Triassic

[ trahy-as-ik ]

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to a period of the Mesozoic Era, occurring from 230 to 190 million years ago and characterized by the advent of dinosaurs and coniferous forests.

noun

1. Also Tri·as [] the Triassic Period or System.

Triassic

/ traɪˈæsɪk /

adjective

1. of, denoting, or formed in the first period of the Mesozoic era that lasted for 42 million years and during which reptiles flourished

noun

1. the Triassic or Trias
   the Triassic period or rock system

Triassic

/ trī-ăs′ĭk /

1. The earliest period of the Mesozoic Era, from about 245 to 208 million years ago. During the early part of the Triassic Period the supercontinent Pangaea was located along the equator; by the end of the Triassic it had started to split up. Land life diversified in the Triassic in response to the mass extinctions of the end of the Paleozoic. Conifers, cycads, marine reptiles, dinosaurs, and the earliest mammals first appeared.
2. See Chart at geologic time

Other Words From

• post-Tri·assic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Triassic¹

1835–45; Trias the three-part series of strata characterizing the period (< German < Greek triás; triad ) + -ic

Word History and Origins

Origin of Triassic¹

C19: from Latin trias triad, with reference to the three subdivisions

Example Sentences

The rocks yielding this new specimen date back to the Late Triassic period, approximately 210 million years ago.

From Science Daily

Its layers of Permian to Early Triassic rocks hold the secrets of the Earth's ancient past, now thought to be ripe with organic material capable of producing natural gas.

From Science Daily

The bones are around 202 million years old, dating to the end of the Triassic Period in a time known as the Rhaetian.

From Science Daily

The first ichthyosaur lived in the ancient oceans in the early Triassic period around 250 million years ago.

From Science Daily

The fossil was identified as a temnospondyl, a predecessor to modern amphibians that survived over a 200 million year duration spanning from the Carboniferous to the Triassic periods.

From Salon