The Jurassic ends
The Atlantic is open, the continents are scattering, and flowering plants are about to appear.
- When
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Cretaceous, Mesozoic
The period closes at 143.1 million years ago without a mass extinction, ending instead in gradual turnover. Sauropods and stegosaurs decline as new groups rise, the fragmenting continents drive regional differences between faunas for the first time, and the sea level stays high. In the Cretaceous that follows, flowers appear and remake every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth.