base at the contact between the Forest Marble Formation and the Cornbrash Formation . However, this boundary

4477-655: The Callovian–Oxfordian boundary, peaking possibly as high as 140 metres above present sea level at the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian boundary. The sea levels falls in the late Tithonian, perhaps to around 100 metres, before rebounding to around 110 metres at the Tithonian–Berriasian boundary. The sea level within the long-term trends across the Jurassic was cyclical, with 64 fluctuations, 15 of which were over 75 metres. The most noted cyclicity in Jurassic rocks

4598-416: The Cenozoic, including the opening of the Gulf of California , the uplift of the Alps , and the opening of the Sea of Japan . The break-up of Pangaea continues today in the Red Sea Rift and East African Rift . The breakup of Pangaea was accompanied by outgassing of large quantities of carbon dioxide from continental rifts. This produced a Mesozoic CO 2 high that contributed to the very warm climate of

4719-441: The Cretaceous when Laurasia started to rotate clockwise and moved northward with North America to the north, and Eurasia to the south. The clockwise motion of Laurasia led much later to the closing of the Tethys Ocean and the widening of the "Sinus Borealis", which later became the Arctic Ocean . Meanwhile, on the other side of Africa and along the adjacent margins of east Africa, Antarctica and Madagascar , rifts formed that led to

4840-406: The Cretaceous. The continents were surrounded by Panthalassa , with the Tethys Ocean between Gondwana and Asia. At the end of the Triassic, there was a marine transgression in Europe, flooding most parts of central and western Europe transforming it into an archipelago of islands surrounded by shallow seas. During the Jurassic, both the North and South Pole were covered by oceans. Beginning in

4961-456: The Early Cretaceous, Atlantica , today's South America and Africa, separated from eastern Gondwana. Then in the Middle Cretaceous, Gondwana fragmented to open up the South Atlantic Ocean as South America started to move westward away from Africa. The South Atlantic did not develop uniformly; rather, it rifted from south to north. Also, at the same time, Madagascar and Insular India began to separate from Antarctica and moved northward, opening up

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5082-426: The Early Jurassic began to break up into northern supercontinent Laurasia and the southern supercontinent Gondwana . The rifting between North America and Africa was the first to initiate, beginning in the early Jurassic, associated with the emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province . During the Jurassic, the North Atlantic Ocean remained relatively narrow, while the South Atlantic did not open until

5203-405: The Early Jurassic, the Boreal Ocean was connected to the proto-Atlantic by the "Viking corridor" or Transcontinental Laurasian Seaway, a passage between the Baltic Shield and Greenland several hundred kilometers wide. During the Callovian, the Turgai Epicontinental Sea formed, creating a marine barrier between Europe and Asia. Madagascar and Antarctica began to rift away from Africa during

5324-435: The Indian Ocean. Madagascar and India separated from each other 100–90 Ma in the Late Cretaceous. India continued to move northward toward Eurasia at 15 centimeters (6 in) per year (a plate tectonic record), closing the eastern Tethys Ocean, while Madagascar stopped and became locked to the African Plate . New Zealand , New Caledonia and the rest of Zealandia began to separate from Australia, moving eastward toward

5445-420: The Inferior Oolite Series and the Redbourne Group. The rocks are exposed from Dorset and Somerset eastwards and northwards through the English Midlands to Yorkshire . It is present at depth in the Wessex-Weald Basin, where it reaches its greatest thickness of 120 m. The group consists of up to 120 m thickness of oolitic limestones and subordinate sandstones and mudstones laid down during

5566-413: The Jurassic Period. In the East Midlands it consists of (in descending order i.e. oldest last) the Lincolnshire Limestone, Grantham and Northampton Sand formations whereas in the Cotswold Hills it consists of the Salperton Limestone, Aston Limestone and Birdlip Limestone formations. The limestones are rich in organic material. The ammonite Parkinsonia parkinsoni , an index fossil for the Bathonian,

5687-521: The Jurassic into ten stages based on ammonite and other fossil assemblages in England and France, of which seven are still used, but none has retained its original definition. The German geologist and palaeontologist Friedrich August von Quenstedt in 1858 divided the three series of von Buch in the Swabian Jura into six subdivisions defined by ammonites and other fossils. The German palaeontologist Albert Oppel in his studies between 1856 and 1858 altered d'Orbigny's original scheme and further subdivided

5808-441: The Jurassic of Asia has strap-shaped ginkgo-like leaves with highly distinct reproductive structures with similarities to those of peltasperm and corystosperm seed ferns, has been suggested to be a member of Ginkgoales sensu lato. Pangaea Pangaea or Pangea ( / p æ n ˈ dʒ iː ə / pan- JEE -ə ) was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from

5929-411: The Jurassic, evolving from a branch of theropod dinosaurs. Other major events include the appearance of the earliest crabs and modern frogs , salamanders and lizards . Mammaliaformes , one of the few cynodont lineages to survive the end of the Triassic, continued to diversify throughout the period, with the Jurassic seeing the emergence of the first crown group mammals . Crocodylomorphs made

6050-407: The Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Scotland, which remains the only known unequivocal fossil of the group before the Cretaceous. Despite being the earliest known member of the Pinaceae, Eathiestrobus appears to be a member of the pinoid clade of the family, suggesting that the initial diversification of Pinaceae occurred earlier than has been found in the fossil record. The earliest record of

6171-416: The Middle Jurassic. Also abundant during the Jurassic is the extinct family Cheirolepidiaceae , often recognised through their highly distinctive Classopolis pollen. Jurassic representatives include the pollen cone Classostrobus and the seed cone Pararaucaria . Araucarian and Cheirolepidiaceae conifers often occur in association. The oldest definitive record of the cypress family ( Cupressaceae )

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6292-445: The Middle to Late Jurassic, corresponding to the increasing aridity of the region. Ginkgoales , of which the sole living species is Ginkgo biloba , were more diverse during the Jurassic: they were among the most important components of Eurasian Jurassic floras and were adapted to a wide variety of climatic conditions. The earliest representatives of the genus Ginkgo , represented by ovulate and pollen organs similar to those of

6413-405: The North Atlantic Ocean with eastern Panthalassa. Palaeontological data suggest that the seaway had been open since the Early Jurassic. As part of the Nevadan orogeny , which began during the Triassic, the Cache Creek Ocean closed, and various terranes including the large Wrangellia Terrane accreted onto the western margin of North America. By the Middle Jurassic the Siberian plate and

6534-462: The North China-Amuria block had collided, resulting in the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean . During the Early Jurassic, around 190 million years ago, the Pacific Plate originated at the triple junction of the Farallon , Phoenix , and Izanagi tectonic plates , the three main oceanic plates of Panthalassa. The previously stable triple junction had converted to an unstable arrangement surrounded on all sides by transform faults because of

6655-413: The Oxfordian lacks a defined GSSP. W. J. Arkell in studies in 1939 and 1946 placed the lower boundary of the Oxfordian as the first appearance of the ammonite Quenstedtoceras mariae (then placed in the genus Vertumniceras ). Subsequent proposals have suggested the first appearance of Cardioceras redcliffense as the lower boundary. The village of Kimmeridge on the coast of Dorset , England,

6776-498: The Pacific and opening the Coral Sea and Tasman Sea . The third major and final phase of the break-up of Pangaea occurred in the early Cenozoic ( Paleocene to Oligocene ). Laurasia split when Laurentia broke from Eurasia, opening the Norwegian Sea about 60–55 Ma. The Atlantic and Indian Oceans continued to expand, closing the Tethys Ocean. Meanwhile, Australia split from Antarctica and moved quickly northward, just as India had done more than 40 million years before. Australia

6897-473: The Proto-Tethys Ocean and opening the Paleo-Tethys Ocean to the south. In the Devonian Gondwana moved towards Euramerica, causing the Rheic Ocean to shrink. In the Early Carboniferous , northwest Africa had touched the southeastern coast of Euramerica, creating the southern portion of the Appalachian Mountains, the Meseta Mountains , and the Mauritanide Mountains , an event called the Variscan orogeny . South America moved northward to southern Euramerica, while

7018-502: The TOAE represented one of the most severe extinctions in their evolutionary history. While the event had significant impact on marine invertebrates, it had little effect on marine reptiles. During the TOAE, the Sichuan Basin was transformed into a giant lake , probably three times the size of modern-day Lake Superior , represented by the Da'anzhai Member of the Ziliujing Formation . The lake likely sequestered ~460 gigatons (Gt) of organic carbon and ~1,200 Gt of inorganic carbon during

7139-414: The Tithonian, known as the Early Tithonian Cooling Event (ETCE). The end of the Jurassic was marked by the Tithonian–early Barremian Cool Interval (TBCI), beginning 150 million years ago and continuing into the Early Cretaceous . The Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (TOAE), also known as the Jenkyns Event, was an episode of widespread oceanic anoxia during the early part of the Toarcian Age, c. 183 Mya. It

7260-529: The Toarcian around 174 million years ago. During the Toarcian Warm Interval, ocean surface temperatures likely exceeded 30 °C (86 °F), and equatorial and subtropical (30°N–30°S) regions are likely to have been extremely arid, with temperatures in the interior of Pangea likely in excess of 40 °C (104 °F).The Toarcian Warm Interval is followed by the Middle Jurassic Cool Interval (MJCI) between 174 and 164 million years ago, which may have been punctuated by brief, ephemeral icehouse intervals. During

7381-428: The atmosphere, as well as the possible associated release of methane clathrates . This likely accelerated the hydrological cycle and increased silicate weathering , as evidenced by an increased amount of organic matter of terrestrial origin found in marine deposits during the TOAE. Groups affected include ammonites, ostracods , foraminifera , bivalves , cnidarians , and especially brachiopods , for which

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7502-479: The base of the Hettangian is located at the Kuhjoch Pass, Karwendel Mountains , Northern Calcareous Alps , Austria; it was ratified in 2010. The beginning of the Hettangian, and thus the Jurassic as a whole, is marked by the first appearance of the ammonite Psiloceras spelae tirolicum in the Kendlbach Formation exposed at Kuhjoch. The base of the Jurassic was previously defined as the first appearance of Psiloceras planorbis by Albert Oppel in 1856–58, but this

7623-422: The continents had formed a single supercontinent that he called the Urkontinent . Wegener used the name "Pangaea" once in the 1920 edition of his book, referring to the ancient supercontinent as "the Pangaea of the Carboniferous". He used the Germanized form Pangäa , but the name entered German and English scientific literature (in 1922 and 1926, respectively) in the Latinized form Pangaea , especially during

7744-472: The continents once formed a contiguous land mass was hypothesised, with corroborating evidence, by Alfred Wegener , the originator of the scientific theory of continental drift , in three 1912 academic journal articles written in German titled Die Entstehung der Kontinente ( The Origin of Continents ). He expanded upon his hypothesis in his 1915 book of the same title, in which he postulated that, before breaking up and drifting to their present locations, all

7865-415: The dawn of the Cretaceous. The base of the Tithonian currently lacks a GSSP. The working definition for the base of the Tithonian is the first appearance of the ammonite genus Gravesia . The upper boundary of the Jurassic is currently undefined, and the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary is currently the only system boundary to lack a defined GSSP. Placing a GSSP for this boundary has been difficult because of

7986-418: The earlier continental units of Gondwana , Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous approximately 335 million years ago, and began to break apart about 200 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic and beginning of the Jurassic . Pangaea was C-shaped, with the bulk of its mass stretching between Earth 's northern and southern polar regions and surrounded by the superocean Panthalassa and

8107-436: The eastern coast of South America and the western coast of Africa . The polar ice cap of the Carboniferous covered the southern end of Pangaea. Glacial deposits, specifically till , of the same age and structure are found on many separate continents that would have been together in the continent of Pangaea. The continuity of mountain chains provides further evidence, such as the Appalachian Mountains chain extending from

8228-415: The eastern portion of Gondwana ( India , Antarctica , and Australia ) headed toward the South Pole from the equator. North and South China were on independent continents. The Kazakhstania microcontinent had collided with Siberia. (Siberia had been a separate continent for millions of years since the breakup of Pannotia.) The Variscan orogeny raised the Central Pangaean Mountains, which were comparable to

8349-616: The end of the Jurassic. The oldest unambiguous members of Podocarpaceae are known from the Jurassic, found across both hemispheres, including Scarburgia and Harrisiocarpus from the Middle Jurassic of England, as well as unnamed species from the Middle-Late Jurassic of Patagonia. During the Early Jurassic, the flora of the mid-latitudes of Eastern Asia were dominated by the extinct deciduous broad leafed conifer Podozamites , which appears to not be closely related to any living family of conifer. Its range extended northwards into polar latitudes of Siberia and then contracted northward in

8470-413: The end of the Triassic, the Peltaspermaceae became extinct in most parts of the world, with Lepidopteris persisting into the Early Jurassic in Patagonia. Dicroidium , a corystosperm seed fern that was a dominant part of Gondwanan floral communities during the Triassic, also declined at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary, surviving as a relict in Antarctica into the Early Jurassic. Conifers formed

8591-432: The equator. The assembly of Pangaea disrupted the Intertropical Convergence Zone and created an extreme monsoon climate that reduced the deposition of coal to its lowest level in the last 300 million years. During the Permian , coal deposition was largely restricted to the North and South China microcontinents, which were among the few areas of continental crust that had not joined with Pangaea. The extremes of climate in

8712-468: The event. Seawater pH , which had already substantially decreased prior to the event, increased slightly during the early stages of the TOAE, before dropping to its lowest point around the middle of the event. This ocean acidification is the probable cause of the collapse of carbonate production. Additionally, anoxic conditions were exacerbated by enhanced recycling of phosphorus back into ocean water as

8833-566: The evidence for this is primarily European, probably controlled by changes in eustatic sea level. There is no evidence of a mass extinction of plants at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. At the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in Greenland, the sporomorph (pollen and spores) record suggests a complete floral turnover. An analysis of macrofossil floral communities in Europe suggests that changes were mainly due to local ecological succession . At

8954-516: The evolution of life took place. The seas of the Early Carboniferous were dominated by rugose corals , brachiopods , bryozoans , sharks , and the first bony fish . Life on land was dominated by lycopsid forests inhabited by insects and other arthropods and the first tetrapods . By the time Pangaea broke up, in the Middle Jurassic, the seas swarmed with molluscs (particularly ammonites ), ichthyosaurs , sharks and rays, and

9075-419: The few continental areas not merged with Pangaea, as a refugium. There were three major phases in the break-up of Pangaea. The Atlantic Ocean did not open uniformly; rifting began in the north-central Atlantic. The first breakup of Pangaea is proposed for the late Ladinian (230 Ma) with initial spreading in the opening central Atlantic. Then the rifting proceeded along the eastern margin of North America,

9196-414: The first appearance of the ammonite Hyperlioceras mundum . The Bathonian is named after the city of Bath , England, introduced by Belgian geologist d'Omalius d'Halloy in 1843, after an incomplete section of oolitic limestones in several quarries in the region. The GSSP for the base of the Bathonian is Ravin du Bès, Bas-Auran area, Alpes de Haute Provence , France; it was ratified in 2009. The base of

9317-445: The first ray-finned bony fishes, while life on land was dominated by forests of cycads and conifers in which dinosaurs flourished and in which the first true mammals had appeared. The evolution of life in this time reflected the conditions created by the assembly of Pangaea. The union of most of the continental crust into one landmass reduced the extent of sea coasts. Increased erosion from uplifted continental crust increased

9438-814: The formation of the Ural Mountains and Laurasia . This was the last step of the formation of Pangaea. Meanwhile, South America had collided with southern Laurentia, closing the Rheic Ocean and completing the Variscian orogeny with the formation the southernmost part of the Appalachians and Ouachita Mountains . By this time, Gondwana was positioned near the South Pole, and glaciers formed in Antarctica, India, Australia, southern Africa, and South America. The North China Craton collided with Siberia by

9559-491: The formation of the southwestern Indian Ocean in the Cretaceous. The second major phase in the break-up of Pangaea began in the Early Cretaceous (150–140 Ma), when Gondwana separated into multiple continents (Africa, South America, India, Antarctica, and Australia). The subduction at Tethyan Trench probably caused Africa, India and Australia to move northward, causing the opening of a "South Indian Ocean". In

9680-525: The genus Berriasella , but its use as a stratigraphic indicator has been questioned, as its first appearance does not correlate with that of C. alpina . The Kimmeridge Clay and equivalents are the major source rock for the North Sea oil . The Arabian Intrashelf Basin, deposited during the Middle and Late Jurassic, is the setting of the world's largest oil reserves, including the Ghawar Field ,

9801-402: The genus Elatides . The Jurassic also saw the first appearances of some modern genera of cypresses, such as Sequoia . Members of the extinct genus Schizolepidopsis which likely represent a stem-group to the pine family ( Pinaceae ), were widely distributed across Eurasia during the Jurassic. The oldest unambiguous record of Pinaceae is the pine cone Eathiestrobus , known from

9922-497: The importance of floodplain and delta environments relative to shallow marine environments. Continental assembly and uplift also meant increasingly arid land climates, favoring the evolution of amniote animals and seed plants , whose eggs and seeds were better adapted to dry climates. The early drying trend was most pronounced in western Pangaea, which became a center of the evolution and geographical spread of amniotes. Coal swamps typically form in perpetually wet regions close to

10043-484: The interior of Pangaea are reflected in bone growth patterns of pareiasaurs and the growth patterns in gymnosperm forests. The lack of oceanic barriers is thought to have favored cosmopolitanism , in which successful species attain wide geographical distribution. Cosmopolitanism was also driven by mass extinctions , including the Permian–Triassic extinction event , the most severe in the fossil record, and also

10164-608: The late Early Jurassic in association with the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces , opening the western Indian Ocean and beginning the fragmentation of Gondwana. At the beginning of the Jurassic, North and South America remained connected, but by the beginning of the Late Jurassic they had rifted apart to form the Caribbean Seaway, also known as the Hispanic Corridor, which connected

10285-472: The late Sinemurian–Pliensbachian before regressing to near present levels by the late Pliensbachian. There seems to have been a gradual rise to a peak of ~75 m above present sea level during the Toarcian. During the latest part of the Toarcian, the sea level again dropped by several tens of metres. It progressively rose from the Aalenian onwards, aside from dips of a few tens of metres in the Bajocian and around

10406-554: The later supercontinents, Pannotia and Pangaea. According to one reconstruction, when Rodinia broke up, it split into three pieces: proto- Laurasia , proto-Gondwana, and the smaller Congo Craton . Proto-Laurasia and proto-Gondwana were separated by the Proto-Tethys Ocean . Proto-Laurasia split apart to form the continents of Laurentia , Siberia , and Baltica . Baltica moved to the east of Laurentia, and Siberia moved northeast of Laurentia. The split created two oceans,

10527-438: The latitude and orientation of ancient continental blocks, and newer techniques may help determine longitudes. Paleontology helps determine ancient climates, confirming latitude estimates from paleomagnetic measurements, and the distribution of ancient forms of life provides clues on which continental blocks were close to each other at particular geological moments. However, reconstructions of continents prior to Pangaea, including

10648-452: The lower boundary of the stage. The ages of the Jurassic from youngest to oldest are as follows: Jurassic stratigraphy is primarily based on the use of ammonites as index fossils . The first appearance datum of specific ammonite taxa is used to mark the beginnings of stages, as well as smaller timespans within stages, referred to as "ammonite zones"; these, in turn, are also sometimes subdivided further into subzones. Global stratigraphy

10769-466: The magnetic orientation of the Earth, showing which direction the poles lie relative to the rock; this determines latitudes and orientations (though not longitudes). Magnetic differences between samples of sedimentary and intrusive igneous rock whose age varies by millions of years is due to a combination of magnetic polar wander (with a cycle of a few thousand years) and the drifting of continents over millions of years. The polar wander component, which

10890-579: The mapping of the ocean floor following the Second World War , led to the development and acceptance of the theory of plate tectonics . This theory provides the widely-accepted explanation for the existence and breakup of Pangaea. The geography of the continents bordering the Atlantic Ocean was the first evidence suggesting the existence of Pangaea. The seemingly close fit of the coastlines of North and South America with Europe and Africa

11011-474: The modern Himalayas in scale. With Pangaea stretching from the South Pole across the equator and well into the Northern Hemisphere, an intense megamonsoon climate was established, except for a perpetually wet zone immediately around the central mountains. Western Kazakhstania collided with Baltica in the late Carboniferous, closing the Ural Ocean and the western Proto-Tethys ( Uralian orogeny ), causing

11132-428: The modern species, are known from the Middle Jurassic in the Northern Hemisphere. Several other lineages of ginkgoaleans are known from Jurassic rocks, including Yimaia , Grenana , Nagrenia and Karkenia . These lineages are associated with Ginkgo- like leaves, but are distinguished from living and fossil representatives of Ginkgo by having differently arranged reproductive structures. Umaltolepis from

11253-470: The most promising candidates for fixing the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary In particular, the first appearance Calpionella alpina , co-inciding with the base of the eponymous Alpina subzone, has been proposed as the definition of the base of the Cretaceous. The working definition for the boundary has often been placed as the first appearance of the ammonite Strambergella jacobi , formerly placed in

11374-637: The new genus Duriavenator in 2008. Indeterminate Thyreophora Indeterminate Jurassic The start of the Jurassic was marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event , associated with the eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). The beginning of the Toarcian Age started around 183 million years ago and is marked by the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event ,

11495-573: The northern Appalachians. Siberia sat near Euramerica, with the Khanty Ocean between the two continents. While all this was happening, Gondwana drifted slowly towards the South Pole. This was the first step of the formation of Pangaea. The second step in the formation of Pangaea was the collision of Gondwana with Euramerica. By the middle of the Silurian , 430 Ma, Baltica had already collided with Laurentia, forming Euramerica, an event called

11616-692: The northwest African margin and the High , Saharan and Tunisian Atlas Mountains . Another phase began in the Early-Middle Jurassic (about 175 Ma), when Pangaea began to rift from the Tethys Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. The rifting that took place between North America and Africa produced multiple failed rifts . One rift resulted in the North Atlantic Ocean. The South Atlantic did not open until

11737-513: The number of islands that could have served as refugia for marine species. Species diversity may have already been reduced prior to mass extinction events due to mingling of species possible when formerly separate continents were merged. However, there is strong evidence that climate barriers continued to separate ecological communities in different parts of Pangaea. The eruptions of the Emeishan Traps may have eliminated South China, one of

11858-422: The ocean floor acting as a buffer against large CO 2 emissions. The climate of the Jurassic was generally warmer than that of present, by around 5–10 °C (9–18 °F), with atmospheric carbon dioxide likely about four times higher. Intermittent "cold snap" intervals are known to have occurred during this time period, however, interrupting the otherwise warm greenhouse climate. Forests likely grew near

11979-460: The oceans, resulting in large areas of desert and scrubland in the lower latitudes between 40° N and S of the equator. Tropical rainforest and tundra biomes are likely to have been rare or absent. The Jurassic also witnessed the decline of the Pangaean megamonsoon that had characterised the preceding Permian and Triassic periods. Variation in the frequency of wildfire activity in the Jurassic

12100-549: The ones in this section, remain partially speculative, and different reconstructions will differ in some details. The fourth-last supercontinent, called Columbia or Nuna, appears to have assembled in the period 2.0–1.8 billion years ago (Ga) . Columbia/Nuna broke up, and the next supercontinent, Rodinia , formed from the accretion and assembly of its fragments. Rodinia lasted from about 1.3 billion years ago until about 750 million years ago, but its configuration and geodynamic history are not nearly as well understood as those of

12221-618: The period, as well as other groups like the extinct Bennettitales . The chronostratigraphic term "Jurassic" is linked to the Jura Mountains , a forested mountain range that mainly follows the France–Switzerland border . The name "Jura" is derived from the Celtic root * jor via Gaulish *iuris "wooded mountain", which was borrowed into Latin as a name of a place and evolved into Juria and finally Jura . During

12342-611: The poles, where they experienced warm summers and cold, sometimes snowy winters; there were unlikely to have been ice sheets given the high summer temperatures that prevented the accumulation of snow, though there may have been mountain glaciers. Dropstones and glendonites in northeastern Siberia during the Early to Middle Jurassic indicate cold winters. The ocean depths were likely 8 °C (14 °F) warmer than present, and coral reefs grew 10° of latitude further north and south. The Intertropical Convergence Zone likely existed over

12463-420: The reduced area of continental shelf environments may have left marine species vulnerable to extinction. However, no evidence for a species-area effect has been found in more recent and better characterized portions of the geologic record. Another possibility is that reduced seafloor spreading associated with the formation of Pangaea, and the resulting cooling and subsidence of oceanic crust , may have reduced

12584-495: The rocks of the Jurassic into a stratigraphic set of units called stages , each formed during corresponding time intervals called ages. Stages can be defined globally or regionally. For global stratigraphic correlation, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) ratify global stages based on a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) from a single formation (a stratotype ) identifying

12705-656: The southeastern United States to the Scandinavian Caledonides of Europe; these are now believed to have formed a single chain, the Central Pangean Mountains . Fossil evidence for Pangaea includes the presence of similar and identical species on continents that are now great distances apart. For example, fossils of the therapsid Lystrosaurus have been found in South Africa , India and Antarctica , alongside members of

12826-463: The southern British Isles , and parts of Belgium , northern France , Nova Scotia , New England , South Iberia , and northwest Africa—broke free from Gondwana and began its journey to Laurentia. Baltica, Laurentia, and Avalonia all came together by the end of the Ordovician to form a landmass called Euramerica or Laurussia, closing the Iapetus Ocean. The collision resulted in the formation of

12947-617: The southern supercontinent Gondwana . In the Cambrian, Laurentia—which would later become North America —sat on the equator with three bordering oceans: the Panthalassic Ocean to the north and west, the Iapetus Ocean to the south, and the Khanty Ocean to the east. In the early Ordovician , around 480 Ma, the microcontinent Avalonia —a landmass incorporating fragments of what would become eastern Newfoundland ,

13068-529: The stages into biostratigraphic zones, based primarily on ammonites. Most of the modern stages of the Jurassic were formalized at the Colloque du Jurassique à Luxembourg in 1962. The Jurassic Period is divided into three epochs : Early, Middle, and Late. Similarly, in stratigraphy , the Jurassic is divided into the Lower Jurassic , Middle Jurassic , and Upper Jurassic series . Geologists divide

13189-429: The strong regionality of most biostratigraphic markers, and lack of any chemostratigraphic events, such as isotope excursions (large sudden changes in ratios of isotopes ), that could be used to define or correlate a boundary. Calpionellids , an enigmatic group of planktonic protists with urn-shaped calcitic tests briefly abundant during the latest Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous, have been suggested to represent

13310-456: The strong variations in climate by latitude and season produced by the extreme monsoon climate. For example, cold-adapted pteridosperms (early seed plants) of Gondwana were blocked from spreading throughout Pangaea by the equatorial climate, and northern pteridosperms ended up dominating Gondwana in the Triassic. The tectonics and geography of Pangaea may have worsened the Permian–Triassic extinction event or other mass extinctions. For example,

13431-634: The three-fold division of the Jurassic, originally named from oldest to the youngest: the Black Jurassic , Brown Jurassic , and White Jurassic . The term " Lias " had previously been used for strata of equivalent age to the Black Jurassic in England by William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822. William Phillips, the geologist, worked with William Conybeare to find out more about the Black Jurassic in England. The French palaeontologist Alcide d'Orbigny in papers between 1842 and 1852 divided

13552-500: The transition from a terrestrial to an aquatic life. The oceans were inhabited by marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs , while pterosaurs were the dominant flying vertebrates . Modern sharks and rays first appeared and diversified during the period, while the first known crown-group teleost fish appeared near the end of the period. The flora was dominated by ferns and gymnosperms , including conifers , of which many modern groups made their first appearance during

13673-732: The world's largest oil field. The Jurassic-aged Sargelu and Naokelekan formations are major source rocks for oil in Iraq . Over 1500 gigatons of Jurassic coal reserves are found in north-west China, primarily in the Turpan-Hami Basin and the Ordos Basin . Major impact structures include the Morokweng impact structure , a 70 km diameter impact structure buried beneath the Kalahari desert in northern South Africa. The impact

13794-585: The yew family ( Taxaceae ) is Palaeotaxus rediviva , from the Hettangian of Sweden, suggested to be closely related to the living Austrotaxus , while Marskea jurassica from the Middle Jurassic of Yorkshire, England and material from the Callovian–Oxfordian Daohugou Bed in China are thought to be closely related to Amentotaxus , with the latter material assigned to the modern genus, indicating that Taxaceae had substantially diversified by

13915-399: Was changed as the appearance was seen as too localised an event for an international boundary. The Sinemurian Stage was first defined and introduced into scientific literature by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1842. It takes its name from the French town of Semur-en-Auxois , near Dijon . The original definition of Sinemurian included what is now the Hettangian. The GSSP of the Sinemurian is located at

14036-569: Was governed by the 405 kyr eccentricity cycle. Thanks to the breakup of Pangaea, the hydrological cycle during the Jurassic was significantly enhanced. The beginning of the Jurassic was likely marked by a thermal spike corresponding to the Triassic–Jurassic extinction and eruption of the Central Atlantic magmatic province. The first part of the Jurassic was marked by the Early Jurassic Cool Interval between 199 and 183 million years ago. It has been proposed that glaciation

14157-470: Was introduced in scientific literature by Albert Oppel in 1865. The name Tithonian is unusual in geological stage names because it is derived from Greek mythology rather than a place name. Tithonus was the son of Laomedon of Troy and fell in love with Eos , the Greek goddess of dawn . His name was chosen by Albert Oppel for this stratigraphical stage because the Tithonian finds itself hand in hand with

14278-523: Was later found to be within the upper part of the Bathonian. The base of the Callovian does not yet have a certified GSSP. The working definition for the base of the Callovian is the first appearance of ammonites belonging to the genus Kepplerites . The Oxfordian is named after the city of Oxford in England and was named by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1844 in reference to the Oxford Clay . The base of

14399-490: Was present in the Northern Hemisphere during both the early Pliensbachian and the latest Pliensbachian. There was a spike in global temperatures of around 4–8 °C (7–14 °F) during the early part of the Toarcian corresponding to the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event and the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces in southern Gondwana, with the warm interval extending to the end of

14520-589: Was ratified in 2000. The base of the Aalenian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Leioceras opalinum . Alcide d'Orbigny in 1842 named the Bajocian Stage after the town of Bayeux (Latin: Bajoce ) in Normandy, France. The GSSP for the base of the Bajocian is located in the Murtinheira section at Cabo Mondego , Portugal; it was ratified in 1997. The base of the Bajocian is defined by

14641-411: Was remarked on almost as soon as these coasts were charted. Careful reconstructions showed that the mismatch at the 500 fathoms (3,000 feet; 910 meters) contour was less than 130 km (81 mi), and it was argued that this was much too similar to be attributed to coincidence. Additional evidence for Pangaea is found in the geology of adjacent continents, including matching geological trends between

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