This site of the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) and the National Park Service (NPS) highlights the geologic history of Death Valley National Park in Nevada and California. The story begins 1.8 billion years ago with the formation of rocks and continues through uplift, faulting, volcanism, early animals of the area, glaciers, and the making of deserts and dunes. A geologic timescale connects ... Full description.

This activity demonstrates that there is not just one correct answer to be found to any particular problem and that there is room for different interpretations of data. In addition it will help students to consider the degree of reliability afforded to different observations and the extent to which science can be certain about the ideas put forward. Finally, it will encourage them to consider social ... Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 6-8. It focuses on Alfred Wegener's theory of Continental Drift and the evidence used to support it. Using fossil types and maps, students view similarities between continents that led Wegener to conclude that they had once been together as a supercontinent, Pangea. Included are objectives, materials, procedures, discussion ... Full description.

In this lesson students will learn about how the Grand Canyon was formed, focusing on the process of erosion. They will examine the canyon's rock layers to infer what the area looked like when the layers were created. Students will conclude by creating posters illustrating and describing what the Grand Canyon looks like today and what it looked in the past. Students will locate Arizona on a United ... Full description.

This brief review of Earth history starts with the Archeozoic Period and goes through the Devonian Period. It explains time divisions and that the basic unit of geologic time is the period, which comprises two or more epochs, and that an era consists of two or more periods. The site goes on to explain what was happening in regard to plate tectonics and organic evolution in each of the periods through ... Full description.

This guide provides information about Earth's climate as it has existed through geological time. Its sections explore the world's climate zones and principle drivers of climate; known climate variations over timescales ranging from annual to more than 100 million years; and provide a 'tour' of climates of the past, Earth's greenhouse-icehouse modes, orbitally forced climates and climate extremes. ... Full description.

This lesson plan asks high school students to combine their knowledge of evolution, geologic time, and dinosaurs into a discussion of how these three topics overlap with regard to dinosaur evolution in the Cretaceous period. Students will read about the work of paleontologist Paul Sereno and list the dinosaurs he has discovered as well as the locations in which they were found and the time periods ... Full description.

This is a collection of mnemonic devices to aid in learning the various periods and epochs of the geologic time scale which the author has assembled from a variety of contributors. Contributor email addresses are included. There are also mnemonic devices for Moh's hardness scale and for stratigraphic sequences from the Canyonlands-San Juan River area and the Grand Canyon. Full description.

In this activity, students represent events in the Earth's history by placing themselves on a 260-yard long time line which is scaled so that the distance accurately represents time before present. When the human time line is complete, the student who represents the formation of the Earth takes his or her place, and then the other students shout out what event they represent and how long ago they ... Full description.

This website contains visual information about the geologic history of the Grand Staircase region of Arizona and Utah, which comprises the area from the Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon. There is a brief introduction to the region, a Landsat image of the Grand Canyon, panel cross-sections showing stages of geologic evolution for this area, sectional stratigraphy, stratigraphic columns connecting the different ... Full description.