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72-606: Beginning around 850 Mya to around 720 Mya, a time interval roughly corresponding to the Late Tonian, between the end of the Boring Billion and the onset of the Cryogenian “Snowball Earth”, marine deposits record a very significant positive carbon isotope excursion. These elevated δ values are believed to be linked to an evolutionary radiation of eukaryotic plankton and enhanced organic burial, which in turn indicate

144-481: A global glaciation would be a likely candidate. The name of the geologic period refers to the very cold global climate of the Cryogenian. Characteristic glacial deposits indicate that Earth suffered the most severe ice ages in its history during this period (Sturtian and Marinoan). According to Eyles and Young, "Late Proterozoic glaciogenic deposits are known from all the continents. They provide evidence of

216-483: A boom of dinosaurian evolution on land as the continents began to separate from each other (Nyasasaurus from 243 to 210 million years ago, approximately 235–30 ma, some of them separated into Sauropodomorphs, Theropods and Herrerasaurids), as well as the first pterosaurs . During the Late Triassic, some advanced cynodonts gave rise to the first Mammaliaformes . All this climatic change, however, resulted in

288-468: A buildup of atmospheric oxygen. The increasing diversity of eukaryotes has been proposed as a cause of increased deep ocean oxygenation by means of phosphorus removal from the deep ocean. The evolution of large multicellular organisms led to increased amounts of organic matters sinking to the seafloor ( marine snow ). This, combined with the evolution of benthic filter feeders (e.g. choanoflagellates and primitive poriferans such as Otavia ),

360-594: A coating. This contrasts with the earth's current flora, in which the dominant land plants in terms of number of species are angiosperms . The earliest members of the genus Ginkgo first appeared during the Middle Jurassic. This genus is represented today by a single species, Ginkgo biloba . Modern conifer groups began to radiate during the Jurassic. Bennettitales , an extinct group of gymnosperms with foliage superficially resembling that of cycads gained

432-600: A decline in diversity of sauropods, stegosaurs, and other high-browsing groups, with sauropods particularly scarce in North America. Some island-hopping dinosaurs, such as Eustreptospondylus , evolved to cope with the coastal shallows and small islands of ancient Europe. Other dinosaurs rose up to fill the empty space that the Jurassic-Cretaceous extinction left behind, such as Carcharodontosaurus and Spinosaurus . Seasons came back into effect and

504-477: A few million years before the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. Sea levels began to rise during the Jurassic, probably caused by an increase in seafloor spreading . The formation of new crust beneath the surface displaced ocean waters by as much as 200 m (656 ft) above today's sea level, flooding coastal areas. Furthermore, Pangaea began to rift into smaller divisions, creating new shoreline around

576-483: A global distribution during the Late Triassic, and represented one of the most common groups of Mesozoic seed plants. Flowering plants radiated during the early Cretaceous, first in the tropics , but the even temperature gradient allowed them to spread toward the poles throughout the period. By the end of the Cretaceous, angiosperms dominated tree floras in many areas, although some evidence suggests that biomass

648-671: A large die-out known as the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, in which many archosaurs (excluding pterosaurs, dinosaurs and crocodylomorphs ), most synapsids , and almost all large amphibians became extinct, as well as 34% of marine life, in the Earth's fourth mass extinction event. The cause is debatable; flood basalt eruptions at the Central Atlantic magmatic province is cited as one possible cause. The Jurassic ranges from 200 million years to 145 million years ago and features three major epochs: The Early Jurassic,

720-604: A mode of +4% and a range from -4% to +11%. No significant change is observed across the Cryogenian-Ediacaran boundary, implying that oxygen was already ubiquitous in the global ocean as early as 750 Mya, during the Tonian period. Seawater sulphate δS values, which saw a gradual increase over most of the Neoproterozoic punctuated by major drops during glaciations, show a significant positive excursion during

792-448: A positive δC excursion through continued preferential biological consumption of carbon-12 by existing communities while the supply of available carbon decreased, without indicating an increase in primary productivity and oxygen production. The ratio of strontium-87 to strontium-86 is used as a determinant of the relative contribution of continental weathering to the ocean's nutrient supply; an increase in this ratio, as observed throughout

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864-462: A result of the increased rates of global photosynthesis by both cyanobacteria and eukaryotic photoautotrophs ( green and red algae ), occurring in conjunction with an increase in silicate weathering of continental flood basalts resulting from the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia , is believed to have been a trigger of the Sturtian and Marinoan glaciations during the Cryogenian ,

936-654: A spike in oxygen production during this interval. Further positive carbon isotope excursions occurred during the Cryogenian. Although several negative carbon isotope excursions, associated with warming events, are known from the Late Tonian all the way up to the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic boundary, the carbon isotope record nonetheless maintains a noticeable positive trend throughout the Neoproterozoic. δN data from 750 to 580 million year-old marine sediments hailing from four different Neoproterozoic basins show similar nitrogen isotope ratios to modern oceans, with

1008-435: A variety of niches, beginning in the mid-Triassic 4 million to 6 million years after the extinction, and not fully proliferated until 30 million years after the extinction. Animal life was then dominated by various archosaurs: dinosaurs , pterosaurs, and aquatic reptiles such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs . The climatic changes of the late Jurassic and Cretaceous favored further adaptive radiation. The Jurassic

1080-653: Is a geologic period that lasted from 720 to 635 million years ago . It is the second of the three periods of the Neoproterozoic era, preceded by the Tonian and followed by the Ediacaran . The Cryogenian was a time of drastic climate changes . After the long environmental stability/stagnation during the Boring Billion , the Sturtian glaciation began at the beginning of Cryogenian, freezing

1152-503: Is believed to have shifted oxygen demand further down in the water column, which would result in a positive feedback loop wherein phosphorus was removed from the ocean, which reduced productivity and decreased oxygen demand, which in turn led to increasing oxygenation of deep ocean water. Increasingly well oxygenated oceans enabled further eukaryotic dispersal, which likely acted as a positive feedback loop that accelerated oxygenation. The rapid increase in organic carbon sequestration as

1224-537: Is thought that a large meteor smashed into earth 66 million years ago, creating the Chicxulub Crater in an event known as the K-Pg Extinction (formerly K-T), the fifth and most recent mass extinction event, in which 75% of life became extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs. Compared to the vigorous convergent plate mountain-building of the late Paleozoic, Mesozoic tectonic deformation

1296-650: The Adelaide Rift Complex . Between the Sturtian and Marinoan glaciations, global biodiversity was very low. Fossils of testate amoeba (or Arcellinida ) first appear during the Cryogenian Period. Since 2009, some researchers have argued that during the Cryogenian Period, potentially the oldest known fossils of sponges , and therefore animals , were formed. However, it is unclear whether these fossils actually belong to sponges, though

1368-669: The Cenozoic . The era began in the wake of the Permian–Triassic extinction event , the largest mass extinction in Earth's history, and ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event , another mass extinction whose victims included the non-avian dinosaurs , pterosaurs , mosasaurs , and plesiosaurs . The Mesozoic was a time of significant tectonic, climatic, and evolutionary activity. The supercontinent Pangaea began to break apart into separate landmasses. The climate of

1440-423: The Ediacaran biota to become ubiquitous and widespread. Initially restricted to deeper, colder waters that possessed the most dissolved oxygen, metazoan life gradually expanded into warmer zones of the ocean as global oxygen levels rose. Cryogenian The Cryogenian (from Ancient Greek : κρύος , romanized :  krýos , meaning "cold" and γένεσις , romanized: génesis , meaning "birth")

1512-704: The Greek prefix meso- ( μεσο- 'between') and zōon ( ζῷον 'animal, living being'). In this way, the Mesozoic is comparable to the Cenozoic ( lit.   ' new life ' ) and Paleozoic ('old life') eras as well as the Proterozoic ('earlier life') Eon. The Mesozoic Era was originally described as the "secondary" era, following the "primary" ( Paleozoic ), and preceding the Tertiary . Following

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1584-711: The Indian subcontinent , which collided with the Asian plate during the Cenozoic, giving rise to the Himalayas . The Triassic was generally dry, a trend that began in the late Carboniferous , and highly seasonal, especially in the interior of Pangaea. Low sea levels may have also exacerbated temperature extremes. With its high specific heat capacity , water acts as a temperature-stabilizing heat reservoir, and land areas near large bodies of water—especially oceans—experience less variation in temperature. Because much of Pangaea's land

1656-547: The Marinoan glaciation which ended approximately 635 Ma, at the end of the Cryogenian. The deposits of glacial tillite also occur in places that were at low latitudes during the Cryogenian, a phenomenon which led to the hypothesis of deeply frozen planetary oceans called " Snowball Earth ". Between the Sturtian and Marinoan glaciations was a so-called "Cryogenian interglacial period" marked by relatively warm climate and anoxic oceans , along with marine transgression. Before

1728-561: The Permian Period allowed for the radiation of many new lifeforms. In particular, the extinction of the large herbivorous pareiasaurs and carnivorous gorgonopsians left those ecological niches empty. Some were filled by the surviving cynodonts and dicynodonts , the latter of which subsequently became extinct. Recent research indicates that it took much longer for the reestablishment of complex ecosystems with high biodiversity, complex food webs, and specialized animals in

1800-516: The Triassic , Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods . It is characterized by the dominance of gymnosperms such as cycads , ginkgoaceae and araucarian conifers, and of archosaurian reptiles such as the dinosaurs ; a hot greenhouse climate; and the tectonic break-up of Pangaea . The Mesozoic is the middle of the three eras since complex life evolved : the Paleozoic , the Mesozoic, and

1872-458: The nitrogen cycle during the Cryogenian are believed to be a culprit behind the rapid oxygenation of and removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which also helps explain the development of extremely severe glaciations that characterised this period of the Neoproterozoic. The slowdown of the Earth's rotation and corresponding increase in day length has been suggested as a possible cause of

1944-685: The shallow seas and caused major mass extinctions and biosphere turnovers. The Cryogenian Period was ratified in 1990 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy . In contrast to most other time periods, the beginning of the Cryogenian is not linked to a globally observable and documented event. Instead, the base of the period is defined by a fixed rock age, that was originally set at 850 million years, but changed in 2015 to 720 million years. This could cause ambiguity because estimates of rock age are subject to variable interpretation and laboratory error. For instance,

2016-458: The Atlantic seaway, which has grown continually larger until today. The further separation of the continents gave opportunity for the diversification of new dinosaurs. The Cretaceous is the longest period of the Mesozoic, but has only two epochs: Early and Late Cretaceous. The Early Cretaceous spans from 145 to 100 million years ago. The Early Cretaceous saw the expansion of seaways and

2088-778: The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Approximately 50% of all genera became extinct, including all of the non- avian dinosaurs. The Triassic ranges roughly from 252 million to 201 million years ago, preceding the Jurassic Period. The period is bracketed between the Permian–Triassic extinction event and the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event , two of the " big five ", and it is divided into three major epochs: Early, Middle, and Late Triassic. The Early Triassic, about 252 to 247 million years ago,

2160-532: The Early Ediacaran, the shift in uranium isotopes occurred in tandem with enrichment in light carbon isotopes. During the Boring Billion, open ocean productivity was very low compared to the Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic as a result of the absence of planktonic nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The evolution and radiation of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and non-nitrogen-fixing picocyanobacteria capable of occupying marine planktonic niches and consequent changes to

2232-685: The Ediacaran, with a corresponding decrease in pyritic δS. High fractionation rates between sulphate and sulphide indicate an increase in the availability of sulphate in the water column, which in turn is indicative of increased reaction of pyrite with oxygen. In addition, genetic evidence points to the occurrence of a radiation of non-photosynthetic sulphide-reducing bacteria during the Neoproterozoic. Through bacterial sulphur disproportionation, such bacteria further deplete marine sulphide of heavier sulphur isotopes. Because such bacteria require significant amounts of oxygen to survive, an oxygenation event during

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2304-545: The Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs, then true toothless birds appeared in the Cretaceous. The first mammals also appeared during the Mesozoic, but would remain small—less than 15 kg (33 lb)—until the Cenozoic. Flowering plants appeared in the Early Cretaceous and would rapidly diversify through the end of the era, replacing conifers and other gymnosperms ( sensu lato ), such as ginkgoales , cycads and bennettitales as

2376-465: The Late Cretaceous declined for poorly understood reasons, though this might be due to tendencies of the fossil record, as their diversity seems to be much higher than previously thought. Birds became increasingly common and diversified into a variety of enantiornithe and ornithurine forms. Though mostly small, marine hesperornithes became relatively large and flightless, adapted to life in

2448-617: The Late Ediacaran than in the Cryogenian or the Early and Middle Ediacaran. This isotopic proxy indicates the level of oxygenation of the Late Ediacaran ocean was comparable to that of Mesozoic oceanic anoxic events . The very low values of δU, commonly used as an isotopic measurement of changes in seawater oxygenation, during much of the Neoproterozoic have been interpreted to reflect progressive oxygenation punctuated by temporary, transient expansions of anoxic and euxinic waters. During

2520-469: The Mesozoic was varied, alternating between warming and cooling periods. Overall, however, the Earth was hotter than it is today. Dinosaurs first appeared in the Mid-Triassic, and became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates in the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic, occupying this position for about 150 or 135 million years until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous. Archaic birds appeared in

2592-561: The Middle Jurassic, and the Late Jurassic. The Early Jurassic spans from 200 to 175 million years ago. The climate was tropical and much more humid than the Triassic, as a result of the large seas appearing between the land masses. In the oceans, plesiosaurs , ichthyosaurs and ammonites were abundant. On land, dinosaurs and other archosaurs staked their claim as the dominant race, with theropods such as Dilophosaurus at

2664-456: The NOE on the basis of experimental findings that cyanobacterial productivity is higher during longer periods of uninterrupted daylight compared to shorter periods more frequently interrupted by darkness. The Neoproterozoic saw organic carbon burial occur in large lakes with anoxic bottom waters on a massive scale. As carbon was locked away in sedimentary rock, it was unable to be oxidised, permitting

2736-482: The Neoproterozoic and into the Cambrian until reaching a peak at the end of the Cambrian, suggests a rise in continental weathering and bolsters evidence from carbon isotope ratios for high oxygenation in this interval of time. Surface oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) causes isotopic fractionation of chromium ; Cr(VI), typically present in the environment as either chromate or dichromate, has elevated values of δCr, or

2808-412: The Neoproterozoic raising oxygen concentrations to over 5-18% of modern levels is believed to have been a necessary prerequisite for the diversification of these microorganisms. δC can only reliably indicate changes in net primary productivity and oxygenation if the rates of weathering into the oceans and carbon dioxide outgassing remain constant or increase, since a decrease in either of these could cause

2880-628: The Paleozoic, the Mesozoic extended roughly 186 million years, from 251.902 to 66 million years ago when the Cenozoic Era began. This time frame is separated into three geologic periods . From oldest to youngest: The lower boundary of the Mesozoic is set by the Permian–Triassic extinction event , during which it has been estimated that up to 90-96% of marine species became extinct although those approximations have been brought into question with some paleontologists estimating

2952-474: The Tethys Ocean. Temperatures continued to increase, then began to stabilize. Humidity also increased with the proximity of water, and deserts retreated. The climate of the Cretaceous is less certain and more widely disputed. Probably, higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are thought to have almost eliminated the north–south temperature gradient : temperatures were about the same across

Neoproterozoic oxygenation event - Misplaced Pages Continue

3024-540: The actual numbers as low as 81%. It is also known as the "Great Dying" because it is considered the largest mass extinction in the Earth's history. The upper boundary of the Mesozoic is set at the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (or K–Pg extinction event ), which may have been caused by an asteroid impactor that created Chicxulub Crater on the Yucatán Peninsula . Towards the Late Cretaceous, large volcanic eruptions are also believed to have contributed to

3096-445: The authors do not rule out the possibility of such fossils to represent proto-sponges or complex microbial precursors to sponge-grade organisms. The issue of whether or not biology was impacted by this event has not been settled, for example Porter (2000) suggests that new groups of life evolved during this period, including the red algae and green algae , stramenopiles , ciliates , dinoflagellates , and testate amoeba. The end of

3168-521: The beginnings of the breakup of Pangaea and the opening of the Tethys Ocean . Ecosystems had recovered from the Permian extinction. Algae, sponge, corals, and crustaceans all had recovered, and new aquatic reptiles evolved, such as ichthyosaurs and nothosaurs . On land, pine forests flourished, as did groups of insects such as mosquitoes and fruit flies. Reptiles began to get bigger and bigger, and

3240-503: The course of the Ediacaran period, the oceans gradually became better oxygenated, with the time interval immediately after the Gaskiers Glaciation displaying evidence of significantly increasing marine oxygen content. The rapid diversification of multicellular life during this geologic period has been attributed by some authors to an increase in oxygen content, enabling the iconic oxygen-consuming multicellular eukaryotes of

3312-431: The current level (about 21%) throughout the Mesozoic, some concluding they were lower in the Triassic and part of the Jurassic but higher in the Cretaceous, and some concluding they were higher throughout most or all of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. The dominant land plant species of the time were gymnosperms , which are vascular, cone-bearing, non-flowering plants such as conifers that produce seeds without

3384-457: The dominant group of plants. The phrase "Age of Reptiles" was introduced by the 19th century paleontologist Gideon Mantell who viewed it as dominated by diapsids such as Iguanodon , Megalosaurus , Plesiosaurus , and Pterodactylus . The current name was proposed in 1840 by the British geologist John Phillips (1800–1874). "Mesozoic" literally means 'middle life', deriving from

3456-605: The dramatic rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea, which gradually split into a northern continent, Laurasia , and a southern continent, Gondwana . This created the passive continental margin that characterizes most of the Atlantic coastline (such as along the U.S. East Coast ) today. By the end of the era, the continents had rifted into nearly their present forms, though not their present positions. Laurasia became North America and Eurasia , while Gondwana split into South America , Africa , Australia , Antarctica and

3528-529: The entire planet in a state of severe icehouse climate known as a snowball Earth . After 70 million years it ended, but was quickly followed by another global ice age , the Marinoan glaciation . There is controversy over whether these glaciations indeed covered the entire planet, or whether a band of open sea survived near the equator (i.e. " slushball Earth "), but the extreme climates with massive expanse of ice sheets blocking off sunlight would nevertheless have significantly hindered primary production in

3600-443: The era's oxygenation of the atmosphere. Oxidative chromium cycling began approximately 0.8 Ga, indicating that oxygen level rise began well before the Cryogenian glaciations. Chromium isotopes also show that during the Cryogenian interglacial interval, between the Sturtian and Marinoan glaciations, oxygenation of the ocean and atmosphere was slow and subdued; this interval marked a lull in the NOE. δMo values were slightly higher during

3672-467: The fern prairies, chased by many new predators such as Allosaurus . Conifer forests made up a large portion of the forests. In the oceans, plesiosaurs were quite common, and ichthyosaurs flourished. This epoch was the peak of the reptiles. The Late Jurassic spans from 163 to 145 million years ago. During this epoch, the first avialans , such as Archaeopteryx , evolved from small coelurosaurian dinosaurs. The increase in sea levels opened up

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3744-467: The first crocodilians and dinosaurs evolved, which sparked competition with the large amphibians that had previously ruled the freshwater world, respectively mammal-like reptiles on land. Following the bloom of the Middle Triassic, the Late Triassic, from 237 to 201 million years ago, featured frequent heat spells and moderate precipitation (10–20 inches per year). The recent warming led to

3816-487: The food web. In the oceans, mosasaurs ruled, filling the role of the ichthyosaurs, which, after declining, had disappeared in the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event . Though pliosaurs had gone extinct in the same event, long-necked plesiosaurs such as Elasmosaurus continued to thrive. Flowering plants, possibly appearing as far back as the Triassic, became truly dominant for the first time. Pterosaurs in

3888-432: The fossil record. The Late Cretaceous spans from 100 to 66 million years ago. The Late Cretaceous featured a cooling trend that would continue in the Cenozoic Era. Eventually, tropics were restricted to the equator and areas beyond the tropic lines experienced extreme seasonal changes in weather. Dinosaurs still thrived, as new taxa such as Tyrannosaurus , Ankylosaurus , Triceratops and hadrosaurs dominated

3960-651: The margins of Laurentia at about 750 Ma occurs at about the same time as the deposition of the Rapitan Group in North America, contemporaneously with the Sturtian in Australia. A similar period of rifting at about 650 Ma occurred with the deposition of the Ice Brook Formation in North America, contemporaneously with the Marinoan in Australia. The Sturtian and Marinoan are local divisions within

4032-399: The middle period of the Neoproterozoic. During the Tonian, very early multicellular organisms may have evolved and diversified in oxygen "oases" in the deep oceans, which acted as cradles in these early stages of eukaryote evolution. However, the persistence of anoxia and euxinia over the late Tonian despite some increases in oxygen content meant eukaryotic diversity overall remained low. Over

4104-496: The most widespread and long-ranging glaciation on Earth." Several glacial periods are evident, interspersed with periods of relatively warm climate, with glaciers reaching sea level in low paleolatitudes. Glaciers extended and contracted in a series of rhythmic pulses, possibly reaching as far as the equator. The Cryogenian is generally considered to be divisible into at least two major worldwide glaciations. The Sturtian glaciation persisted from 720 to 660 million years ago, and

4176-459: The open sea. Metatherians and primitive eutherian also became common and even produced large and specialised genera such as Didelphodon and Schowalteria . Still, the dominant mammals were multituberculates, cimolodonts in the north and gondwanatheres in the south. At the end of the Cretaceous, the Deccan traps and other volcanic eruptions were poisoning the atmosphere. As this continued, it

4248-489: The period also saw the origin of heterotrophic plankton , which would feed on unicellular algae and prokaryotes , ending the bacterial dominance of the oceans. The unicellular algae ( Archaeplastida ) went through a big bang of diversification, and their population went up by a factor of a hundred to a thousand. Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the era of Earth's geological history , lasting from about 252 to 66 million years ago , comprising

4320-437: The planet, and about 10° C higher than today. The circulation of oxygen to the deep ocean may also have been disrupted, preventing the decomposition of large volumes of organic matter, which was eventually deposited as " black shale ". Different studies have come to different conclusions about the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere during different parts of the Mesozoic, with some concluding oxygen levels were lower than

4392-641: The poles got seasonally colder, but some dinosaurs still inhabited the polar forests year round, such as Leaellynasaura and Muttaburrasaurus . The poles were too cold for crocodiles, and became the last stronghold for large amphibians such as Koolasuchus . Pterosaurs got larger as genera such as Tapejara and Ornithocheirus evolved. Mammals continued to expand their range: eutriconodonts produced fairly large, wolverine -like predators such as Repenomamus and Gobiconodon , early therians began to expand into metatherians and eutherians , and cimolodont multituberculates went on to become common in

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4464-578: The ratio of chromium-53 to chromium-52, whereas bacterial reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) is associated with negative chromium isotope excursions. Following the riverine transport of oxidised chromium into the ocean, the reaction reducing Cr(VI) back into Cr(III) and subsequently oxidising ferrous iron into ferric iron is highly efficient at sequestering Cr(VI), as is the precipitation of Cr(III) with ferric oxyhydroxide, meaning that chemically precipitated chromium isotope ratios in sediments abundant in ferric iron accurately reflect seawater chromium isotope ratios at

4536-581: The start of the Cryogenian, around 750 Ma, the cratons that made up the supercontinent Rodinia started to rift apart. The superocean Mirovia began to close while the superocean Panthalassa began to form. The cratons (possibly) later assembled into another supercontinent called Pannotia , in the Ediacaran . Eyles and Young state, "Most Neoproterozoic glacial deposits accumulated as glacially influenced marine strata along rifted continental margins or interiors." Worldwide deposition of dolomite might have reduced atmospheric carbon dioxide. The break up along

4608-439: The time of deposition. Because efficient oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) is only possible in the presence of the catalyst manganese dioxide, which is only stable and abundant at high oxygen fugacities, a positive excursion of δCr indicates an increase in atmospheric oxygen concentrations. Banded iron formations (BIFs) deposited during the Neoproterozoic consistently display highly positive δCr values, from 0.9% to 4.9%, demonstrating

4680-472: The time scale of the Cambrian Period is not reckoned by rock younger than a given age (538.8 million years), but by the appearance of the worldwide Treptichnus pedum diagnostic trace fossil assemblages, which can be recognized in the field without extensive lab testing. Currently, there is no consensus on what global event is a suitable candidate to mark the start of the Cryogenian Period, but

4752-506: The top of the food chain. The first true crocodiles evolved, pushing the large amphibians to near extinction. All-in-all, archosaurs rose to rule the world. Meanwhile, the first true mammals evolved, remaining relatively small, but spreading widely; the Jurassic Castorocauda , for example, had adaptations for swimming, digging and catching fish. Fruitafossor , from the late Jurassic Period about 150 million years ago,

4824-531: Was about the size of a chipmunk, and its teeth, forelimbs and back suggest that it dug open the nests of social insects (probably termites , as ants had not yet appeared) ; Volaticotherium was able to glide for short distances, such as modern flying squirrels . The first multituberculates such as Rugosodon evolved. The Middle Jurassic spans from 175 to 163 million years ago. During this epoch, dinosaurs flourished as huge herds of sauropods, such as Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus , filled

4896-928: Was comparatively mild. The sole major Mesozoic orogeny occurred in what is now the Arctic , creating the Innuitian orogeny , the Brooks Range , the Verkhoyansk and Cherskiy Ranges in Siberia, and the Khingan Mountains in Manchuria. This orogeny was related to the opening of the Arctic Ocean and suturing of the North China and Siberian cratons to Asia. In contrast, the era featured

4968-537: Was distant from its shores, temperatures fluctuated greatly, and the interior probably included expansive deserts . Abundant red beds and evaporites such as halite support these conclusions, but some evidence suggests the generally dry climate of the Triassic was punctuated by episodes of increased rainfall. The most important humid episodes were the Carnian Pluvial Event and one in the Rhaetian ,

5040-538: Was dominated by deserts in the interior of the Pangaea supercontinent. The Earth had just witnessed a massive die-off in which 95% of all life became extinct, and the most common vertebrate life on land were Lystrosaurus , labyrinthodonts , and Euparkeria along with many other creatures that managed to survive the Permian extinction. Temnospondyls reached peak diversity during the early Triassic. The Middle Triassic, from 247 to 237 million years ago, featured

5112-602: Was still dominated by cycads and ferns until after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. Some plant species had distributions that were markedly different from succeeding periods; for example, the Schizeales , a fern order, were skewed to the Northern Hemisphere in the Mesozoic, but are now better represented in the Southern Hemisphere. The extinction of nearly all animal species at the end of

5184-485: Was the height of archosaur diversity, and the first birds and eutherian mammals also appeared. Some have argued that insects diversified in symbiosis with angiosperms, because insect anatomy , especially the mouth parts, seems particularly well-suited for flowering plants. However, all major insect mouth parts preceded angiosperms, and insect diversification actually slowed when they arrived, so their anatomy originally must have been suited for some other purpose. At

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