Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: Which epoch was the Cretaceous?
The Cretaceous is divided into Early and Late Cretaceous epochs, or Lower and Upper Cretaceous series. In older literature the Cretaceous is sometimes divided into three series: Neocomian (lower/early), Gallic (middle) and Senonian (upper/late). A subdivision in eleven stages, all originating from European stratigraphy, is now used worldwide. In many parts of the world, alternative local subdivisions are still in use.
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series. The Cretaceous is named after the white limestone known as chalk which occurs widely in northern France and is seen in the white cliffs of south-eastern England, and which dates from this time.
At the peak of the Cretaceous transgression, one-third of Earth's present land area was submerged. The Berriasian epoch showed a cooling trend that had been seen in the last epoch of the Jurassic. There is evidence that snowfalls were common in the higher latitudes and the tropics became wetter than during the Triassic and Jurassic. Glaciation was however restricted to alpine glaciers on some high-latitude mountains, though seasonal snow may have existed farther south. Rafting by ice of stones into marine environments occurred during much of the Cretaceous but evidence of deposition directly from glaciers is limited to the Early Cretaceous of the Eromanga Basin in southern Australia.
The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya (million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 mya. The Santonian is preceded by the Coniacian and is followed by the Campanian.
The Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series and spans the time between 89.8 ± 1 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Coniacian is preceded by the Turonian and followed by the Santonian.
The Hauterivian is, in the geologic timescale, an age in the Early Cretaceous epoch or a stage in the Lower Cretaceous series. It spans the time between 132.9 ± 2 Ma and 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Hauterivian is preceded by the Valanginian and succeeded by the Barremian.
220,000,000 BC, Late Triassic (Arizona) − This episode follows the evolution of the first dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures in the late Triassic period.152,000,000 BC, Late Jurassic (Colorado) − This episode follows the story of a young female "Diplodocus" and her brothers and sisters in the late Jurassic period.149,000,000 BC, Late Jurassic (Oxfordshire) − This episode follows the life of several baby "Ophthalmosaurus" and a bull "Liopleurodon" in the late Jurassic period.127,000,000 BC, Early Cretaceous (Brazil) − This episode follows a male "Ornithocheirus" on his long journey to the mating grounds in the early Cretaceous period.106,000,000 BC, Early Cretaceous (Antarctica) − This episode follows the hardships of an Antarctican "Leaellynasaura" clan in the early Cretaceous period.65,500,000 BC, Late Cretaceous (Montana) − This episode follows the final years of the dinosaurs and a mother "Tyrannosaurus rex" and her babies in the late Cretaceous period.49,000,000 BC, Early Eocene (Germany) − This episode follows the life of a mother "Leptictidium" and her babies in the dense forests of Germany in the early Eocene epoch.36,000,000 BC, Late Eocene (Pakistan) − This episode follows the sea journey of a pregnant female "Basilosaurus" search for food in the late Eocene epoch.25,000,000 BC, Late Oligocene (Mongolia) − This episode follows the life of a young "Paraceratherium" and his mother from his birth in the late Oligocene epoch.3,200,000 BC, Late Pliocene (Ethiopia) − This episode follows the hardships of an "Australopithecus" group and a young called Blue in the late Pliocene epoch.1,000,000 BC, Early Pleistocene (Paraguay) − This episode follows a male "Smilodon" called Half-Tooth after he lost his territory in the early Pleistocene epoch.30,000 BC, Late Pleistocene (North Sea, Belgium, and Swiss Alps) − This episode follows a herd of woolly mammoth journey to the Alps in the last Ice Age of the late Pleistocene epoch.This episode details a list of animals from the first season that the developers thought were the most impressive creatures on Earth.
The Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous series. It spans the time between 93.9 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.8 ± 1 Ma (million years ago). The Turonian is preceded by the Cenomanian stage and underlies the Coniacian stage.
In the Cretaceous Period, sauropods in North America were no longer the dominant group of herbivorous dinosaurs, with the ornithopod and ceratopsian dinosaurs, such as "Edmontosaurus" and "Triceratops", becoming the most abundant (this being most evident by the Late Cretaceous epoch). However, on other landmasses such as South America and Africa (which were island continents much like modern Australia) sauropods, in particular the titanosaurs continued to be the dominant herbivores.
Six genera are restricted to the Cretaceous; "Eucymatoceras" and "Heminautilus" from the Lower Cretaceous; "Anglonautilus" from both the Lower and Upper Cretaceous; "Deltocymatoceras", "Epicymatoceras",and "Syrionautilus". "Neocymatoceras" from the Oligocene from the Oligocene is synonymous with "Cymatoceras". 
Of the Cymatoceratidae, "Cymatoceras" has the longest temporal range, extending from the Late Jurassic to the Tertiary Oligocene. The only other to cross a period boundary is "Paracymatoceras" which lived during both the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The others are restricted to a simple period, sometimes to a single epoch.
The Cretaceous is the longest period in the Mesozoic, spans from 145 million to 66 million years ago, and is divided into two epochs: Early Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous.[28]
"Isisaurus" lived in the area belonging nowadays to India during the Maastrichtian (which is the uppermost stage of Late Cretaceous epoch). Its remains are the most complete among the Cretaceous dinosaurs known from that region. Khosla et al. (2003) listed the following Indian sauropods:
The Raukumara Range lies north of Gisborne, near East Cape in New Zealand's North Island. It forms part of the North Island's main mountain chain, which runs north-northeast from Wellington to East Cape, and is composed primarily of Cretaceous greywacke, argillites, siltstones and sandstones. An epoch of the New Zealand geologic time scale lasting from 95.2 to 86.5 Mya is named the Raukumara Epoch after the range.
The Denver Formation spans the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The lava flows in the upper part of the formation are about 62 to 64 million years old according to radiometric dating, which places them in the early Paleocene Epoch. The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary occurs in the lower part of the formation, and an exposure of the boundary layer has been identified and documented on South Table Mountain near the city of Golden.
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series, the Cretaceous period or system, and of the Mesozoic era or erathem. It spanned the interval from . The Maastrichtian was preceded by the Campanian and succeeded by the Danian (part of the Paleogene and Paleocene).
Fairyflies are well represented in fossil amber inclusions, copal, and compression fossils. Their fossils have been found from the Early Cretaceous up to the Miocene epoch. It is, in fact, the only family of chalcid wasps definitely known to date back to the Cretaceous period.
The Point Loma Formation is a sedimentary geological formation in Southern California. The strata date back to the Late Cretaceous epochs of the Cretaceous period, during the Mesozoic Era .
Its strata date back to the Late Cretaceous epoch of the Cretaceous Period, during the Mesozoic Era. The formation is part of the Bauru Group in the northeastern Paraná Basin.
The occurrence of Elbe sandstones and hence the Elbe Sandstone Mountains themselves is related to widespread deposition by a former sea in the Upper Cretaceous epoch. On the Saxon side of the border the term "Elbe Valley Cretaceous" ("Elbtalkreide") is used, referring to a region stretching from Meißen-Oberau in the northwest through Dresden and Pirna into Saxon Switzerland, and which is formed by sandstones, planers and other rocks as well as basal conglomerates ("Grundschottern" or "Basalkonglomerate") of older origin. Several erosion relics from Reinhardtsgrimma through Dippoldiswalde and the Tharandt Forest to Siebenlehn form isolated examples south of Dresden. They are mainly characterised by sandstones.
On the Bohemian side the sandstone beds continue and form part of the North Bohemian Cretaceous ("Nordböhmische Kreide"). The chalk sediments of the Zittau Basin are counted as part of the latter due to their regional-geological relationships. The sedimentary sequences of the Cretaceous sea continue across a wide area of the Czech Republic to Moravia. Together these beds form the Saxon-Bohemian Cretaceous Zone. In Czech geological circles, the Elbe Valley Cretaceous is described as the foothills of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin ("Böhmischen Kreidebecken").
The Early Cretaceous Epoch spans from 145 million to 100 million years ago.[28] The Early Cretaceous saw the expansion of seaways, and as a result, the decline and extinction of sauropods (except in South America). Many coastal shallows were created, and that caused ichthyosaurs to die out. Mosasaurs evolved to replace them as apex species of the seas. Some island-hopping dinosaurs, like Eustreptospondylus, evolved to cope with the coastal shallows and small islands of ancient Europe. Other dinosaurs, such as Carcharodontosaurus and Spinosaurus, rose to fill the empty space that the Jurassic-Cretaceous extinction had created. Of the most successful would be the Iguanodon which spread to every continent. Seasons came back into effect and the poles grew seasonally colder. Dinosaurs such as the Leaellynasaura inhabited the polar forests year-round, while many dinosaurs, such as the Muttaburrasaurus, migrated there during summer . Since it was too cold for crocodiles, it was the last stronghold for large amphibians, such as the Koolasuchus. In this epoch Pterosaurs reached their maximum diversity and grew larger, as species like Tapejara and Ornithocheirus took to the skies. The first true birds evolved, possibly sparking competition between them and the pterosaurs.
According to Shen and colleagues, "Liaoningvenator" is one of eleven troodontids known from China, and the fifth Early Cretaceous Chinese troodontid after "Sinovenator", "Sinusonasus", "Mei", and "Jinfengopteryx". In a separate 2017 publication for which Shen was also the lead author, an additional troodontid was described, "Daliansaurus", which forms the Sinovenatorinae with the former three. With the exception of "Jinfengopteryx", all of these troodontids lived in the Lujiatun Beds. While Shen and colleagues assigned the Lujiatun Beds to the Hauterivian epoch, newer date estimates published by Chang Su-chin and colleagues suggested a younger age of ~126 Ma for the Lujiatun Beds, which dates to the Barremian epoch.
Carnosaurs first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, around 176 mya. The last definite known carnosaurs, the carcharodontosaurs, became extinct in the Turonian epoch of the Cretaceous, roughly 90 mya; reportedly later remains of carcharodontosaurids, from the Campanian and Maastrichtian epochs, are likely misidentified remains of abelisaurids. The phylogenetically problematic megaraptorans, which may not be carnosaurs, became extinct around 84 mya.
Sebecia is an extinct clade of mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliforms that includes peirosaurids and sebecids. It was first constructed in 2007 to include "Hamadasuchus", Peirosauridae, and "Sebecus". It was initially considered to be the sister taxon of the clade Neosuchia, which includes living crocodilians, although some later studies have placed it within Neosuchia as a basal clade. Sebecians were terrestrial crocodyliforms characterized by their deep snouts and ziphodont dentition. They first appeared in the Late Cretaceous, survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and became extinct in the Miocene epoch.
The Gallic epoch is an obsolete epoch of the Mesozoic Era's Cretaceous, the latter being a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period million years ago (mya) to the beginning of the Paleogene Period mya. The Gallic epoch encompasses the Barremian, Aptian, Albian, Cenomanian and Turonian faunal stages.
It is important not to confuse geochronologic and chronostratigraphic units. Geochronological units are periods of time, thus it is correct to say that "Tyrannosaurus rex" lived during the Late Cretaceous Epoch. Chronostratigraphic units are geological material, so it is also correct to say that fossils of the genus "Tyrannosaurus" have been found in the Upper Cretaceous Series. In the same way, it is entirely possible to go and visit an Upper Cretaceous Series deposit – such as the Hell Creek deposit where the "Tyrannosaurus" fossils were found – but it is naturally impossible to visit the Late Cretaceous Epoch as that is a period of time.