31-Dec-17
Approximately 4.54 billion years ago (-/+ 1%) the history of
one of these planets, 'earth' began.
31-Dec-17
Following a shockwave from a nearby supernova, a cloud of
interstellar gas began to collapse into a young T Tauri type star.
As the star grew, its gravity drew in more gas and dust. As
the gas and dust got denser, a process of runaway accretion began, forming
primitive planets
31-Dec
A planetoid has formed from the gas and dust in the
accretionary disk The Hadean eon has
begun. Earth's history starts now.
1-Jan
This period is informally referred to as the 'cryptic era'.
Very little geological evidence exists of this time.
The earth looks very different right now. The planet is hot.
The sparse crust is weak and thin. Impacts constantly pummel the surface,
recycling any rocks that form.
1-Jan
The early Earth is a soup of different elements. The heavier
elements such as iron and nickel begin to sink to the centre. Lighter silicates
rise upwards. This process of differentiation begins the formation of a
primitive core, mantle and crust
7-Jan
A cataclysmic impact occurs as a planet the size of Mars
collides with the Earth. The vast amounts of material ejected in the impact
coalesce and form the Earth's moon.
The Earth is left with a jaunty axial tilt, and a new
companion.
11-Jan
By now, a crust has began to form on the surface of the
Earth. Minerals form as magma cools and crystallises, including the small but
hardy mineral, zircon.
One zircon grain from this time survives, to be found many,
many years later in Jack Hills, Australia.
11-Jan
A very special substance also seems to be on the surface at
this time:
Water.
Did the Earth have primitive oceans by this point? Evidence
from Jack Hills says 'maybe'.
20-Jan
Primitive oceans can be found on the surface by now.
Undersea volcanic eruptions form hydro-thermal vent systems.
At these vents, small deposits of carbon are left behind. The isotopic
composition of this carbon gives a hint that life may have been involved.
30-Jan
Blog Post - January Month in Review and the Jack Hills
Zircons
2-Feb
These are varves, meaning annual layers of lake sediment
showing the seasonal climate change like tree rings do. Each layer one year,
around 1 mm thick. We climbed more than 100,000 years to have these views
11-Feb
Stirrings in the outer solar system send countless asteroids
on a collision course with the earth and moon. The surface is pummelled by an
incredibly high rate of meteorite impacts in what is called the "Late
Heavy Bombardment"
?(Garcia-Castellanos)
? @danigeos
11-Feb
From looking at the moon (whose surface hasn't experienced
the erasing effect of plate tectonics and erosion) we can estimate that as many
as 22,000 objects collided with the earth during this period, and approx 40 as
large as the object which formed the Chicxulub crater
13-Feb
The Hadaen eon has ended.
We are now in the Archean Eon.
The first era of the Archean is the Eoarchean.
5-Mar
the Late Heavy Bombardment has ended. The earth is granted a
reprieve as the rate of surface impacts returns to the normal background level
17-Mar
The Eoarchean has ended -
we are now in the Paleoarchean
3-Apr
Whilst the exact timing is hard to pin down, at some point
recently, it appears that life on earth began.
It starts off very simple...
3-Apr
This early life consists of microscopic single celled
organisms called archaea - similar to bacteria, but distinct.
These archaea clung to hydrothermal vents in the dark anoxic
waters of the early earth. With virtually no oxygen, these creatures were
instead 'methanogens'.
3-Apr
Biological systems interact with the environment in unique
ways, leaving behind hints in the carbon that passes through them. These carbon
isotope signatures are one way in which life can be inferred. There may even be
direct evidence from tiny microfossils in the Apex Chert.
3-Apr
The Apex Chert preserves one of these ancient hydrothermal
vents. Microscopic structures in the chert appear to be fossils of this ancient
Archean life:
25-Apr
The Paleoarchean has ended -
we are now in the Mesoarchean
25-Apr
During this time, the temperature was not too different from
present day earth.
The young sun's output was only 70% of its current energy,
but theatmosphere had a greater concentration of CO2 giving a balancing
greenhouse effect
25-Apr
The surface is bare. No plants, no soil. Just bare rock.
Life still only exists as simple, single celled organisms. Look closely in
places and you might see a thin film of bacterial goo, or in the sea,
stromatolite reefs
19-May
The Mesoarchaen has ended -
we are now in the Neoarchean
19-May
The Neoarchean is the last era of the Archean era.
Feels like just yesterday the Archean started, but it's
actually been 1.2 billion years. Heading quickly towards the halfway point now
28-Jun
The Neoarchean has ended, concluding the Archean eon.
We're now in the first era of the Proterozoic eon - the
Paleoproterozoic
28-Jun
A strain of cyanobacteria have evolved a neat trick - the
ability to produce energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis turns out to be
incredibly useful, and the population booms.
A byproduct of this process is a substance quite toxic to
most forms of life at the time - oxygen.
28-Jun
The young oceans are rich in dissolved metal, but this new
oxygen literally causes them to rust. Layer upon layer of iron is deposited on
the ocean floor. These banded iron formations will one day be an important
resource for a future species
28-Jun
This additional oxygen also affects the atmosphere. Methane,
a powerful greenhouse gas is replaced with CO2 and the temperature starts to
drop
29-Jun
The weak sun and the dimished greenhouse effect plunges the
earth into an ice age.
The Huronian glaciation has begun
8-Jul
One issue with ice caps is their colour - the white
reflective surface bounces back energy from the sun, rather than absorbing it.
As the ice caps grow, it gets colder, This causes the ice caps to grow, and get
colder.... ??????
8-Jul
This runaway glaciation causes ice caps to stretch across
the northern and souther hemispheres as close to the equator as modern day
Somalia, or the northern tip of Australia. ????????????
1-Aug
Finally, the ice age ends. Likely due to renewed volcanic
activity increasing CO2, runaway global warming restores the earth to a more
comfortable tempature.
The Huronian glaciation is over
6-Aug
Let’s recap – we’re about 2.61 billion years into Earth’s
history, with another 1.84 billion years remaining.
Life on earth consists only of prokaryotes (bacteria and
archaea) - incredibly simple single celled organisms.
2.5Ga and all we have so far is pond scum...
6-Aug
But around about this time, life started to get a little bit
more complicated…
Eukaryotes are the basis of plants, fungi, amoebas, animals
as well as others, and the appearance of these tiny cells marks the next big
step in the evolution of life.
6-Aug
What sets eukaryotes apart from prokaryotes is a nucleus
enclosed within the cell as well as
‘organelles’, extra bodies within the cell that can perform different
functions (e.g. mitochondria).
6-Aug
By looking at modern day cells and their organelles the
relationship between eukaryotes, and the prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) can
be inferred.
The DNA of a eukaryote nucleus shares more commonality with
archaea, but the organelles are more closely related to bacteria.
6-Aug
Whilst it’s hard to say precisely how the two came to be
together, this joint effort is certainly one of the most successful examples of
symbiosis in Earth’s history.
Watch this space – you’ll see eukaryotes doing some pretty
cool things one day ????????
6-Aug
Of course!! ?? ????????
(These are the closest I have to prokaryote emoji - perhaps
more will be available after the Holocene)
Earth added,
large stromatolite (1 meter across) from the 2.72 billion
year old Tumbiana Formation in Australia
Jeff Havig
@JeffHavig
And by 'pond scum', I'm sure you respectfully mean the
development of some of the most elegant and important microbial metabolisms,
some of which helped drive converting an entire planetary system from a
reducing…
30-Aug
The Paleoproterozoic has ended - we are now in the
Mesoproterozoic
5-Sep
This period of time is affectionately known as the ‘boring
billion’. On the face of it, not much is happening....
5-Sep
But looking closely, our new friends the eukaryotes have
been busy. Only the tiniest traces of
microscopic fossils remain from this time,
but by analysing the genetics of modern life, we can learn a little
about life in the past.
5-Sep
By looking at the rate of genetic change, a ‘molecular
clock’ can be used to work out the rate at which species diverge. Run that
clock backwards approximately 1.5 billion years and you have a common ancestor
of all modern eukaryotes appearing around about this time.
18-Sep
Don't call it a fungus or animal yet, but the opisthokonts,
the branch of life that will one day become fungi and animals just diverged
from the rest of the eukaryotes
30-Sep
Those cells are getting hungry - fossil evidence suggests
that some eukaryotic life from this time evolved the ability to envelope and
consume other cells.
The earth's first predators - but only one cell big
2-Oct
Through the slow drift of plate tectonics the larger
continent of Laurasia has collided with several smaller continents. A vast
mountain belt as large as the Himalayas (maybe even bigger) stretches across
the equator at the point where the continents crumple together.
2-Oct
The resulting supercontininent, Rodinia now dominates the
earth
3-Oct
?? NSFW ??
Another neat trick Eukaryotes have: the ability for two
individual cells to combine half their genetic material when creating
offspring.
3-Oct
Sexual reproduction has many advantages over simple asexual
reproduction, including increasing the rate that beneficial traits can appear
in a population.
This process eventually becomes quite popular with many
species.
12-Oct
The Mesoproterozoic has ended.
We are now in the Neoproterozoic.
The first period of the Neoproterozoic is Tonian Period
15-Oct
With a little bit of help from cyanobacteria, a group of
eukaroytes, the rhodophya, or 'red algae' have developed the ability to
photosynthesise.
They drift in the oceans, soaking up the proterozoic sun ??
5-Nov
The Tonian period has finished.
Wrap up warm - it's beginning to look a lot like the
Cryogenian ????
5-Nov
The balance of the climate tips towards cold. As ice caps
form, they reflect sunlight, causing the temperature to drop further.
Runaway glaciation begins the Sturtian ice age.
At times, ice stretches as far as the equator, creating a
Snowball Earth
7-Nov
The deep freeze is finally broken. CO2 levels 350 times
higher than the present day provide a blanket that can melt even the thickest
ice caps.
8-Nov
What has life been up to during the deep freeze?
Somewhere under the ice, things have moved on. From single
cells to one of the very first animals.
The most complex organism the earth has yet seen - simple
sponges only a few mm across.
9-Nov
Not another ice age!
The Earth is plunged into a deep freeze yet again as the
Marinoan ice age takes hold
10-Nov
The Marinoan ice age ends, marking the end of the
Cryogenian.
We are now in the Ediacaran period.
15-Nov
The complexity of animal life begins to increase rapidly. In
the 'Avalon Explosion' creatures with many brand new body plans and lifestyles
begin to appear. Some of the first are jellyfish like, such as Aspidella
16-Nov
Some of the new animals feature *weird* tri-radial symmetry,
unlike anything else that exists later in the fossil record. The trilobozoa are
a unique, jellyfish like animals, but may turn out to be an evolutionary dead
end.
16-Nov
More new body plans have evolved and a few groupings have
appeared
We've seen the radial and tri-radial symmetry of the
jellyfish like animals, and the Trilobazoa, but now some animals are trying out
bi-lateral symmetry
16-Nov
The Bilateria are have bilateral symmetry, a feature shared
with virtually every animal that comes after.
The Proarcticulata also have bilateral symmetry, but subtle
differences suggests they have a different heritage, and lead to another
evolutionary dead end
16-Nov
The Ediacaran seas are starting to get a little busier now,
with the blob like Dickinsonia wriggling through the soft mud, and the almost
plant like Charnia waving in the currents.
18-Nov
The Ediacaran ends, along with the Proterozoic.
We are now in the Phanerozoic, the fourth and final eon.
The eon begins with the Cambrian period, the first of the
Paleozoic era.
19-Nov
During this period, an event termed the ‘Cambrian Explosion’
occurs.
Animals rapidly diversify and increase their complexity,
evolving exciting new things like shells and exoskeletons!
The Brachiopods, some of the most successful shell makers,
appear round this time
20-Nov
From shells, to exoskeletons - Trilobites, the first
arthropods appear on the scene.
But just as soon as they arrive, so does something to eat
them- Anomolacaris the Cambrian super predator munches its way around the
seabed.
20-Nov
Pikaia are worm like animals, but have a stiff column of
nerves running down their body.
This backbone-like feature makes it one of the first
Chordates - perhaps some animals will do some novel things with this design
soon!
22-Nov
The Cambrian has finished. We are now in the Ordovician
period.
26-Nov
The Ordovician has finished. We are now in the Silurian
period.
26-Nov
The end of the Ordovician was marked by a sudden, sharp ice
age.
As the ice recedes, small, greenish plants are found growing
at the edges of streams and lakes.
These tiny primitive mosses may have inadvertently
destabilised the entire climate, just from colonising the land...
26-Nov
In the seas, fish are becoming extremely successful - with
backbones and armour, the species that appeared in the Ordovician, and the
lived through the ice age are flourishing
26-Nov
There's plenty of sea for Silurian fish to swim in - the
supercontinents of Laurasia and Gondwana dominate the face of the earth
27-Nov
Fish have developed the first jaws - a great place to keep
your teeth!
27-Nov
The slow colonisation of the land continues with Cooksonia,
the first vascular plants.
The barren planet is starting to look a little greener
around the edges
27-Nov
(important note - those aren't flowers yet! wait till next
month! ??)
27-Nov
Living on dry land is HARD -
- the sun is hot and will dry you out ??
- there's no water buoyancy to support your weight ??
- it's more difficult to breath the air vs dissolved oxygen
???
- it's also really difficult to have sex ??
The first land animals had many obstacles -
27-Nov
Arthropods, with their protective exoskeletons had a head
start, but still stayed close to the edge of the water.
Along the shorelines of a Silurian lakes, arachnids and
centipedes now scuttle between the scarce cover of the Cooksonia plants
27-Nov
In the sea, things are getting more diverse.
Several distinct groups of fish can now be found
#NAME?
#NAME?
#NAME?
#NAME?
#NAME?
What's next for fish? ??????
28-Nov
The Silurian has finished. We are now in the Devonian
period.
The age of the fish has begun ??????
28-Nov
If you're swimming in the Devonian sea, watch out for
Dunkleosteus.
- It can grow up to 9m long
- it'll eat anything
- it doesn't have teeth, it just crushes you with its jaw
- did I mention it's as big as a car?
28-Nov
The first ammonites begin to appear in the seas.
These swirly shelled molluscs could adjust the amount of air
trapped inside their shell to swim at different depths, and moved around by
squirting jets of water behind them.
30-Nov
The earth is now unrecognisable from how it appeared in the
early Devonian.
An explosion in the complexity of plant life has occured and
the continents are covered with the first forests of primitive trees, ferms,
lycopods and horsetails.
30-Nov
As the diversity of plants increased, so did the diversity
of a particular type of arthropods - the insects.
These 6 legged invertebrates thrive in the diverse range of
habitats now available on land.
30-Nov
Lobe fined fish have short, stubby fins, making them well
adapted for shallow bodies of water.
Panderichthys even had the ability to breathe air, and wade
through the mud if it got too shallow!
1-Dec
Tiktaalik has just made its way onto dry land for the first
time!! Its appearance in the fossil record bridges the evolutionary gap between
primitive aquatic animals and later tetrapods, as it has characteristics of
both.
(by @WilliamsCollege GEOS 101)
2-Dec
Icthyostega is well adapted to living on land now, with its
four legs and a strong ribcage and lungs. It still spends time close to the
water though, and has large tail for swimming.
Tetrapods - four legged vertebrates, have arrived
2-Dec
Sea levels drop, oxygen in the water becomes scarce.
Placoderms, the armoured fish, become extinct along with
most jawless fish.
The effect is so severe on the fish population, that only
the smaller species are left.
2-Dec
The Devonian has finished. We are now in the Carboniferous
period ????
2-Dec
The start of the Carboniferous is quiet, with life still
recovering from the extinction events at the end of the Devonian.
This period of time is known as "Romer's Gap" due
to the relative lack of fossils
3-Dec
Perderpes is the first fully terrestrial tetrapod.
The transition from fish to land animal is complete!
4-Dec
Vertebrate life has got its mojo back - we've reached the
end of Romer's gap
4-Dec
Vast rainforests cover the earth. The development of bark
and strong wood enables trees to never before seen heights.
The thick forest cover leaves behind deep organic deposits
that will eventually be found as wide ranging coal deposits across Europe and
North America
4-Dec
In order to best hop from tree to tree, some insects adopt a
very handy technique - flight.
Life takes to the sky for the first time!
4-Dec
The Carboniferous forests and swamps are an amphibian's
paradise.
Whilst some like Westlothiana (aka Lizzie) appear lizard
like, they are still closer to amphibians, both by relationship and lifestyle
??
5-Dec
The collision of Laurasia into supercontinent Gondwana in the
late Carboniferous
produced the Appalachian Mountain belt that we know today.
This was just one of many
mountain-building events that will culminate in the
formation of Pangea.
(by @WilliamsCollege GEOS 101)
7-Dec
A drastic change in climate causes the earth to become
hotter and drier.
The damp, wet rainforests that covered the continent die
back, leaving only scattered tree cover.
This is particularly tough on amphibians, who suffer a huge
cut back in their range and variety.
7-Dec
This new climate, however, favours a group more adapted to
drier conditions: the amniotes.
Amniotes are like the existing amphibians, but can lay eggs
with tough shells that don't dry out, allowing them to live on the dry land far
from water ??
7-Dec
The Carboniferious has finished. We are now in the Permian
period.
8-Dec
At the start of the Permian Period, the ancient continent
Gondwana collided with Euramerica, forming (almost all of) the supercontinent
Pangea. The mighty continent lived for 100 million years before it began to
break up in the Jurassic.
(by @WilliamsCollege GEOS 101)
8-Dec
The Permian sees tetrapods further diverse into new groups
with new shapes and lifestyles
8-Dec
Diadectes cuts out the meat to become the first herbivorous
tetrapod. It could also get big!
At up to 3m in length it was one of the largest and
sturdiest land animals so far
8-Dec
Dimetrodon was a fierce predator of the early Permian with
an unmissable 'sail' formed by elongated spines extending from its vertebrae.
The sail may have served as a method of temperature regulation, or perhaps it
was just used to attract mates
8-Dec
Dimetrodon is often mistaken for a dinosaur.
Not only does it predate the dinosaurs, but as a Synapsid,
rather than a Sauropsid, it is more closely related to later mammals than to
dinosaurs or reptiles
9-Dec
Ginkgo biloba appear in the fossil record. Part of a species
lineage that is essentially unchanged throughout its tenure on Earth, the
ginkgo is a deciduous seed-bearing plant with beautiful forked leaves.
(by @WilliamsCollege GEOS 101)
10-Dec
Before the archosaurs pop up and start getting all the
attention, Procynosuchus, one of the first Cynodonts arrives.
Cynodonts are related to Synapsids like Dimetrodon, but have
a jaw more like the mammals that are yet to come.
11-Dec
At the boundary between the Permian and Triassic, an
extinction event known by some as 'The Great Dying' occurs
11-Dec
Great Dying was the largest extinction event in Earth’s
history, eliminating most marine & terrestrial species. The culprit? The
Siberian Traps, A HUGE igneous province erupted tons of lava & CO2, warmed
the atmosphere & perturbed ocean chemistry
(@WilliamsCollege GEOS101)
11-Dec
CO2 is released into the atmosphere faster than the system
can compensate for. The atmosphere warms, warming the ocean. The ocean loses
capacity to hold CO2 as it warms, causing a dramatic feedback loop.
Surface temps rise dramatically
11-Dec
The warm ocean can hold less dissolved gas than the cooler
ocean. The sea's ability to draw down CO2 diminishes.
The oxygen levels drop. Anoxia sets in and huge swathes of
the ocean become uninhabitable.
The seas are suffocating.
11-Dec
After thriving for nearly 270 million years, trilobites
unfortunately meet their demise at the end of the Permian – although theirs was
in fact a slow decline. These ancient arthropods were extremely diverse, and
inhabited virtually every aquatic niche
(@williamscollege GEOS101)
11-Dec
The anoxic seas encourage the growth of sulphate reducing
bacteria. Huge quantities of hydrogen sulfide are released into the atmosphere,
punching holes in the ozone layer.
Life on land, already struggling to deal with the heat now
has to also deal with dangerous levels of UV
11-Dec
The Great Dying extinction list:
- 96% marine species
- 70% terrestrial vertebrates
- 9 insect orders eradicated, 10 reduced in diversity
- 50% reduction in plant species diversity
11-Dec
The Permian has finished, ending the Paleozic era.
We are now in the Triassic, the first period of the Mesozoic
era
The era of the dinosaurs has begun ????
12-Dec
Life has slowly begun to bounce back from the Great Dying.
Lystrosaurus was one of the lucky ones that made it through
the extinction. Now this herbivorous therapsid is free to roam across all of
southern Pangea without many predators to hold it back
12-Dec
A group of small, upright Archosaurs also made it through
the mass extinction.
These small, nimble predators were the first of the
Dinosaurs
15-Dec
Odontochelys has had enough of the land, and heads back to
the sea.
This (possible) Archosaur has a protective carapace on its
back and has adapted legs for swimming. Like their descendants, the turtles,
they return to the shore to lay eggs
15-Dec
Pangaea is largely intact; only parts of Asia have broken
off from the supercontinent. Therapsids (more metabolically active reptiles)
are flourishing.
Bony fish dominate the global ocean--Panthalassa, which
comprises of much of the earth's water.
(by @WilliamsCollege GEOS101)
15-Dec
Watch out above, because Pterosaurs have taken to the skies.
These lightweight archosaurs are able to fly with wings
constructed from skin stretched between extremely elongated fingers.
15-Dec
This isn't the first group of animals to develop flight -
that was the insects. In a great example of convergent evolution, archosaurs
have taken on a brand new approach to achieve to the same thing as another
species.
15-Dec
Also doing well in the sea are Icthyosaurs - by the late
Triassic this group is highly adapted to living in the sea, with streamlined
bodies and fins, and birthing live young rather than laying eggs so they can
roam the global ocean without barriers
15-Dec
Having made it through the end Permian extinction, Cynodonts
have advanced and are looking more and more mammalian.
But with the prime ecological spots being taken up by the
reptiles and dinosaurs, early mammals are relegated to the niches with many
being nocturnal insectivores
15-Dec
The precise cause is hard to pin down, but around this time,
a possible combination of medium sized asteroid impacts, large igneous
provinces and sea level rise has a devastating impact on life, causing another
mass extinction.
15-Dec
At the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, 42% of
terrestrial tetrapods go extinct, as did many species of plants.
With these ecological niches open, the stage is now truly
set for the dinosaurs
15-Dec
The Triassic has finished. We are now in the Jurassic
period.
16-Dec
Around the start of the Jurassic, the true Sauropods diverge
and diversify from the Prosauropods.
These long necked herbivores are already growing as large as
3 tonnes, but the early individuals like Vulcanodon are tiny compared to what
is to come!
16-Dec
Along with Ichthyosaurs, the Jurassic seas were also stalked
by the large marine reptile, Plesiosaurus.
With sharp teeth, a long neck and front & back legs
adapted to paddles, this was an agile, dangerous predator of fish and
belemnites
17-Dec
Angiosperms (or flowering plants) plants evolve 140-180
million years ago. Some research suggests that selective pressure from grazing
dinosaurs influenced the origination of this diverse and dominant group of
plants.
(by @WilliamsCollege GEOS101)
17-Dec
Huayangosaurus is a herbivorous Ornithischian dinosaur, and
one of the earliest Stegosaurians- a group known for their distinctive armor.
Watch out for those tail spikes - the tail was flexible and
capable of inflicting severe damage to predators!
17-Dec
(fun fact - the tail spikes are often called a 'thagomizer',
a name not coined by scientists, but in fact by cartoonist Gary Larson)
27-Aug
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Promoted
17-Dec
Actually, all facts about dinosaurs are cool.
Promoted Tweet
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17-Dec
The breakup of Pangea has begun.
Continental rifting stretches and thins the crust until it
ruptures. Continental crust gives way to young, oceanic crust. Ocean floods in
to fill the depression.
Pangea splits into Laurasia and Gondwanaland. The Tethys sea
stretches between.
19-Dec
Diplodocus is one of the longest animals to ever live on
earth. This massive herbivore could get so big, that there wasn't a single
predator capable of taking one down when it was fully grown!
19-Dec
The biggest danger on the plains is the apex predator,
Allosaurus.
Weighing over a tonne and with serrated teeth, there were
very few things that don't fear this carnivore
19-Dec
Stegosaurus is one of the most distinctive dinosaurs to roam
the plains of the *Jurassic*. Like it's predecessors, it has a sharp thagomizer
to protect it from predators.
The plates on its back are so large, they may have also
served a decorative purpose
19-Dec
The flying reptiles, the Pterosaurs are doing well in the
Jurassic, appearing in a wide range of sizes, shapes and lifestyles.
However, yet another group of animals is going to work out
how to fly
19-Dec
Archeopteryx is a small, Therapod dinosaur but with well
developed feathers and a elongated 'fingers' it had the ability to take flight.
For now, it shares the skies with reptiles, but one day the
birds will rule the roost ????????
20-Dec
The Jurassic has finished. We are now in the Cretaceous
period.
19-Dec
The wait is over! #Aquaman is NOW PLAYING in theaters.
Promoted by Aquaman Movie
20-Dec
The continental rifting that began in the Triassic
continues.
Laurasia begins to open, separating into Asia and the North
American continent.
Antarctica and Australia break from Gondwana. India remains
tucked in to the Eastern side.
11h11 hours ago
The Cretaceous has not been a great time for the
Stegosaurids. Wuerhosaurus is the last of its kind - the diversity of the group
declined markedly recently.
Perhaps the rise of angiosperms, the flowering plants has
not been too good on its stomach?
8m8 minutes ago
Neovenator is a Creteaceous cousin of the Allosaurus, and is
one of the largest and fiercest predators of this time.
However by the end of the cretaceous, a completely different
apex predator will arise...
