Middle Jurassic
| Middle Jurassic | |||||||||
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A map of the world 170 million years ago during the Middle Jurassic Epoch, Bajocian Age | |||||||||
| Chronology | |||||||||
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| Etymology | |||||||||
| Name formality | Formal | ||||||||
| Usage information | |||||||||
| Celestial body | Earth | ||||||||
| Regional usage | Global (ICS) | ||||||||
| Time scale(s) used | ICS Time Scale | ||||||||
| Definition | |||||||||
| Chronological unit | Epoch | ||||||||
| Stratigraphic unit | Series | ||||||||
| Time span formality | Formal | ||||||||
| Lower boundary definition | FAD of the Ammonites Leioceras opalinum and Leioceras lineatum | ||||||||
| Lower boundary GSSP | Fuentelsaz, Spain 41°10′15″N 1°50′00″W / 41.1708°N 1.8333°W | ||||||||
| Lower GSSP ratified | 2000 | ||||||||
| Upper boundary definition | Not formally defined | ||||||||
| Upper boundary definition candidates | Horizon of Ammonite Cardioceras redcliffense. | ||||||||
| Upper boundary GSSP candidate section(s) |
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The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 161.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations containing land animal fossils include the Forest Marble Formation in England, the Kilmaluag Formation in Scotland, the Calcaire de Caen of France, the Daohugou Beds in China, the Itat Formation in Russia, the Tiouraren Formation of Niger, and the Isalo III Formation of western Madagascar. Rocks of the Middle Jurassic were formerly (until about 1980s) in Europe called Dogger or Brown Jurassic.