180-154 Million Years Ago

Upper Jurassic (also known as Malm) was an epoch of the Jurassic geologic period. It lasted from 161.2 million years ago to 145.5 million years ago.

It is divided into three ages:

Tithonian - The Tithonian is the final stage of the Late Jurassic Epoch. It spans the time between 150.8 million years ago and 145.5 million years ago. It is followed by the Berriasian stage of the Early Cretaceous Epoch.

The name is unusual in geological stage names because it is derived from Greek mythology. Tithonus was the son of Laomedon of Troy. He fell in love with Eos, the Greek goddess of dawn and finds his place in the stratigraphy because this stage, the Tithonian, finds itself hand in hand with the dawn of the Cretaceous.

Kimmeridgian – The Kimmeridgian is a stage of the Late Jurassic Epoch. It spans the time between 155.7 million years ago and 150.8 million years ago.

The stage takes its name from the town of Kimmeridge on the Dorset coast, England. The beach at Kimmeridge Bay is a good place for looking for fossils — there are specimens on the beach washed in by the tide.

The Kimmeridge Clay formation is the source for about 95% of the petroleum in the North Sea.

Oxfordian - The Oxfordian stage is the first stage of the Late Jurassic Epoch. It spans the time between 161.2 million years ago and 155.7 million years ago.

The stage takes its name from the city of Oxford in England.

This period was well known for many famous types of dinosaurs:

Sauropods:

Camarasaurs
Brachiosaurs
Diplodocids
Many smaller animals were flourishing:

Reptiles:

Lizards
Early mammals
Very early birds

The late Jurassic period sees the evolution of some of the greatest dinosaurs of all. The sauropods continue to flourish and to diversify, as the older Mid-Jurassic cetiosaurids are replaced by a diverse Late Jurassic fauna of camarasaurs, Brachiosaurs, and diplodocids. Some of these creatures attained tremendous size. The giraffe-like Brachiosaurus reached 22 metres and weighed 15 tons and more. The Seismosaurus, a more slender animal, exceeded 40 metres in length

In addition there were many other types of animals around at this time: a number of different types of mammals, crocodiles, turtles, lizards, frogs, flying reptiles (Pterosaurs), marine reptiles, and the first birds (Archaeopteryx).

 

These are some of the dinosaurs that existed throughout the Upper Jurassic Period.

Apatosaurus | Archaeopteryx | Brachiosaurus | Diplodocus | Kentrosaurus

Precambrian | Cambrian | Ordovician | Silurian | Devonian | Carboniferous | Permian | Upper Triassic | Lower Jurassic | Middle Jurassic | Upper Jurassic | Lower Cretaceous | Upper Cretaceous