Eras

Triassic

try-ASS-ik

Citation Formats

General Reference

Earth and Environment Atlas. "Triassic." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/eras/triassic.

APA Style

Earth and Environment Atlas. (n.d.). Triassic. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/eras/triassic

BibTeX

@misc{earthandenvironmentatlas-triassic,
  author = {Earth and Environment Atlas},
  title = {Triassic},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/eras/triassic},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The Triassic is the first and shortest period of the Mesozoic Era, spanning about 251.902 to 201.4 million years ago. It began in the aftermath of the Permian-Triassic extinction and ended with the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event; archosaurs, including the early dinosaur lineages, were the chief terrestrial vertebrates while Pangaea began to rift apart late in the period.

Facts

Rank

Period 1

Start (Million Years Ago)

251.902 1

Standard boundary age from the ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart; not independently re-dated by this atlas.

End (Million Years Ago)

201.4 1

Standard boundary age from the ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart; not independently re-dated by this atlas.

Key Event

Reptiles, especially archosaurs, were the chief terrestrial vertebrates of the Triassic, against a mostly hot, dry global climate with deserts spanning much of Pangaea's interior. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections