Triassic was some sort of end-Carnian extinction, when several herbivorous archosauromorph groups died out, while the large herbivorous therapsids—the kannemeyeriid dicynodonts and the traversodont cynodonts—were much reduced in the northern half of Pangaea (Laurasia). These extinctions within the Triassic and at its end allowed the dinosaurs to expand into many niches that had become unoccupied. Dinosaurs became increasingly dominant, abundant and diverse, and remained that way for the next 150 million years. The true "Age of Dinosaurs" is during the following Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, rather than the Triassic. Triassic The Triassic () is a geologic period and system which spans
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