The goal of the PALEOMAP Project is to illustrate the plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea during the past 1100 million years. In the section on Earth history you can select any time period, read about that period, and see the plate distribution during that period. There is also a section on climate history where you can ... Full description.

Two amateur paleontologists kept their eyes to the ground in Oregon on one of their recent hikes and discovered what are believed to be the first remains of a marine reptile called the plesiosaur to be unearthed in the Pacific Northwest. This radio broadcast reports on the discovery and what it could mean to the understanding of dinosaurs in the area. The clip is 5 minutes and 6 seconds in length. Full description.

This site provides descriptions of dinosaurs and audio of what the dinosaurs might say to describe themselves. Students can listen to the pronunciation of a dinosaur name by clicking on the phonetic spelling of the name. There is also a computer activity in which the user must match clues to dinosaur names. Full description.

In this activity, students make two types of fossils. They begin by making an imprint in modeling clay, using a selection of objects (bones, etc.) to press into it. Then they pour plaster of Paris into the imprints to make casts. Materials lists, instructions, and discussion questions are provided. Full description.

In this activity students make leaf impressions on paper to illustrate how carbonization works. They use the leaf press method to demonstrate staining as a model for carbonization, when living tissue leaves a carbon film in sediment and rock. The students will discover that many plant fossils are preserved through carbonization and that soft parts of animals including skin and fur have also been preserved ... Full description.

This site allows students to interactively explore the answers to basic questions regarding fossils. It explains what we can learn from fossils and demonstrates how their characteristics can be used as clues to the past. Full description.

In this activity, students will participate in a simulated fossil hunt or archeological excavation. Working in groups, they will excavate fossils or artifacts buried in a container and tag, number and label, and record the position and details of each object encountered. They will make site sketches as each layer is removed. When all the objects have been found, and all the information obtained, the ... Full description.

This site introduces a group of dinosaurs called ornithischians. There were many kinds of ornithischian dinosaurs dating back to the early Jurassic. The Ornithopoda included the hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs), the iguanodontids, the heterodontosaurs, the hypsilophodontids, and various others. The Ceratopsia included the horned dinosaurs, while the Ankylosauria and Stegosauria (now usually grouped ... Full description.

This radio broadcast describes the 2001 discovery of the footprint of a hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur in the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve of Alaska. This was the first discovery of dinosaurs in southwest Alaska, and one of few occurrences of dinosaur fossils in a location other than the North Slope. The clip is 5 minutes in length. Full description.

This site is a general introduction to pterosaurs. Ranging from the size of a sparrow to the size of an airplane, the pterosaurs (Greek for "wing lizards") ruled the skies in the Jurassic and Cretaceous, and included the largest vertebrate ever known to fly: the late Cretaceous Quetzalcoatlus. The site has photographs, illustrations, and numerous active links that lead to detailed information on the ... Full description.