Chapter 16

Early
Mesozoic
Era
 Guiding Questions
• What groups of animals were conspicuous in
Triassic and Jurassic seas?
• What kinds of plants played major roles on
land in early Mesozoic time?
• Why did dinosaurs replace therapsids as the
dominant vertebrate animals on land?
• What groups of vertebrate animals evolved the
ability to fly during early Mesozoic time?
Early Mesozoic
• Bounded by mass
extinctions
• Recovery from
Permian mass
extinction of:
– Fusulinids
– Lacy bryozoans
– Rugose corals
– Trilobites
Early Mesozoic Life
• Mollusks are
abundant
– Ammonoids
• 2 genera diversity
to 100
– Stromatolites
returned to shallow
water
– Bivalves abundant
– Sea urchins
Early Mesozoic Life
• Reefs
– Hexacorals
– Dominant reef
builder
– Some resemble
rugose corals
Early Mesozoic Life
• Pelagic Realm
– Dinoflagellates
– Calcareous
nannofossils
– Ammonoids
• Rapid evolution
• 1 million year
range
Early Mesozoic Life
• Belemnoids
– Squid-like relatives
of Ammonoids
• Ammonoids were
important guide
fossils
 Early Mesozoic Life
• Fishes
- More modern - Scales covered bodies
- Skeletons of cartilage - Simple Jaws
- Peg-like teeth
Early Mesozoic Life
• Marine reptiles
– Placodonts
• Blunt-toothed shell
crushers
• Broad armored
bodies
 Early Mesozoic Life
• Marine reptiles
– Nothosaurs
• Early Triassic
• May be first marine reptiles
Early Mesozoic Life
• Plesiosaurs
– Evolved from
nothosaurs
 Early Mesozoic Life
• Ichthyosaurs
– Fish lizards
– Bore live young
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Tree-forming Gymnosperms
– Cycads
– Cycadeoids
– Ginkgos
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Mesozoic forests
looked very
different from
modern forests
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Early Mammals
– Mammals evolved
from therapsids
• Small
• Thecodonts
– Dinosaur ancestors
– Upper portion of
legs extended
downward rather
than sprawling
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Thecodont
descendents
– Dinosaurs
• Bipedal
• Different skull
• More highly
developed teeth
– Crocodiles
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Dinosaur evolution
– Bird-hipped
• Herbivores
– Lizard-hipped
• Herbivores
• Carnivores
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Sauropods
– Largest of all
dinosaurs
• Morrison Formation
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Allosaurus
– Largest carnivore
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Pterosaurs
– Long wings
– Hollow bones
– Flight
Early Mesozoic Life on Land
• Archaeopteryx
• Missing link
– Feathered
– Breastbone
 Paleogeography
• Pangaea began to separate
 Paleogeography
• Tethys seaway formed
– Site of modern Mediterranean
Paleogeography
• Rifting began
first in north,
then spread
south
 Paleogeography
• Salt domes
– Thick
evaporites
built up in
modern
Gulf of
Mexico
– Formed
salt domes
• Petroleum
reserves
 Triassic Mass Extinction
• Global warming
– Volcanic activity released high volumes of CO2
– Number of leaf stomates increased
• Cells that utilize CO2
Tectonic Events in Eastern U.S.
• Rifting created fault basins
– Evaporites accumulated as seawater leaked into
basin
Tectonic Events in Eastern U.S.
• Basins
– Filled with clastic
sediments
– Arkose rich
• Rapid deposition
Tectonic Events in Eastern U.S.
• Palisades Sill
– Mafic intrusion
associated with
rifting
– Near New York
City
Tectonic Events in Western U.S.
• Petrified Forest
– Chinle formation
– Utah and
Arizona
Tectonic Events in Western U.S.
• Sundance Sea
– Global sea level
rose
– Pacific flooded
western U.S.
Tectonic Events in Western U.S.
• Grew by accretion of
exotic terrane
– Island arc terranes
• Accreted Golconda Arc
– Microplates
• Accreted Sonomia
– Southeastern Oregon
– Northern California
and Nevada
Tectonic Events in Western U.S.
• Accretion
– Golconda Arc
– Sonomia
Tectonic Events in Western U.S.
• Subduction led to
intrusions
– Sierra Nevada
batholiths
• Additional
accretion
– Accretionary wedge
– Franciscan rocks
– Great Valley
turbidites
Tectonic Events in Western U.S.
• Sundance Sea
– Retreated as it filled
with sediments
– No flysch
deposition
– Significant molasse
• Morrison Formation
Dinosaurs
• Morrison
Formation
– Excavation of
dinosaur fossils
Dinosaurs
• Sinosauropteryx
– 60 cm long

• Maiosaura
hatchling
– 70 cm long
Dinosaurs
• Parasauralophus
– 3 m long
– Resonating
chamber in the
head
– Trumpeting for
communication
Dinosaurs
• Oviraptor
– Egg stealer
– small at 0.7 m in
size
Dinosaurs
• Protoarchtopterix
– Precursor of
feathers
– 60 cm in size
Volcanism & Mass Extinction
• Distribution of
igneous rocks of
the Central
Atlantic
Magmatic
Province
– formed at the end
of Triassic time
 Volcanism & Mass Extinction
• Evidence of increases in the concentration of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere and in mean annual temperature on Earth during
the Triassic-Jurassic transition