Selandian

The Selandian is a specific time period in Earth's history called a stage, which is part of the larger Paleocene epoch. It lasted from about 61.66 million years ago to 59.24 million years ago. This stage comes after the Danian stage and is followed by the Thanetian stage.

When scientists study the Paleocene, they sometimes split it into smaller parts. The Selandian is known as the middle part of this early time. Learning about the Selandian helps us understand how life on Earth was changing after the time of the dinosaurs.

Stratigraphic definition

The Selandian is a time period in Earth's history. It was named after the Danish island of Zealand.

It is close to the boundary between certain types of tiny, ancient plants called biozones. During this time, new types of tiny ocean creatures, called nanoplankton, began to appear. The start of the Selandian was set at a location in Spain, at the beach of Itzurun in the Basque Country.

Fauna and Flora

The Selandian period had many interesting animals. These included giant snakes called Titanoboa, crocodiles, champsosaurs, large bird-like creatures known as Gastornithiformes, and owls. There were also early mammals, such as mesonychids, pantodonts, relatives of primates called plesiadapids, and multiberculates.

Plants during this time included cacti, ferns, and palm trees. Fossils from this period show that some areas, like Gelinden, Belgium, had many more fossils than places in North America. This suggests that life was returning differently in various parts of the world after the End-Cretaceous mass extinction event.