The Jurassic period was made famous by the film "Jurassic Park."
The Jurassic Period, part of the Mesozoic Era, was a very different world than what exists today. More than 200 million to 150 million years ago, the continents were not continents, and many of the landforms and rocks that existed during the Jurassic Period would eventually be covered up by rising waters and shifting tectonic plates. The Jurassic Period is notable for the changes in land distribution and rock forms found all over the world.
Pangea
Pangea was a supercontinent that existed more than 200 million years ago. The seven continents present in modern society did not exist but were instead one landform. Scientists cite fossil evidence that Pangea existed. Similar species and plant forms are found on continents now separated by thousands of miles of ocean. The first split of Pangea happened in the Jurassic Period, separating North America and Africa
Guizhou Red Rocks
Guizhou is a province in northwestern China. The area is renowned for its breathtaking red rocks, similar to the cliffs of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The red mountains littered with waterfalls were formed during the Jurassic Period more than 200 million years ago. At that time, the area was an inland lake. Now the lake is gone, but the red sandstone still remains, as do the same ferns that grew in the valley millions of years ago.
Jurassic Coast
The Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon, near the southwest corner of England, is home to some of the most notable landforms from the Mesozoic Era, specifically from the Jurassic Period. The Lyme Regis, comprised of limestone and dark, muddy rock, is known as one of the best places around the world to gather fossils from the Jurassic Period. The fossils are sea creatures from when the waters were much higher, including plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, ammonites and other fish. Scientists particularly focus on an area west of Lyme Regis known as the ammonite graveyard.
Death Valley
Although Death Valley, California, has geologic roots so ancient that landforms from earlier than the Jurassic Period are present, there are still a number of landforms from the Jurassic Period available to see, Specifically, the Hunter Mountain pluton is a monzonite quartz horneblend that can be found around the park. There are also varieties of volcanic rock that come from both the Jurassic Period and the Cretaceous Period. These are unique from the other rocks in the park in that they contain a large volume of fossils.
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