The Early Cretaceous (geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 146 Ma to 100 Ma.
During this time many new types of dinosaurs appeared or came into prominence, including Psittacosaurus, spinosaurids and coelurosaurs, while other survivors from the Late Jurassic continued.
In the seas, the ichthyosaurs declined and eventually died out at the start of the Late Cretaceous. Angiosperms appear for the first time.
Famous quotes containing the word early:
“As I went forth early on a still and frosty morning, the trees looked like airy creatures of darkness caught napping; on this side huddled together, with their gray hairs streaming, in a secluded valley which the sun had not penetrated; on that, hurrying off in Indian file along some watercourse, while the shrubs and grasses, like elves and fairies of the night, sought to hide their diminished heads in the snow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)