Plesiosauria Plesiosauria The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, "plesios", meaning "near to" and "sauros", meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of Mesozoic marine reptiles (marine Sauropsida), belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution. Plesiosaurs were among the first fossil reptiles discovered. In the beginning of the nineteenth century,
The Gap (Sydney) tablet. The Gap is formed from Sydney sandstone making it part of Sydney basin. The cliff was laid as sediment more than 200 million years ago in the Triassic period. During the Jurassic era, 40 million years later, a cataclysmic event resulted in an enormous crack forming within the strata. This fault allowed erosion from wave action to create the cliff line around Sydney. Tessellated basalt rock platforms lie at the base of the cliff because The Gap is bordered to the south and west by an older sequence of largely low-grade metamorphic and granitic rocks of the Lachlan Fold