Cretaceous
The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system from circa 145 - 4 to 66 million years (Ma) ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the Cenozoic era.
The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels and creating numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. At the same time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a large mass extinction. (wiki)
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Canaima National Park | The erosion of the Cambrian Sandstone/Quartz plateau which resulted in the current Tepui landscape and led to its "island" evolutionary aspects commenced c 100 mybp | |
| Dinosaur Provincial Park | The Dinosaur Park Formation, which contains most of the fossils from articulated skeletons, was primarily laid down by large rivers in very warm temperate coastal lowlands along the western margin of the Western Interior Seaway. The formation dates to the Late Campanian, about 75 million years ago (wiki) Also in WH Review | |
| Guanacaste | The geological diversity is also of interest. It has 24,000ha of a serpentine barren (periodyte) on the Santa Elena Península, which has existed for more than 85 million years above sea level. It has pyroclastic areas in Santa Rosa NP (Miocene) and Pleistocene volcanic complexes in the region of the Orosi and Cacao volcanoes (Guanacaste NP) (AB ev) | |
| Huangshan | It features numerous imposing peaks, whose formation dates back some 100 million years to the Mesozoic era (AB ev) | |
| Jeju | Volcanic activity on Jeju began approximately in the Cretaceous and lasted until the early Tertiary period. (Wiki) | |
| Mammoth Cave | Mammoth Cave exhibits 100 million years of cave-forming action and presents nearly every type of cave formation known. (Nom file) | |
| Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha | The late Cretaceous period, the Sichuan Movement, Emei original shape of the sedimentary layer of the level of deformation, displacement, there has been uneven degree of fold, faults of varying scale. | |
| Mount Sanqingshan | The Sanqingshan granites are notable for the compact occurrence of three different types of granite which were formed during the late Cretaceous period. (AB ev) | |
| Nahanni National Park | Dramatic mountain-building began approximately 110 million years ago when molten volcanic rock from deep within the earth rose to within 3000 m of the surface where it hardened and cooled. This force pushed up the sedimentary rock above and around the intrusion, creating the mountain ranges that surround the Nahanni River. (Parks Canada website) | |
| Namib Sand Sea | Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55-80 million years, the Namib is also the oldest desert in the world. (wiki) | |
| Pantanal | No Final do Cretáceo, esforços tensionais relacionados ao soerguimento em blocos da plataforma brasileira relacionado à orogênese Andina, promoveu um processo de desestabilização tectônica, acontecendo os dobramentos e falhamentos. | |
| Phoenix Islands | Atoll and reef island development began when the volcanic foundations were still emergent islands in the Cretaceous to Eocene periods (AB ev) |
Suggestions?
Do you know of another WHS we could connect to Cretaceous?
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