EarthComm Earth System Evolution: Changing Life and Your Community, Activity 4

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Earthsystem Evolution book
It's About Time/AGI

The Extinction Event at the End of the Mesozoic

  • A Blast from the Past, National Museum of Natural History
    This site offers several pages about the mass extinction at the end the Cretaceous period (at the end of the Mesozoic Era) and the beginning of the Tertiary Period (early Cenozoic Era).

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The Causes of Extinction

  • Chicxulub and the Cretaceous Tertiary Boundary, NASA/UA Space Imagery Center's Impact Cratering Series
    This site is under construction but it already has detailed information. In addition to a description of the asteroid hypothesis, the homage links browses to information about local and global effects of the impact, plus a glossary under the Students and Teachers button.

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To view information about paleoclimate before and after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, visit the following web sites:

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To view information about organisms living before and after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, visit the following web sites:

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To learn more about other mass-extinction events in Earth's history, visit the following web sites:

  • Mass Extinctions, Hooper Virtual Paleontological Museum
    Read a short discussion about mass extinctions in general. At the bottom of the page, select between two different menus to find descriptions of mass extinctions through the Phanerozoic and PreCambrian Eons.
  • Extinctions, About.com
    Interested in just browsing through different links on mass extinction. Try the selection under the Extinction section on About.com.

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