Jurassic Jurassic The Jurassic (; from Jura Mountains) was a geologic period and system that spanned 56 million years from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles. The start of the period was marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. Two other extinction events occurred during the period: the Pliensbachian-Toarcian extinction in the Early Jurassic, and the Tithonian event at the end; however, neither event ranks among the "Big Five" mass extinctions. The
Late Jurassic Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age. In the past, this name was also used to indicate the unit of geological time, but this usage is now discouraged to make a clear distinction between lithostratigraphic and geochronologic/chronostratigraphic units. The Late Jurassic is divided into three ages, which correspond with the three (faunal) stages of Upper Jurassic rock: