Dinosaurs
In
Alaska?
Spring 2012
Dinosaurs
In
Alaska?
By
By
When you hear a place about Alaska, we think of snow, polar bears, glaciers, and cold weather. When you think of dinosaurs, we think of tropical places and hot climates. You would probably doubt dinosaurs could have ever lived here in Alaska. But about 65 million years ago they not only lived here, they thrived! There are a lot of information about dinosaurs, but what this paper will cover is how dinosaurs directly relate to Alaska. After reading this paper, you will find out how dinosaur research started and how long ago dinosaurs lived in Alaska. Plus find out the type of dinosaurs that lived Alaska, and the type of climate and which parts of Alaska that they lived in. You will also find out what type of evidence they found, if dinosaurs are related to the oil industry, who is still studying dinosaurs, and how this topic is introduced to the public.
How it all began
Dinosaurs strolled the earth over 245 million years ago. So it would only be fair to go all the way back to the beginning and quickly summarize how it all happened. Earth’s history is categorized into two eras, and then categorized by periods. The two eras are Paleozoic era, and Mesozoic era.
Paleozoic era - (560 to 276 million years ago): This is the period where the first fish, corals, shellfish, insects, spiders, and swamp forests appeared.
Mesozoic era - (350 to 65 million years ago)We are most interested in this era. This era contained 3 periods: Triassic period, Jurassic period, Cretaceous period.
Triassic period – 245 million years ago: All the continents were joined together in one huge landmass, aka Pangaea. Climate was hot and dry but with rain seasons. The first tree ferns and coniferous trees were starting to appear. The first dinosaurs such as Euskelosaurus and Coelophosis, and mammals, turtles, crocodiles and frogs appeared.
Jurassic period – (208 million years ago): As the