Mesozoic

context: The Early Triassic was between 250 million to 247 million years ago and was dominated by deserts as Pangaea had not yet broken up, thus the interior was nothing but arid. The Earth had just witnessed a massive die-off in which 95% of all life went extinct. The most common life on earth were Lystrosaurus, Labyrinthodont, and Euparkeria along with many other creatures that managed to survive the Great Dying. Temnospondyli evolved during this time and would be the dominant predator for much of the Triassic.
qas: answers: text: Early Triassic
question: What era was 250 million to 247 million years ago?

answers: text: deserts
question: What geologic climate was found in the Early Triassic?

answers: text: Pangaea
question: What landmass was still unbroken in the Early Triassic?

answers: text: 95%
question: What percentage of extinction of species had recently happened??

answers: text: Temnospondyli
question: What species had evolved after  the extinction and would become the basic predator in the Triassic?

context: The climatic changes of the late Jurassic and Cretaceous provided for further adaptive radiation. The Jurassic was the height of archosaur diversity, and the first birds and eutherian mammals also appeared. Angiosperms radiated sometime in the early Cretaceous, first in the tropics, but the even temperature gradient allowed them to spread toward the poles throughout the period. By the end of the Cretaceous, angiosperms dominated tree floras in many areas, although some evidence suggests that biomass was still dominated by cycad and ferns until after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction.
qas: answers: text: climatic changes
question: What event produced further adaptations during  the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods?

answers: text: Jurassic
question: When was the top of archosaur diversity?

answers: text: Angiosperms
question: What species spread towards the poles during the Jurassic?

answers: text: angiosperms
question: What species dominated many tree floras by the end of the Cretaceous period?

answers: text: cycad and ferns
question: What types of species are thought to still have been dominate until after the extinction?

context: The lower (Triassic) boundary is set by the Permian–Triassic extinction event, during which approximately 90% to 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates became extinct. It is also known as the "Great Dying" because it is considered the largest mass extinction in the Earth's history. The upper (Cretaceous) boundary is set at the Cretaceous–Tertiary (KT) extinction event (now more accurately called the Cretaceous–Paleogene (or K–Pg) extinction event), which may have been caused by the impactor that created Chicxulub Crater on the Yucatán Peninsula. Towards the Late Cretaceous large volcanic eruptions are also believed to have contributed to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Approximately 50% of all genera became extinct, including all of the non-avian dinosaurs.
qas: answers: text: Permian–Triassic extinction
question: What event sets the boundary for the Triassic?

answers: text: 70%
question: How many terrestrial species died during the extinction?

answers: text: Great Dying
question: What is the largest extinction of species in Earth's history known as?

answers: text: 90% to 96%
question: What percentage of marine life died during the extinction?

answers: text: K–Pg) extinction
question: What is the possible cause of the upper Cretaceous extinction event ?

context: The Late Cretaceous spans from 100 million to 65 million years ago. The Late Cretaceous featured a cooling trend that would continue on in the Cenozoic period. Eventually, tropics were restricted to the equator and areas beyond the tropic lines featured extreme seasonal changes in weather. Dinosaurs still thrived as new species such as Tyrannosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Triceratops and Hadrosaurs dominated the food web. In the oceans, Mosasaurs ruled the seas to fill the role of the Ichthyosaurs, and huge plesiosaurs, such as Elasmosaurus, evolved. Also, the first flowering plants evolved. At the end of the Cretaceous, the Deccan traps and other volcanic eruptions were poisoning the atmosphere. As this was continuing, it is thought that a large meteor smashed into earth, creating the Chicxulub Crater in an event known as the K-T Extinction, the fifth and most recent mass extinction event, in which 75% of life on earth went extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs. Everything over 10 kilograms went extinct. The age of the dinosaurs was over.
qas: answers: text: 100 million to 65 million years
question: What is the span of the Late Cretaceous period?

answers: text: cooling
question: What weather trend ocured in the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic periods?

answers: text: tropics
question: What climate was restricted to the equatorial areas?

answers: text: extreme seasonal changes
question: What type of weather changes did areas outside of the tropics experience?

answers: text: K-T Extinction
question: What event ended the age of the dinosaur by causing a 75% extinction?

context: The climate of the Cretaceous is less certain and more widely disputed. Higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are thought to have caused the world temperature gradient from north to south to become almost flat: temperatures were about the same across the planet. Average temperatures were also higher than today by about 10°C. In fact, by the middle Cretaceous, equatorial ocean waters (perhaps as warm as 20 °C in the deep ocean) may have been too warm for sea life,[dubious – discuss][citation needed] and land areas near the equator may have been deserts despite their proximity to water. The circulation of oxygen to the deep ocean may also have been disrupted.[dubious – discuss] For this reason, large volumes of organic matter that was unable to decompose accumulated, eventually being deposited as "black shale".
qas: answers: text: climate
question: What is uncertain about the Cretaceous?

answers: text: carbon dioxide
question: What atmospheric gas caused temperatures levels to be 10 degrees higher than today?

answers: text: deserts
question: During the Cretaceous what climate was thought to be found in areas near the seas?

answers: text: black shale
question: What did large amounts of deposited un-decomposed organic matter later become?

answers: text: temperatures
question: What was about equal across the planet?

context: The Late Triassic spans from 237 million to 200 million years ago. Following the bloom of the Middle Triassic, the Late Triassic featured frequent heat spells, as well as moderate precipitation (10-20 inches per year). The recent warming led to a boom of reptilian evolution on land as the first true dinosaurs evolve, as well as pterosaurs. All this climatic change, however, resulted in a large die-out known as the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, in which all archosaurs (excluding ancient crocodiles), most synapsids, and almost all large amphibians went extinct, as well as 34% of marine life in the fourth mass extinction event of the world. The cause is debatable.
qas: answers: text: 237 million to 200 million years
question: What was the span of the Late Triassic?

answers: text: heat spells
question: Besides moderate precipitation, what weather conditions did the Late Triassic have?

answers: text: Triassic
question: When did the first dinosaurs evolve?

answers: text: Triassic-Jurassic extinction
question: According to theory, what did climate change in the Late Triassic cause?

answers: text: crocodiles
question: What was the only archosaur to survive the fourth mass extinction?

context: The Early Cretaceous spans from 145 million to 100 million years ago. The Early Cretaceous saw the expansion of seaways, and as a result, the decline and extinction of sauropods (except in South America). Many coastal shallows were created, and that caused Ichthyosaurs to die out. Mosasaurs evolved to replace them as head of the seas. Some island-hopping dinosaurs, like Eustreptospondylus, evolved to cope with the coastal shallows and small islands of ancient Europe. Other dinosaurs rose up to fill the empty space that the Jurassic-Cretaceous extinction left behind, such as Carcharodontosaurus and Spinosaurus. Of the most successful would be the Iguanodon which spread to every continent. Seasons came back into effect and the poles got seasonally colder, but dinosaurs still inhabited this area like the Leaellynasaura which inhabited the polar forests year-round, and many dinosaurs migrated there during summer like Muttaburrasaurus. Since it was too cold for crocodiles, it was the last stronghold for large amphibians, like Koolasuchus. Pterosaurs got larger as species like Tapejara and Ornithocheirus evolved.
qas: answers: text: 145 million to 100 million years
question: What is the span of the Early Cretaceous?

answers: text: expansion of seaways
question: What event of the Early Cretaceous caused the extinction of several species?

answers: text: Ichthyosaurs
question: What species died out due to the expansion of coastal shallows?

answers: text: Mosasaurs
question: What species dominated the seas?

answers: text: Iguanodon
question: What dinosaur spread to every continent?

context: Sea levels began to rise during the Jurassic, which was probably caused by an increase in seafloor spreading. The formation of new crust beneath the surface displaced ocean waters by as much as 200 m (656 ft) more than today, which flooded coastal areas. Furthermore, Pangaea began to rift into smaller divisions, bringing more land area in contact with the ocean by forming the Tethys Sea. Temperatures continued to increase and began to stabilize. Humidity also increased with the proximity of water, and deserts retreated.
qas: answers: text: increase in seafloor
question: What caused the sea to rise during the Jurassic?

answers: text: flooded coastal areas
question: Rising seas and displaced waters caused what  element along the coasts?

answers: text: Tethys Sea
question: Pangaea beginning to break apart created what new sea?

answers: text: Temperatures
question: What weather condition increased?

answers: text: deserts
question: As humidity increased what land area decreased?

context: The Early Jurassic spans from 200 million years to 175 million years ago. The climate was much more humid than the Triassic, and as a result, the world was very tropical. In the oceans, Plesiosaurs, Ichthyosaurs and Ammonites fill waters as the dominant races of the seas. On land, dinosaurs and other reptiles stake their claim as the dominant race of the land, with species such as Dilophosaurus at the top. The first true crocodiles evolved, pushing out the large amphibians to near extinction. All-in-all, reptiles rise to rule the world. Meanwhile, the first true mammals evolve, but remained relatively small sized.
qas: answers: text: 200 million years to 175 million
question: What is the span of years for the Early Jurassic?

answers: text: Plesiosaurs
question: Besides Ichthyosaurs and Ammonites, what was the other dominate species in the seas?

answers: text: Dilophosaurus
question: What was the highest order of species n land?

answers: text: true mammals
question: What other order evolved during the Jurassic?

answers: text: more humid
question: What feature of the climate produced a more tropical world?

context: Compared to the vigorous convergent plate mountain-building of the late Paleozoic, Mesozoic tectonic deformation was comparatively mild. The sole major Mesozoic orogeny occurred in what is now the Arctic, creating the Innuitian orogeny, the Brooks Range, the Verkhoyansk and Cherskiy Ranges in Siberia, and the Khingan Mountains in Manchuria. This orogeny was related to the opening of the Arctic Ocean and subduction of the North China and Siberian cratons under the Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless, the era featured the dramatic rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea. Pangaea gradually split into a northern continent, Laurasia, and a southern continent, Gondwana. This created the passive continental margin that characterizes most of the Atlantic coastline (such as along the U.S. East Coast) today.
qas: answers: text: Mesozoic
question: At what time was tectonic formation mild?

answers: text: Arctic
question: Where did the basic geological changes of this period occur?

answers: text: Pangaea
question: What supercontinent split to form two smaller continents?

answers: text: Laurasia
question: What was the northern continent split from Pangaea?

answers: text: Gondwana
question: What was Pangaea's southern continent called?

context: Recent research indicates that the specialized animals that formed complex ecosystems, with high biodiversity, complex food webs and a variety of niches, took much longer to reestablish, recovery did not begin until the start of the mid-Triassic, 4M to 6M years after the extinction and was not complete until 30M years after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Animal life was then dominated by various archosaurian reptiles: dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and aquatic reptiles such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs.
qas: answers: text: specialized animals
question: What type of animals took longer to reestablish?

answers: text: 30M years
question: How long after the Permian-Triassic extinction did animal recovery take to completion?

answers: text: mid-Triassic
question: When did recovery of these diverse animals begin?

answers: text: reptiles
question: What dominated animal life in the Triassic?

answers: text: 4M to 6M
question: How many years after the extinction did animal recovery begin?

context: The era began in the wake of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the largest well-documented mass extinction in Earth's history, and ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, another mass extinction which is known for having killed off non-avian dinosaurs, as well as other plant and animal species. The Mesozoic was a time of significant tectonic, climate and evolutionary activity. The era witnessed the gradual rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea into separate landmasses that would eventually move into their current positions. The climate of the Mesozoic was varied, alternating between warming and cooling periods. Overall, however, the Earth was hotter than it is today. Non-avian dinosaurs appeared in the Late Triassic and became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates early in the Jurassic, occupying this position for about 135 million years until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous. Birds first appeared in the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs. The first mammals also appeared during the Mesozoic, but would remain small—less than 15 kg (33 lb)—until the Cenozoic.
qas: answers: text: Permian–Triassic extinction
question: At what point did the Mesozoic era begin?

answers: text: Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction
question: When did the Mesozoic end?

answers: text: tectonic
question: What kind of geologic activity occurred during the Mesozoic?

answers: text: evolutionary
question: Besides climate changes, what other important activity occurred during the Mesozoic?

answers: text: Cenozoic
question: When mamals appeared they remained small until what period?

context: The Middle Triassic spans from 247 million to 237 million years ago. The Middle Triassic featured the beginnings of the breakup of Pangaea, and the beginning of the Tethys Sea. The ecosystem had recovered from the devastation that was the Great Dying. Phytoplankton, coral, and crustaceans all had recovered, and the reptiles began to get bigger and bigger. New aquatic reptiles evolved such as Ichthyosaurs and Nothosaurs. Meanwhile, on land, Pine forests flourished, bringing along mosquitoes and fruit flies. The first ancient crocodilians evolved, which sparked competition with the large amphibians that had since ruled the freshwater world.
qas: answers: text: 247 million to 237 million
question: What is the span of years of the Middle Triassic?

answers: text: breakup of Pangaea
question: What continuing event began in the Middle Triassic?

answers: text: the Great Dying
question: From what had the ecosystem had to recover?

answers: text: Tethys Sea
question: During the breakup of Pangaea, what sea was created?

answers: text: reptiles
question: What type of animal began to flourish and become increasingly large?

context: The Late Jurassic spans from 163 million to 145 million years ago. The Late Jurassic featured a massive extinction of sauropods and Ichthyosaurs due to the separation of Pangaea into Laurasia and Gondwana in an extinction known as the Jurassic-Cretaceous extinction. Sea levels rose, destroying fern prairies and creating shallows in its wake. Ichthyosaurs went extinct whereas sauropods, as a whole, did not die out in the Jurassic; in fact, some species, like the Titanosaurus, lived up to the K-T extinction. The increase in sea-levels opened up the Atlantic sea way which would continue to get larger over time. The divided world would give opportunity for the diversification of new dinosaurs.
qas: answers: text: 163 million to 145 million
question: How many years did the Late Jurassic cover?

answers: text: sauropods and Ichthyosaurs
question: What did the separation of Pangaea cause to become extinct?

answers: text: Jurassic-Cretaceous extinction
question: What is the extinction caused by the splitting of Pangaea called?

answers: text: Sea levels rose
question: What caused the destruction of fern prairies and increasing shallows?

answers: text: Atlantic sea
question: What did the rise in sea levels open in the seaways? 

context: The Triassic was generally dry, a trend that began in the late Carboniferous, and highly seasonal, especially in the interior of Pangaea. Low sea levels may have also exacerbated temperature extremes. With its high specific heat capacity, water acts as a temperature-stabilizing heat reservoir, and land areas near large bodies of water—especially the oceans—experience less variation in temperature. Because much of the land that constituted Pangaea was distant from the oceans, temperatures fluctuated greatly, and the interior of Pangaea probably included expansive areas of desert. Abundant red beds and evaporites such as halite support these conclusions, but evidence exists that the generally dry climate of the Triassic was punctuated by episodes of increased rainfall. Most important humid episodes were the Carnian Pluvial Event and one in the Rhaetian, few million years before the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event.
qas: answers: text: dry
question: What was the general rainfall in the Triassic?

answers: text: Low sea levels
question: What could have made temperatures more extreme?

answers: text: desert
question: Because of distance form the sea and wide variance in temperatures, what was the interior of Pangaea like?

answers: text: increased rainfall
question: What were there periods of during the Triassic?

answers: text: increased rainfall
question: What was the Carnian Pluvial event?

context: The dominant land plant species of the time were gymnosperms, which are vascular, cone-bearing, non-flowering plants such as conifers that produce seeds without a coating. This is opposed to the earth's current flora, in which the dominant land plants in terms of number of species are angiosperms. One particular plant genus, Ginkgo, is thought to have evolved at this time and is represented today by a single species, Ginkgo biloba. As well, the extant genus Sequoia is believed to have evolved in the Mesozoic.
qas: answers: text: gymnosperms
question: What was the dominant plant species of the Mesozoic?

answers: text: conifers
question: What is an example of a gymnosperm?

answers: text: angiosperms
question: What are the dominate plant species on Earth now?

answers: text: Mesozoic
question: When did the Ginkgo evolve?

answers: text: Sequoia
question: What famous tree species is believed to have evolved during the Mesozoic?