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
Robert Frost Trail (Massachusetts) Hadley, South Hadley, Amherst, Granby, Belchertown, Pelham, Shutesbury, Leverett, Sunderland, Wendell and Montague. The Robert Frost Trail might be divided into three general geo-ecological landscapes. Both the Holyoke Range and Mount Toby were formed 200 million years ago between the end of the Triassic period and the beginning of the Jurassic. The Holyoke Range, part of the Metacomet Ridge that extends south to Long Island Sound, are composed of basalt, an extrusive volcanic rock. This basalt ridge is the product of several massive lava flows hundreds of feet deep that welled up in faults created by the rifting apart of