Paragraph 2
Dr Ruffell and his team based their
on research conducted on
of rock in the Eastern Alps in Europe in the 1970s and 80s. The data showed
layers deposited in
rock that dated back over 200 million years. Ruffell said this led to growing
that the wet period may have been, "the trigger that enabled dinosaurs, and possibly the other
of our modern land-based fauna, to diversify and dominate the land". He added: "It may have been one of the most important
in the history of life, in terms of its role in allowing not only the
of dinosaurs, but also the
of most key classes that form the modern fauna of…turtles, crocodiles,
and mammals."