Evolution of Ichthyosaurs- Large Aquatic Reptiles In the early 1800’s, a new discovery that left paleontologists in awe was the fossil finding of the immeasurable amount of species of reptiles, Ichthyosaurs. Greek for “fish lizards”, these fossils were found all over the world. Because these large aquatic reptiles migrated just as whales do today, paleontologists have had the amazing advantage of collecting fascinating bone fragments throughout the past 177 years. Ichthyosaurs swam the ocean
Marry Anning and the Fossil Hunters Despite the fact that Mary Anning's life has been made the subject of several books and articles, comparatively little is known about her life, and many people are unaware of her contributions to palaeontology in its early days as a scientific discipline. How can someone described as 'the greatest fossilist the world ever knew' be so obscure that even many paleontologists are not aware of her contribution? She was a woman in a man's England. Mary Anning
2. A stromatolite is a fossil of blue green algae, or cyanobacteria. They date back up to 3.5 billion years ago, and made other life possible by transforming earth’s atmosphere to one much more suited for terrestrial life, by creating oxygen gas. 3. Archean life was extremely basic, essentially making it harder for anything to go wrong with it. Life first appeared in an incredibly hostile environment, todays earth is much more hospitable and abundant with all sorts of life. 4. The Paleozoic era
many other species that were killed off. During what is known as the K-T extinction (K stands for Cretaceous, T stands for Tertiary), many species and families became extinct. These include all marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, and ammonites, swimming and flying reptiles, sea crocodiles, and foraminifera. In addition to that there were many bony fish, sponges, snails, clams, and sea urchins became extinct. Paleontologists have proposed scenarios that could have caused
Dinosaurs Dinosaur is the name of large extinct reptiles of the Mesozoic Era, during which they were the dominant land animals on Earth. The term was proposed as a formal zoologic name in 1842 by the British anatomist Sir Richard Owen, in reference to large fossil bones unearthed in southern England. The various kinds of dinosaurs are classified in two formal categories, the orders Saurischia and Ornithischia, within the subclass Archosauria. The first recorded dinosaur remains found consisted
Medieval Mythical Creatures The medieval times were filled with many events that have helped to shape our society today such as the rise of the bubonic plague, the birth of feudalism, the growth of the Catholic Church, and among these is the beginning tales of mythical monsters. The stories of mythical monsters were spurred by the imagination of men who saw an unusual creature or something unexplainable. A world renown German physicist by the name of Albert Einstein claimed, “The true sign of intelligence
are some of the largest carnivorous reptiles ever discovered, even rivaling Tyrannosaurus which lived during the Cretaceous Period, although the pliosaurs was not a dinosaur but distant cousins of modern turtles ranging from 4 to 15 meters. The ichthyosaurs were at their height, sharing the oceans with the plesiosaurs, huge marine reptiles covering the globe. The Jurassic Period of our earth’s history was one of great change. It began with a major extinction even, bounced back, and was yet again
What can we learn about the current and future environment from the paleo-environment in Big Bend National Park? Transgression and Regression of Mid- to Upper Cretaceous Seas Cretaceous Rock Formations of The Big Bend Area TRANSGRESSION/REGRESSION The cycles of the ocean waters rising (transgressing) and receding (regressing) are known as transgressive-regressive cycles. The mid- to Upper Cretaceous rocks in the Big Bend area of southwest Texas encompasses rock ages from approximately
Exploration of Gower Peninsula Swansea is located on the beautiful Gower Peninsular, the UK's first designated 'area of outstanding natural beauty'. Although much of the city's architectural heritage was destroyed in war time bombing, its wide sandy