What climate did Australias dinosaurs live in during the Cretaceous Period?
When the Cretaceous Period began, about 140 million years ago, Australia had a cool, temperate climate that was very gradually warming as the continent began to move away from the South Pole. The landscape was dominated by conifers, pines and ferns as well as some of the first flowering plants. Australia’s proximity to the South Pole would have resulted in lower levels of light and a landscape similar to that of a woodland environment. Much of Australia (about half) was covered by shallow inland seas, dividing the land into a number of large islands. Today this same area is called the Great Artesian Basin.
