Jurassic Dinosaurs
When people think of dinosaurs, Jurassic dinosaurs are the type that usually comes to mind. These dinosaurs, made famous by the movie Jurassic Park, include the T. Rex, Velociraptor, Pterodactyl, and Brontosaur. These dinosaurs all lived during the Jurassic period, which is believed to have ranged several hundred million years ago. All that is left of the Jurassic dinosaurs are the bones and fossils that they have left in sedimentary rock for paleontologists to find.
Jurassic dinosaurs fall into several categories. These include Avian, Marine and Reptilian dinosaurs. It is believed that some mammalian dinosaurs may have once existed in the form of small, furred rodents. There is some evidence that massive sized rodents may have existed during the age of Jurassic dinosaurs, although this is primary still under discussion when the Mammalian dinosaurs existed.
In the age of Jurassic Dinosaurs, the earth was going through many alterations. It is during this period that the super continent where all life lived was beginning to break apart into several different pieces. South America and Africa, as well as Antarctica were beginning to split. North America was beginning to split off of the same continent base as what is now Europe, Russia and Asia. Due to the heavy tectonic plate activity going on during this period of time, much of the landscape was facing extreme alterations from the series of earthquakes and volcanic activity believed to have occurred during the time period.
It is due to the fact that the continents were once a single mass that the fossil records are shared across the nations of today. The fact that there are matches across the world for the same types of dinosaurs and age of the bones, which helps paleontologists working with geologists to get a better idea of how the earth's continents were formed.
As Jurassic dinosaurs lived in such a crucial time period in Earth's history, they tend to be among the most valuable of finds at dig sites. These bones tend to star in museums, as they are the largest, most impressive of the skeletons that can be found.
Plant life consumed by Jurassic dinosaurs are also among the more fascinating fossils that can be found. These are varied, with many different types of ferns as well as a broad range of conifers. Some of these plants, like several species of algae, are believed to be the first sign of modern plants that are still in existence today.
