Relating to or from the Cretaceous Period, an era of Earth's history roughly 145 to 66 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled and flowering plants first appeared.
From Latin 'cretaceus' meaning 'of chalk,' because rocks from this period are rich in chalk deposits. The geological period was named in the 1820s based on these chalk-rich formations.
The Cretaceous Period ended with a massive asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, but flowering plants—which had only just evolved—survived and eventually became the dominant plants we see today.
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