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[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:The_eye_of_all_ur60.jpg|right|frame]] 59:6.1 This period marks the end of pivotal [[evolutionary]] [[development]] in [[marine]] life and the opening of the [[transition]] period leading to the subsequent [[ages]] of [[land]] [[animals]]. 59:6.2 This age was one of great life impoverishment. Thousands of [[marine]] species perished, and life was hardly yet [[established]] on [[land]]. This was a time of [[biologic]] [[tribulation]], the age when life nearly vanished from the face of the [[earth]] and from the depths of the [[oceans]]. Toward the close of the long [[marine]]-life era there were more than one hundred thousand [[species]] of living [[things]] on [[earth]]. At the close of this period of [[transition]] less than five hundred had [[survived]]. 59:6.3 The peculiarities of this new period were not due so much to the cooling of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_crust earth's crust] or to the long [[absence]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanoes volcanic] [[action]] as to an unusual combination of commonplace and pre-existing [[influences]]—restrictions of the [[seas]] and increasing elevation of enormous [[land]] masses. The mild [[marine]] climate of former times was disappearing, and the harsher continental type of weather was fast developing. 59:6.4 170,000,000 years ago great [[evolutionary]] [[changes]] and [[adjustments]] were taking place over the entire face of the [[earth]]. [[Land]] was rising all over the world as the [[ocean]] beds were sinking. Isolated mountain ridges appeared. The eastern part of North America was high above the sea; the west was slowly rising. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents continents] were covered by great and small [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_lakes salt lakes] and numerous inland seas which were connected with the [[oceans]] by narrow straits. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratigraphy strata] of this [[transition]] period vary in thickness from 1,000 to 7,000 feet. 59:6.5 The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_crust earth's crust] folded extensively during these [[land]] elevations. This was a time of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents continental] [[emergence]] except for the disappearance of certain [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_bridges land bridges], including the continents which had so long [[connected]] South America with Africa and North America with Europe. 59:6.6 [[Gradually]] the inland [[lakes]] and seas were drying up all over the world. Isolated mountain and regional [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier glaciers] began to appear, especially over the Southern Hemisphere, and in many regions the glacial deposit of these local ice formations may be found even among some of the upper and later coal deposits. Two new [[climatic]] [[factors]] appeared—[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaciation glaciation] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arid aridity]. Many of the [[earth]]'s higher regions had become arid and barren. 59:6.7 Throughout these times of [[climatic]] [[change]], great variations also occurred in the [[land]] [[plants]]. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_plants seed plants] first appeared, and they afforded a better [[food]] supply for the subsequently increased [[land]]-[[animal]] life. The insects underwent a radical change. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernation resting stages] evolved to meet the demands of suspended animation during winter and drought. 59:6.8 Among the [[land]] [[animals]] the frogs reached their climax in the preceding age and rapidly declined, but they [[survived]] because they could long live even in the drying-up pools and ponds of these far-distant and extremely trying times. During this declining frog age, in Africa, the first step in the [[evolution]] of the frog into the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile reptile] occurred. And since the [[land]] masses were still [[connected]], this prereptilian creature, an air breather, spread over all the world. By this time the [[atmosphere]] had been so changed that it served admirably to [[support]] [[animal]] [[respiration]]. It was soon after the arrival of these prereptilian frogs that North America was temporarily isolated, cut off from Europe, Asia, and South America. 59:6.9 The [[gradual]] cooling of the [[ocean]] waters [[contributed]] much to the [[Death|destruction]] of oceanic life. The [[marine]] [[animals]] of those ages took temporary refuge in three favorable retreats: the present [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Mexico Gulf of Mexico] region, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Bengal Ganges Bay] of India, and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicily Sicilian Bay] of the [[Mediterranean]] basin. And it was from these three regions that the new [[marine]] [[species]], born to [[adversity]], later went forth to replenish the seas. 59:6.10 160,000,000 years ago the land was largely covered with [[vegetation]] adapted to [[support]] [[land]]-[[animal]] life, and the [[atmosphere]] had become [[ideal]] for [[animal]] [[respiration]]. Thus ends the period of [[marine]]-life curtailment and those testing times of [[biologic]] [[adversity]] which eliminated all [[forms]] of life except such as had [[survival]] [[value]], and which were therefore entitled to [[function]] as the [[ancestors]] of the more rapidly [[developing]] and highly differentiated life of the ensuing ages of [[planetary]] [[evolution]]. 59:6.11 The ending of this period of [[biologic]] [[tribulation]], known to your students as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian Permian], also marks the end of the long [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleozoic Paleozoic] era, which covers one quarter of the [[planetary]] [[history]], two hundred and fifty million years. 59:6.12 The vast [[ocean]]ic [[nursery]] of life on Urantia has served its [[purpose]]. During the long ages when the land was unsuited to [[support]] life, before the [[atmosphere]] contained sufficient oxygen to sustain the higher [[land]] [[animals]], the sea mothered and nurtured the early life of the realm. Now the [[biologic]] importance of the [[sea]] progressively diminishes as the second [[stage]] of [[evolution]] begins to [[unfold]] on the [[land]]. 59:6.13 Presented by a [[Life Carrier]] of [[Nebadon]], one of the original corps assigned to [[Urantia]]. <center>[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_59 Go to Paper 59]</center> <center>[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center> [[Category:Paper 59 - The Marine-Life Era on Urantia]] [[Category: Urantia]] [[Category: Evolution]] [[Category: Earth Science/TeaM]]

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