Early Biology of Puget Sound

This chapter is devoted to the flora and fauna that existed during those times up until the beginning of the Holocene Epoch and that were partly influenced by the underlying rock makeup, seascapes and landscapes that resulted from interactions between the underlying rock and minerals and the weathering elements. Those elements include wind, atmospheric vapor concentration, water and snow precipitation, followed by formation of streams and rivers, lagoons, wetlands, mesas, and valleys. The majority of the underlying rocks of the Puget Sound region have been deposited in relatively recent times, in terms of the age of the Earth. Much of the sedimentary rock laid down within the region date from the mid- to late-Mesozoic Era and for much of the Cenozoic Era and are embedded with mainly invertebrate fossils. The chapter concludes by summarizing the Great Extinction event that occurred towards the end of the last ice age and the conditions that may have let this come about.