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
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
Hell Creek Formation
Cretaceous
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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
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
…tetrapods weighing more than 25 kg (55 lb), excepting some ectothermic species such as sea turtles and crocodilians. It marked the ends of both the Cretaceous period and the Mesozoic era, and logged the beginning of the current geological era, the Cenozoic era. In the geologic record, the K–Pg event is marked…
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