Mesozoic Era
The Mesozoic Era lasted about 180 million years, from about 245 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. The Mesozoic is divided into just three time periods: the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous. The supercontinents Gondwanaland and Laurasia collided some time back to form a single super-super continent called Pangea (All-Earth). But plate tectonics continues its irresistible motions, and even as we look, Pangea is beginning to break up into the continents we know now. At upper left, North America is just breaking away from the northwest coast of Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico are beginning to form. The Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States are a high, rugged mountain range, something like the Rocky Mountains of today. Over the next fifty million years or so, South America, India, and Antarctica will all break away from Africa and move toward their present positions.
Life is diversifying rapidly, and beginning to look familiar. The dominant animals on both land and sea are reptiles, the most famous of which are the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs began in the Triassic, spread during the Jurassic, and dominated Earth in the Cretaceous. They are so prominent that the Mesozoic is also called The Age of Reptiles. But dinosaurs are not the only life form around: birds and mammals also appear during the Mesozoic, as well as deciduous trees and flowering plants.
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