The Jurassic Period

Abstract

Ammonites underwent an evolutionary diversification after the mass extinction of the end Triassic induced by the formation of a Large Igneous province (LIP), and this group provides the most useful marine biostratigraphy. Only two levels within the Jurassic are relatively well determined using U–Pb dating from single zircons in ash beds, at the base Hettangian and the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary. Otherwise the Lower Jurassic is scaled using astrochronology and the Middle and Upper Jurassic scaled from Pacific seafloor spreading rates correlated to magnetic reversals. LIP activity during the Early Jurassic (Triassic–Jurassic boundary and Toarcian) perturbed global environments to extents not evidenced since the end Permian, and age relationships allow for a strong causal connection between these LIP eruptions and mass extinctions caused by major paleoenvironmental change, including ocean anoxia. Breakup of the supercontinent Pangea dominated paleogeography and paleoceanography and created shallow seaways that form sources and traps for hydrocarbons. Calcareous planktonic algae diversified and migrated from shallow seaways to open oceans to set the stage for the beginning of modern oceanic biogeochemical cycling; calcareous nannofossils provide additional widely used correlation tools.