	Site Map \| FAQ in Daily Almanac for Nov 9, 2009 Search White Pages
Skip Navigation Home American Indian Heritage Month Atlas Encyclopedia Dictionary Thesaurus Features Quizzes Timelines Countries Slideshows

Fact Monster Kid's reference,
games, quizzes

Editor's Favorites

Cretaceous period

Cretaceous period (kritā'shus) [key], third and last period of the Mesozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, table), lasting from approximately 144 to 65 million years ago. The Cretaceous was marked, in both North America and Europe, by extensive submergences of the continents. Changes both in the earth's surface and in its flora and fauna brought the Mesozoic to a close.

Sections in this article:

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

More on Cretaceous period from Infoplease:

Cretaceous period: Historical Geology of the Period - Historical Geology of the Period The Lower Cretaceous Period At the beginning of the Lower ...
Table of Geological Periods - Table of Geological Periods It is generally assumed that planets are formed by the accretion of gas ...
Cretaceous period: Evolution of Plant and Animal Life - Evolution of Plant and Animal Life The Lower Cretaceous is characterized by a revolution in the ...
Roundup of Recent Science Discoveries, 1998 - Roundup of Recent Science Discoveries, 1998 Prehistoric Eggs The earliest fossil animal embryos, ...
megalosaur: meaning and definitions - megalosaur: Definition and Pronunciation

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Geology and Oceanography

Premium Partner Content

HighBeam Research

Related content from HighBeam Research on: Cretaceous period

Isotopic signals from late Jurassic-early Cretaceous (Volgian-Valanginian) sub-Arctic belemnites, Yatria River, Western Siberia (Journal of the Geological Society)

Atmospheric pCO2 and depositional environment from stable-isotope geochemistry of calcrete nodules (barremian, lower cretaceous, Wealden Beds, England) (Journal of the Geological Society)

The Early Cretaceous volcanic activity in the western part of the Gobi-Altay rift (Shiliin Nuruu, SW Mongolia) (Journal of Geosciences)

Ages and cooling history of the Early Cretaceous Caleu pluton: testimony of a switch from a rifted to a compressional continental margin in central Chile (Journal of the Geological Society)

A tectonic model for the Norwegian passive margin with implications for the NE Atlantic: Early Cretaceous to break-up (Journal of the Geological Society)

Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary subduction history of the Antarctic Peninsula (Journal of the Geological Society)

Late Cretaceous plesiosaur teeth from Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada. (Arctic)

Warm cretaceous earth: don't hold the ice. (indications of ice in Australia during Cretaceous period) (Science News)

Sediment Movement Along the Eastern Margin of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, as Revealed by Cross-stratification in the Dakota Formation, Washington County, Kansas.(Statistical Data Included) (Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science)

Global and regional palaeoceanographic changes as recorded in the mid-Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) sequence of the Ionian zone (NW Greece) (Journal of the Geological Society)

Additional search results provided by HighBeam Research, LLC. © Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.

Infoplease Tools