The World of the Dinosaurs

Abstract Throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods the movements of tectonic plates were causing the giant continent Pangaea to split up, the process becoming particularly marked in the Cretaceous (145–65 Mya). During the Jurassic the central Atlantic opened and, linking with the Tethys Ocean, split Laurasia in the north from Gondwana in the south. By the Early Cretaceous strong westerly currents flowed through these oceans, between the large land masses. At the same time the southern parts of Gondwana were dividing—;the South Atlantic was born as a narrow ocean. On the other side of Africa the Indian Ocean was beginning to form as the tectonic plate that carries India began its dramatic movement north.