CretaceousLate

The Late Cretaceous epoch represents the final period of the Mesozoic Era, spanning from approximately 100.5 to 66 million years ago. It was a time of significant evolutionary advancements and dramatic environmental shifts, culminating in the mass extinction event that marked the end of the dinosaurs. Throughout this period, Earth's continents continued to drift, with the supercontinent Pangaea having fully broken apart. This continental configuration influenced ocean currents and climate patterns, leading to generally warmer global temperatures compared to today.

Flora and fauna experienced a great diversification. Flowering plants, or angiosperms, rose to prominence, becoming a dominant part of terrestrial ecosystems and profoundly impacting herbivore evolution. Dinosaurs continued to thrive and diversify, with iconic groups like tyrannosaurids, ceratopsians, and hadrosaurs reaching their peak. Birds also underwent significant evolution, with many modern lineages beginning to appear. Marine reptiles such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs were top predators in the oceans, while ammonites remained abundant in the seas. The end of the Late Cretaceous was dramatically marked by the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event, widely believed to have been triggered by a massive asteroid impact, which led to the demise of most non-avian dinosaurs and many other species.