LibGuides: Dinosaurs: Jurassic

Fast Facts

Time Period: 201 to 145 million years ago

Climate: Tropical greenhouse conditions worldwide

Animals: Giant dinosaurs, flying reptiles, first birds, small mammals, many different kinds of ocean life

Plants: Conifers and many cycads (evergreen, cone-bearing, palm-like plants)

Extinction Event: Triassic–Jurassic extinction event: 200 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic Period and the beginning of the Jurassic Period, between 70 and 75% of species went extinct. The most widely held theory attributes the extinction to volcanic eruptions.

Source: U.S. Geological Survey

Geography

Map via U.S. Geological Survey

Jurassic Period on Ancient Earth

Online Resources

Jurassic Period—201.3 to 145.0 MYA
Brief overview of the Jurassic Period in the United States from the National Park Service.
Jurassic Period
Detailed article from Encyclopedia Britannica including geology, climate, plants and animals.
Folded Forest: Defining the Jurassic Period
Article on the Jurassic Period for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History including the name, geology, and beginning and ending events.

Trek Through the Jurassic

Image by U.S. Geological Survey

Telling the Dinosaur Story: Part 2 Jurassic

Jurassic Animal Size Comparison

How to Survive the Jurassic Period

Books in the Library

Bony Back by Michael Dahl
Call Number: 567.915 DAH
Explains how scientists learn about dinosaurs and what their discoveries have revealed about Stegosaurus.
Long-Neck by Michael Dahl
Call Number: 567.913 DAH
Explains how scientists learn about dinosaurs and what their discoveries have revealed about Apatosaurus.
Long Arm by Michael Dahl
Call Number: 567.913 DAH
Provides information on the characteristics and the life of the dinosaur known as Brachiosaurus.
Megalosaurus by Susan H. Gray
Call Number: 567.912 GRA
How do scientists tell the bones of one dinosaur from those of another? How are they sure that all the bones are put together correctly? These are just a few of the questions that the history of Megalosaurus brings to light for young dinosaur fans.
Scutellosaurus and Other Small Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon
Call Number: 567.9 DIX
ISBN: 1404813306
Describes some of the smallest dinosaurs that ever lived including the Lesothosaurus, the Thecodontosaurus, the Compsognathus, the Caudipteryx, the Micropachycephalosaurus, the Archaeoceratops, the Bambiraptor, and the Scutellosaurus.
Stegosaurus and Other Plains Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon
Call Number: 567.9 DIX
ISBN: 1404806687
On the open plains, meat-eaters and plant-eaters battled for space and survival. Discover what these roaming dinosaurs had in common with animals on the plains today.

Jurassic Scenes

Ciechocinek Formation Reconstruction

Dinosaurs are based on material found on various locations of Northern Germany, and footprints of the underlying Drzewica Formation at the Holy Cross Mountains.

Illustration by Lucas Attwell via Wikimedia Commons

Europasaurus holgeri Scene

Painting of a late Jurassic Scene on one of the large island in the Lower Saxony basin in northern Germany. It shows an adult and a juvenile specimen of the sauropod Europasaurus holgeri and iguanodons passing by. There are two Compsognathus in the foreground and an Archaeopteryx at the right.

Illustration by Gerhard Boeggemann via Wikimedia Commons