How was the Mesozoic Era

Many years before the arrival of human beings, the Earth was very different from how we know it today, other beings inhabiting the globe and the terrestrial distribution being very different. To know the situation of our planet a few years ago and learn some things about its characteristics and evolution, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to offer you a summary of the Mesozoic Era so that you know better this stage of our history.

To begin with this summary of the Mesozoic Erato, also called the Age of Dinosaurs, Secondary Age or Cycad Age, you have to know what it is one of the divisions of the geological scale, being the one after the Paleozoic and the one before the Cenozoic, this being the reason why it is called Mesozoic, since it comes from the Greek word that was used to talk about something that was between two things.

Regarding its chronology we can say that the exact years may vary, since in the Prehistoryit is difficult to give an exact beginning and end years. Even so, the years in which the period is usually located are between

about 251 million years ago and its end around 66 million years ago. It must be taken into account that these large numbers of years are due to the evolution in those years it was extremely slow, taking a long time to see great changes that would motivate us to differentiate epochs.

The reason why the Mesozoic Era is considered to be one of the most important in history of our planet is because during its duration a series of changes appeared that today are of vital importance. The appearance of new species of animals and plants very common today and the transition to a climate similar to the current one.

To continue this summary of the Mesozoic Era we have to know how this stage is divided. Like all the great eras of prehistory, the Mesozoic also has a number of subdivisions, which we can differentiate depending on the type of main characteristics that passed into them. There are three subdivisions, although they are in turn divided into smaller ones, varying by many factors.

Triassic

The Triassicis the first of the three subdivisions of the Mesozoic Era, encompassing from 251 million years ago to about 201 million years ago. It is characterized by the terrestrial domination of the dinosaurs, by the aerial dominance of the pterosaurs and by the appearance of the first mammals.

Jurassic

The Jurassicis the midpoint of the Mesozoic Era, being located between 201 million years ago and 145 million years ago. It was a stage characterized by the increase of ferns, gymnosperms, and by the increase of the classes of dinosaurs. It is possibly the period of history most related to dinosaurs, due to the great predominance that they came to have.

Cretaceous

The last of the divisions of the Mesozoic Era is that of the Cretaceous, going from 145 million years ago to about 66 million years ago. It is characterized by the appearance of many currently common species, such as birds, marsupials, and crocodiles. At the end of the period, the event K / Pg, when the fall of a meteorite produced several mass extinctions of the dinosaurs, which until that moment had dominated the planet.

To conclude this lesson on the Mesozoic Era we must talk about the main characteristics of the It was, since it is the best way to see the great differences that it has with respect to other stages of our story. The main characteristics of the Mesozoic Era are as follows:

• The earth movement during this stage was minimal, since the supercontinent of that time, Pangea, barely moved to form the current continents, being a process that would continue for millions of years.
• The weather was predominant warm and dry, especially in the innermost part of Pangea. This was one of the main reasons for the appearance of so many and diverse species.
• The sea level varied largely throughout the millions of years that the Mesozoic period lasted. That is why it is considered that the closer we get to the end of the stage, the higher the sea level that we can observe.
• Due to the great extent of the Permian in the Mesozoic a large number of new creatures appeared, the great archosaurs that ruled the land for centuries are a good example.
• New classes of animals appeared, such as first birds or first placental mammals. These creatures so common today were able to survive extinctions and come to the present day as one of the most important classes of animals.
• The calls angiosperms, that is, flowering plants, spread throughout the world throughout the period, occupying the warmer areas at first, and moving through the terrain at the same time as the temperatures increased.
• Angiosperms gradually replaced ferns and cycads in the world landscape, being the predominant plants in many areas since that time.
• The number of insects increased and the species became more diverse, it is thought that this was due to the large number of angiosperms that appeared and the relationship between insects and flowers.
• In the last years of the era they began to dominate small animals, since the great extinctions and the enormous changes of temperature caused that the creatures of greater size will begin to decay.