History of Earth - Triassic Period - (Mesozoic Era)

				TRIASSIC
				THE TRIASSIC PERIOD 251 TO 200 Million Years Ago
				The Age of Deserts The First Dinosaurs appear in a bleak post-Extinction World
. . . the Lord . . . led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts . . . - Jeremiah 2:6
Permian							Jurassic
\|------------\| Paleo-Geography
Pangea supercontinent combines all major landmasses Panthalassa combines all oceans except Tethys Climate very hot and dry with huge deserts Period ends in large extinction
Life
Fungi dominate devastated early Triassic landscape Therapsids flourish, then decline in size and number- ultimately becoming the first mammals (below right) Archosaurs wildly diversify, becoming the crocodilian Crurotarsi, the flying Pterosaurs, and Dinosaurs (right) Marine reptiles (Ichthyosaurs & Sauropterygia) flourish Gymnosperm trees (conifers, ginkos; cycads) thrive Turtles, modern amphibians, modern fish, modern corals and many modern insect groups appear
			Lystrosaurus (left) one of few Permian survivors, wandered widely over Triassic badlands (Image :John Sibbick)
					Early Dinosaurs move across the bleak Triassic world: Plateosaurus (back left) and Coelophysis (front) (Image: John Sibbick)
		Therapsids like Cynognathus (near right) dominated the early Triassic, but conditions favored the Archosaurs. TheTherapsids shrank and became the first Mammals (like Megazostrodon, far right). They stayed small and hidden in the Dinosaur Age that followed. (Image: Dorling Kindersley left, Piero Angela right)
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SOURCES: University of California Museum of Paleontology - Tour of Geologic Time Wikipedia - Geologic Time Scale Palaeos - Geological Time IInternational Commission on Stratigraphy By Corey Zak - CORZAK INTERACTIVE