Article
Article
Jurassic
Article By:
Hallam, Anthony Department of Geology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Last reviewed:November 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.361100
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The period and system of rocks deposited during the middle part of the Mesozoic Era from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic Period encompasses an interval of time between about 201 and 145 million years ago, based on radiometric dating (Fig. 1). It takes its name from the Jura Mountains of Switzerland. Its rich marine invertebrate faunas in western Europe have been the subject of intensive study since the pioneering days of geology in the early nineteenth century, and provided the basis for the fundamental stratigraphic concepts of stages and biozones. See also: Dating methods
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