Mezozoiku

Mezozoiku is the Basque-language term for the Mesozoic era in the geological time scale. Spanning roughly 252 to 66 million years ago, it sits between the Paleozoic and Cenozoic eras and encompasses the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. The era is characterized by major evolutionary and geological changes, including the diversification of dinosaurs, the appearance of the first groups of modern birds, and the rise of flowering plants (angiosperms). The Mesozoic witnessed the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea and the reorganization of ocean basins, with sea levels generally high but fluctuating.

In the Triassic, ecosystems recovered after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction; archosaurs and synapsids were prominent, and some of the earliest dinosaurs and mammals appeared. The Jurassic saw the evolution of iconic dinosaurs and widespread conifer forests; marine reptiles and ammonites flourished, and continental fragments continued to drift apart. The Cretaceous featured further diversification of dinosaurs, the spread of flowering plants, and broader groups of insects and other organisms. End-of-era mass extinction about 66 million years ago, likely caused by a combination of volcanic activity and an asteroid impact, led to the extinction of most dinosaur lineages and many other organisms, paving the way for the Cenozoic.

In modern usage, Mezozoiku appears in Basque-language geology texts, museums, and educational materials to refer to this era and its subintervals.