The Cretaceous is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 Ma. It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth
The impact of a meteorite or comet is today widely accepted as the main reason for the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
Drawing of fossil jaws of Mosasaurus hoffmanni, from the Maastrichtian of Dutch Limburg, by Dutch geologist Pieter Harting (1866)
Scipionyx, a theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Italy
Facsimile of a fossil of Archaefructus from the Yixian Formation, China
The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, formerly known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, was a major mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth which occu
Cretaceous
…Cretaceous, coincident with the decline and extinction of previously widespread gymnosperm groups. The Cretaceous (along with the Mesozoic) ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, a large mass extinction in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, died out; it is widely thought to…
Discoscaphites iris, an ammonite from the Owl Creek Formation (Upper Cretaceous), in Owl Creek near Ripley, Mississippi
Rudist bivalves from the Late Cretaceous of the Omani Mountains, United Arab Emirates. Scale bar is 10 mm.
Tyrannosaurus was among the dinosaurs living on Earth before the extinction