The Jurassic period is a geologic period and system that spanned 56 million years from the end of the Triassic Period 201.3 million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period 145 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles. The start of the period was marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. Two other extinction events occurred during the period: the Pliensbachian-Toarcian extinction in the Early Jurassic, and the Tithonian event at the end; neither event ranks among the "Big Five" mass extinctions, however.
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about 96 miles (154 km), and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-December 2001.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum is a Canadian tourist attraction and a centre of palaeontological research known for its collection of more than 130,000 fossils.
Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of marine reptiles. Pliosauroids, also commonly known as pliosaurs, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The pliosauroids were crocodile-like short-necked plesiosaurs with large heads and massive toothed jaws. They were sauropterygian swimming reptiles, and were not dinosaurs. They originally included only members of the family Pliosauridae, of the order Plesiosauria, but several other genera and families are now also included, the number and details of which vary according to the classification used.
Tazoudasaurus is a genus of vulcanodontid sauropod dinosaurs hailing from the Early Jurassic Toundoute Group located in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco in North Africa. The remains, consisting of a partial adult skeleton and associated partial juvenile skeleton found in continental detrital sediments of the Toarcian aged Toundoute Continental Series, were described by Ronan Allain et al. in early 2004. The generic name derives from one of the localities, Tazouda, while the specific descriptor is a latinization of the Arabic term for "slender" due to the animal's small size for a sauropod. Its fossil was found alongside that of Berberosaurus.
Kimmerosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the family Cryptoclididae, closely related to Tatenectes.
Liparoceras is an extinct fossil ammonite species from the Early Jurassic period of England, and is found in lower Lias deposits. Its name means 'fat head' and this is due to its broad shell. The venter is wide and finely ribbed with no keel and it has two rows of tubercules on each whorl.
Mamenchisauridae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs known from the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of Asia and Africa.
The Sundance Formation is a western North American sequence of Middle Jurassic to Upper Jurassic age marine shale, sandy shale, sandstone, and limestone deposited in the Sundance Sea.
Psiloceras is an extinct genus of cephalopod belonging to the ammonite subclass. Psiloceras fossils are commonly found at Watchet, Somerset, England. Here smooth-shelled Psiloceras planorbis are to be found as usually flattened fossils in the Blue Lias. Unlike most earlier ammonites, which had complex shell shapes and ornamentation, Psiloceras had a smooth shell.
The Fossil Forest is the remains of an ancient submerged forest from Jurassic times, located to the east of Lulworth Cove on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. It lies on the Jurassic Coast, on a wide ledge in the seaside cliff. The site is within the Lulworth Ranges and thus has restricted access. Parts of forest can also be seen on the Isle of Portland and in quarries near the town of Weymouth to the west.
Dinosaurland Fossil Museum is a privately owned fossil museum in Lyme Regis, on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, England. The museum is located in a historic Grade I listed former congregational church building.
Ostafrikasaurus is a genus of spinosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the Jurassic of Tendaguru, southeastern Tanzania. It contains a single species, Ostafrikasaurus crassiserratus.
Lytoceras is an ammonite genus that was extant during most of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, and is the type genus for the family Lytoceratidae. These cephalopods were fast-moving nektonic carnivores.
Lithacoceras is an extinct Ammonite cephalopod genus included in the superfamily Perisphinctoidea. These fast-moving nektonic carnivores lived during the Jurassic period, from the Oxfordian age to the Tithonian age.
Cadoceras is an extinct ammonite genus belonging to the Cardioceratidae that lived during the Jurassic period from the late Bajocian to the early Callovian.
The Etches Collection is a fossil museum in the village of Kimmeridge, Purbeck, Dorset, England. It is based on the lifetime collection of Steve Etches from the local area on the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site, especially around Kimmeridge Bay and the Kimmeridge Ledges.
Wareolestes rex is a mammaliaform from the Middle Jurassic Bathonian rocks of England and Scotland. It was originally known from isolated teeth from England, before a more complete jaw with teeth was found in Skye, Scotland.
The Valle Alto Formation is a geological formation of the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation is composed of shales, sandstones and conglomerates and dates to the Late Jurassic period. Ammonites and fossil flora have been found in the Valle Alto Formation.
