end-Cretaceous

English

Adjective

end-Cretaceous (not comparable)

1. (geology, paleontology) Pertaining to the end of the Cretaceous period, marked by a major extinction event.
   • 1988, Rona M Black, The Elements of Palaeontology, page 93:

     Towards the end of the Cretaceous diversity declined sharply and only a few widespread genera are found in the uppermost beds, these finally disappearing in the end-Cretaceous extinctions.

   • 2007, Clarence A Hall Jr., Introduction to the Geology of Southern California and Its Native Plants, page 100:

     Although the end-Cretaceous bolide impact is contemporaneous with the abrupt end of the reign of dinosaurs, early mammals survived the catastrophic event […].

   • 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 187:

     The end Cretaceous catastrophe that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago did for these animals too and the oceans were quieter for a while, but within fifteen million years or so the ancestors of dolphins and whales were exploiting the rich seas of the Eocene.