Tree biloba". This is considered to be a living fossil because it is virtually unchanged from the fossilised specimens found in Triassic deposits. During the Mesozoic (245 to 66 million years ago) the conifers flourished and became adapted to live in all the major terrestrial habitats. Subsequently, the tree forms of flowering plants evolved during the Cretaceous period. These began to displace the conifers during the Tertiary era (66 to 2 million years ago) when forests covered the globe. When the climate cooled 1.5 million years ago and the first of four ice ages occurred, the forests retreated as the ice
Angola Basin by gravity spreading and increased sediment loading, major factors which act upon the Angola Basin. In the basin this tectonic mechanism is attributed to three periods of high strain that occurred at approximately 96, 28, and 10 million years ago, and the most recent high strain activity is still ongoing. These high strain rates lasted anywhere from 15 to 36 million years while rafting itself lasted from 7-10 million years. The formation of the Angola Basin can be divided into three phases of rifting which took place from approximately 145-113 million years ago from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous. Initial