Triassic
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
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The earliest period of the Mesozoic Era, from about 245 to 208 million years ago. During the early part of the Triassic Period the supercontinent Pangaea was located along the equator; by the end of the Triassic it had started to split up. Land life diversified in the Triassic in response to the mass extinctions of the end of the Paleozoic. Conifers, cycads, marine reptiles, dinosaurs, and the earliest mammals first appeared.
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See Chart at geologic time
Other Word Forms
- post-Triassic adjective
Etymology
Origin of Triassic
1835–45; Trias the three-part series of strata characterizing the period (< German < Greek triás; triad ) + -ic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"These sharks became extinct during the Triassic period when around 96 per cent of creatures died out – that was far more than during the Cretaceous period which marked the end of the dinosaurs. "
From BBC
In the Triassic period - between about 250 and 201 million years ago - the wall was a tidal flat, which later became part of the Alpine chain.
From BBC
The fossils uncovered in this study date back about 200 million years to the end of the Triassic Period, a time when what is now the United Kingdom was located in warmer, tropical latitudes.
From Science Daily
The species lived at the end of the Triassic period, during which the first dinosaurs and the ancestors of mammals started to appear, the researchers said.
From Barron's
"The bones of Triassic pterosaurs are small, thin, and often hollow, so they get destroyed before they get fossilised," explained Dr Kligman.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.