 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Late Jurassic" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Late/Upper Jurassic | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 161.5 ± 1.0 – ~143.1Ma | |||||||||
.png) A map of Earth as it appeared 155 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Epoch, Oxfordian Age | |||||||||
| Chronology | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Etymology | |||||||||
| Chronostratigraphic name | Upper Jurassic | ||||||||
| Geochronological name | Late Jurassic | ||||||||
| Name formality | Formal | ||||||||
| Usage information | |||||||||
| Celestial body | Earth | ||||||||
| Regional usage | Global (ICS) | ||||||||
| Time scale(s) used | ICS Time Scale | ||||||||
| Definition | |||||||||
| Chronological unit | Epoch | ||||||||
| Stratigraphic unit | Series | ||||||||
| Time span formality | Formal | ||||||||
| Lower boundary definition | Not formally defined | ||||||||
| Lower boundary definition candidates | Horizon of theAmmoniteCardioceras redcliffense. | ||||||||
| Lower boundary GSSP candidate section(s) | |||||||||
| Upper boundary definition | Not formally defined | ||||||||
| Upper boundary definition candidates |
| ||||||||
| Upper boundary GSSP candidate section(s) | None | ||||||||
TheLate Jurassic is the thirdepoch of theJurassic Period, and it spans thegeologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8million years ago (Ma), which is preserved inUpper Jurassicstrata.[2]
In Europeanlithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age.[3] In the past,Malm was also used to indicate the unit of geological time, but this usage is now discouraged to make a clear distinction between lithostratigraphic and geochronologic/chronostratigraphic units.
The Late Jurassic is divided into three ages, which correspond with the three (faunal) stages of Upper Jurassic rock:[citation needed]
| Tithonian | (149.2 ±0.7 – 143.1 ± 0.8 Ma) |
| Kimmeridgian | (154.8 ±0.8 – 149.2 ±0.7 Ma) |
| Oxfordian | (161.5 ± 1.0 – 154.8 ±0.8 Ma) |
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(May 2008) |
During the Late Jurassic Epoch,Pangaea broke up into twosupercontinents,Laurasia to the north, andGondwana to the south. The result of this break-up was the emergence of theAtlantic Ocean, which initially was relatively narrow.[citation needed]
This epoch is well known for many famous types ofdinosaurs, such as thesauropods, thetheropods, thethyreophorans, and theornithopods. Other animals, such as somecrocodylomorphs and the firstbirds, appeared in the Jurassic. Listed here are only a few of the many Jurassic animals:
