USGS
usgs.gov › youth-and-education-in-science › mesozoic
Mesozoic | U.S. Geological Survey
There were climatic variations due to alternating wet/dry and cold/hot seasons that influenced the distribution of plant communities.
Lyell Collection
lyellcollection.org › doi › abs › 10.1144 › gsjgs.142.3.0433
A review of Mesozoic climates | Journal of the Geological Society
There is overwhelming evidence, based on the distribution of distinctive sediments and fossils and oxygen isotope data, that the climate of the Mesozoic world was appreciably more equable than that of today, with no polar ice caps, but precise quantitative data are not available. Except for an episode of late Cretaceous cooling there is no good documentation of any significant change in global temperature distributions through the era.
Trying to figure out the truth around one of those broad, sweeping statements about the climate during the mesozoic...
It was warmer on average, that’s true. It was still cold enough for snow and ice in some regions, though, so Pachyrhinosaurus probably would have seen some snow. What show said the Pleistocene was our first ice age? Sure, they’re relatively rare, and the last one occurred all the way back in the Permian, but saying ice had never existed is just wrong. More on reddit.com
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August 26, 2024What was the best part of the Mesozoic Era?
Cretaceous, the era of go big or go home. It even ended like a boss. More on reddit.com
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March 17, 2020How would you summarize each period in the Mesozoic?
Triassic is good enough. "Our journey continues in the period denominated the Jurassic. The supercontinent of Pangaea has split into two landmasses - Laurasia and Gondwana. While not as arid as the Triassic, the climate is still hot and humid, with forests extending into the poles. Following a brief extinction event, out of literal ash, the dinosaurs rose like a phoenix, quickly dominating their environment in all shapes and sizes. Long-necked behemoths known as sauropods browsed above clashes between formidable carnivorous theropods and spiked stegosaurian prey. Flying reptiles known as pterosaurs patrolled the skies, and giant marine reptiles had their own dynasty. Their success will grant these species to rule some more million years, in which they will diversify even more." "Our journey ends in the Cretaceous period. Continental drift continues, as our world begins to take on a more familiar shape. The climate is still considerably warm. Dinosaurs remain in power, and have hit their evolutionary peak. Theropods continue their legacy with the largest carnivore to ever walk the Earth - Tyrannosaurus rex. Mighty herbivores known as ceratopsians fight for their survival with all numbers of horns. Some tiny dinosaurs have taken to the air, but live under the shadows of the biggest flying animals to yet exist. However, it was not to last forever. An asteroid the size of Mount Everest strikes near the Gulf of Mexico with the energy of 10 billion Hiroshima bombs. The impact unleashes global wildfires, in turn enveloping the planet in a firestorm. The ensuing 15-year period of freezing darkness would've finished off any survivors above 25 kilograms. Small, unassuming critters known as mammals, which previously lived in fear of the dinosaurs, were given the opportunity of taking their place. While this was the end of the dinosaurs' rule, it wasn't the end of their kind. One lineage of flying dinosaurs survived, rapidly diversifing in spite of the mammals' rise to power. They still exist with us today, where we now call them birds." More on reddit.com
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December 15, 2023Any Mesozoic era geographical areas that we know nothing about fossil-wise?
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October 15, 2023Videos
Eos
eos.org › home › simulating 195 million years of global climate in the mesozoic
Simulating 195 Million Years of Global Climate in the Mesozoic - Eos
October 7, 2021 - In addition to being the age of ... brightening Sun, tectonic changes influenced the global climate, producing warm and humid greenhouse conditions....
ScienceDirect
sciencedirect.com › science › article › abs › pii › S0016787859800687
Jurassic climates - ScienceDirect
February 19, 2009 - The climatic processes operating are illustrated by reference to Late Jurassic palaeoclimate reconstructions generated on a computer-based General Circulation Model. Throughout the Period, and indeed through much of the Mesozoic, dense forests grew close to both poles and experienced months-long daylight.
ScienceDirect
sciencedirect.com › topics › earth-and-planetary-sciences › mesozoic-era
Mesozoic Era - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
At the beginning of the Triassic, most of the continents were concentrated in the giant C-shaped supercontinent known as Pangaea (see Fig. 2.10). Climate was generally very dry over much of Pangaea with very hot summers and cold winters in the continental interior.
Fossils Facts and Finds
fossils-facts-and-finds.com › mesozoic_era.html
The Mesozoic Era: Facts on the climate, continents, plants and animals
Pangea and the Tethys were ringed by the Panthalassic Ocean. The temperatures, both on land and in the ocean, were much higher than during the Paleozoic, and climates were more tropical in nature.
Wiley Online Library
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com › doi › 10.1029 › 2020PA004134
Investigating Mesozoic Climate Trends and Sensitivities With a Large Ensemble of Climate Model Simulations - Landwehrs - 2021 - Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology - Wiley Online Library
June 5, 2021 - We analyze so far the most extended ... Global mean temperatures are generally found to be elevated above the present and exhibit a baseline warming trend driven by rising sea levels and increasing solar luminosity...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/paleontology › trying to figure out the truth around one of those broad, sweeping statements about the climate during the mesozoic...
r/Paleontology on Reddit: Trying to figure out the truth around one of those broad, sweeping statements about the climate during the mesozoic...
August 26, 2024 -
So, one thing that I hear in a lot of documentary shows (I think I even heard this one line pop up in a relatively recent series) is that during the mesozoic, the weather was on average much warmer than it is today, which fine, BUT... They sometimes even go so far as to say that there definitely was not and below freezing temperatures anywhere on Earth at any point during the entire span on the age of dinosaurs. One very recent one (as in I'm fairly sure the series was made in the last 4-5 years) even made the claim that the ice age that we had immediately prior to the rise of homosapiens was the first ever seen on Earth and that ice had never before had a chance to form on Earth...
But then there's been a lot of paleo art done of things like pachyrhinosaurus being like this thing with a great shaggy covering of downy feathers hanging out in snowy fields. Usually something pretty similar with yutyrannus.
And I get that in paleo art, the depictions are largely based on the artist's ideas of character scenes made for a cool shot rather than complete accuracy.
But I want to know... Were there snowy winters during the age of dinosaurs? Were there parts of the world that were consistently cold or temperate, or at the very least not some binary of the typical depictions of the world either being rainforest or desert?
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It was warmer on average, that’s true. It was still cold enough for snow and ice in some regions, though, so Pachyrhinosaurus probably would have seen some snow. What show said the Pleistocene was our first ice age? Sure, they’re relatively rare, and the last one occurred all the way back in the Permian, but saying ice had never existed is just wrong.
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It was warmer on average but differentials still existed and at the poles in particular it still got dark for months at a time and that makes it plenty cold to snow and ice up. And one study found a way to prove from fossils that at least some dinosaurs lived that far north even in the winter.
Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › science › earth science, geologic time & fossils › fossils & geologic time
Mesozoic Era | Geology, Climate & Lifeforms | Britannica
October 29, 2025 - The ancestors of major plant and animal groups that exist today first appeared during the Mesozoic, but this era is best known as the time of the dinosaurs. Earth’s climate during the Mesozoic Era was generally warm, and there was less difference ...
second erathem and era of the Phanerozoic Eonothem and Eon
Factsheet
Etymology
Name formality Formal
Nickname(s) Age of Reptiles, Age of Dinosaurs, Age of Conifers
Etymology
Name formality Formal
Nickname(s) Age of Reptiles, Age of Dinosaurs, Age of Conifers
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Mesozoic
Mesozoic - Wikipedia
2 weeks ago - The Mesozoic Era is the era of ... reptiles such as the dinosaurs, and of gymnosperms such as cycads, ginkgoaceae and araucarian conifers; a hot greenhouse climate; and the tectonic break-up of Pangaea....
Dandebat
dandebat.dk › eng-klima3.htm
Mesozoic - History of Earth's Climate
The Mesozoic was the age of the ... and Cretaceous. The start of the Mesozoic at the beginning of the Triassic was characterized by a harsh and dry continental climate ......
Scienceviews
scienceviews.com › dinosaurs › mesozoic.html
The Mesozoic Era
As a result, flooding overtook many parts of the exposed land. This allowed the climate to change with increased humidity and it continued that way even into the Cretaceous period. However, the climate began to cool during the Cretaceous although temperatures may have risen again near the end of the Mesozoic.
Usc
earth.usc.edu › home
Mesazoic Climate
September 23, 2025 - Earth Scientists focus on today’s pressing challenges to society: earthquake risk, sustainability, water resources, ocean health, natural resources and societal impact of changing climate/atmospheric chemistry. We also tackle the foremost problems in the earth sciences: the temporal and spatial ...
Enchanted Learning
enchantedlearning.com › subjects › dinosaurs › mesozoic
Mesozoic Dinosaurs - Enchanted Learning Software
The Mesozoic Era was the time from 248 million to 65 million years ago. During the Mesozoic, the Earth was very different than it is now. The climate was warmer, the seasons were very mild, the sea level was higher, and there was no polar ice.
Windows to the Universe
windows2universe.org › earth › geology › hist_mesozoic.html
Happenings During the Mesozoic Era - Windows to the Universe
August 23, 2009 - During the last part of the Mesozoic (called the Cretaceous period) the climate warmed very much. Earth was several degrees warmer than it is today.
NCBI
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pubmed › 14558900
Evidence for rapid climate change in the Mesozoic-Palaeogene ...
September 15, 2003 - The best-documented example of ... Palaeocene-Eocene boundary: introduction of isotopically light carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system, accompanied by global warming of 5-8 degrees C across a range …...
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
pik-potsdam.de › en › institute › departments › earth-system-analysis › research › past-and-future-earth › news-esmo › investigation-of-mesozoic-climate-trends-and-sensitivities
Investigation of Mesozoic climate trends and sensitivities — Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Jan Landwehrs, Georg Feulner, Stefan Petri, Benjamin Sames and Michael Wagreich produced an ensemble of equilibrium climate simulations, covering a timespan of 195 million years in in steps of 5 million years, varying important Earth System boundary conditions. The transition from the Pangaea supercontinent towards an almost modern continental arrangement drives a shift from extremely seasonal and dry continental climates towards more balanced conditions.
Geosciences LibreTexts
geo.libretexts.org › bookshelves › geology › an introduction to geology (johnson, affolter, inkenbrandt, and mosher) › 15: global climate change
15.4: Prehistoric Climate Change - Geosciences LibreTexts
August 25, 2025 - For example, during the Mesozoic Era, the Age of Dinosaurs, the climate was much warmer and carbon dioxide was abundant in the atmosphere. However, throughout the Cenozoic Era (65 Million years ago to today), the climate has been gradually cooling.
Actforlibraries
actforlibraries.org › prehistoric-climates-paleozoic-era-mesozoic-era-triassic-period
Prehistoric Climates Paleozoic Era Mesozoic Era Triassic Period | Actforlibraries.org
During the height of the dinosaur era the earth’s climate was much like it is today, with the exception of it being warmer and much more humid. The average global temperature is estimated to have been around 72 degrees, though four times throughout the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras the planet ...
University of Reading
reading.ac.uk › news › 2024 › Research-News › Dinosaurs-did-not-follow-temperature-size-rule-study-shows
Dinosaurs did not follow temperature size rule study shows - University of Reading
April 5, 2024 - Data from fossil records and climate models show that extinct mammals and dinosaurs (including extinct birds) did not get bigger with cooling temperatures. Dr Jacob Gardner, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Reading who co-authored the study, said: “Dinosaurs and mammals originated at the start of the Mesozoic Era more than 230 million years ago when global temperatures were much warmer.