Mesozoic Era 5th Grade

The Mesazoic Era begins where the upheavals of the Permian Extinctions end. A mass extinction at the end of the Permian Period had eliminated most of the species of life that had existed throughout the Paleozoic Era. Sometimes called the Age of Dinosaurs because this era becomes dominated by dinosaurs and reptiles.
The Continents

Toward the end of the Paleozoic Era the land that would become Europe and Asia slammed into North America. By the time of the Mesozoic Era Pangea the super continent had formed. It was roughly the shape of a “C”. The huge land mass protected the Tethys Ocean which lay across tropical latitudes. Pangea and the Tethys were ringed by the Panthalassic Ocean.

Climate During The Mesozoic
The temperatures, both on land and in the ocean, were much higher than during the Paleozoic, and climates were more tropical in nature. Despite this, the seas were lower, leaving different types of land masses for life to deal with. Over all the Mesozoic Era was dryer than in the Paleozoic Era. There were more deserts and less marshland.

Within the three periods of the Mesozoic Era ( Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous) there were times of wide temperature and seasonal variation.