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For questions regarding this program or to schedule your own class Q&A with MetroPark staff, contact Outdoor Education staff at FRMP_Education@metroparks.org

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Thanks so much for coming with Erin and I to explore fossils at Cox Arboretum MetroPark!

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There are a number of places around the U.S. where you can observe, and in many cases keep the fossils you find! See the map below-these dedicated fossil parks and other collecting areas are indicated by the collecting icons.

Please note: you are responsible for confirming the collection policies of any place you visit prior to collecting fossils.

If you know of any we've missed, please contact Sadie Mills, and we'll add them to the list!

Find Collecting Sites in Your State Below:

Fossils may also be observed in more than 245 National Park Service areas. Visit our page to learn more about these destinations. The Organic Act (1916) has directed parks to "conserve the scenery" and natural objects, including fossils, and the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (2009) requires parks to manage and protect fossils for scientific and educational values. the laws, regulations and policies governing fossil collection on public lands, click Museums, Parks, and Attractions Therefore, if you find a fossil in a National Park Service area, leave the fossil where it is, take a photo, and share your discovery with a park ranger. Removing fossils from the sites where they were found is not only illegal but will result in most of the interesting and valuable information about that fossil being lost forever. More information on National Park Service areas with fossils can be found here. To read up on here.

California

Humboldt County, CA
Humboldt County, California offers an impressive array of interesting geologic features exposed by the ocean and local rivers. These layers of deep time contain evidence of conditions on earth and the ancient creatures who lived here millions of years ago. Their fossil remains have been preserved and can be uncovered at several sites in the area. In this guide, you will find maps, directions and samples of the kind of specimens that can be discovered. All it takes is curiosity, a desire to learn more, and the proper tools. Peace River The Peace River contains fossils from both the Miocene/Early Pliocene and Pleistocene. You can find shark teeth, as well as vertebrate fossils like dugong ribs and mammoth teeth! Be sure to get your collecting permit and read up on safety practices before heading to the river. Venice Beach is known as the "Shark Tooth Capital of the World." Here you can find Miocene/Early Pliocene fossils along the beach, though it's best to go searching at low tide! Digging for fossils is every child's dream. It is secretly so for some adults too, and lucky for us, we can do it in our own figurative backyard. Clarkia's Fossil Bowl is one of the few fossil-dig sites in the U.S. that is open to the public. For $10 a person, you can dig to your heart's content and take home as many botanical fossils as you can stand.
Fossil & Prairie Park Preserve

Rockford, IA
The park is open year-round, sunrise to sunset, with free admission. You may find brachiopods, gastropods, corals, crinoids, bryozoans, and cephalopods from the Devonian-age Lime Creek Formation. What makes this site great for collecting is that the fossiliferous sediment here has weathered to the extent that often exquisitely-preserved fossils lay scattered on the ground surface. You may keep what you collect, but only for your personal collection. Selling your finds is prohibited. There is an accompanying visitor center that is open weekends in May, September & October from 1-4 p.m. and Memorial Day through Labor Day from 1-4 p.m. daily. Calvert Cliffs
Chesapeake Beach, MD
The fossil-bearing Calvert Cliffs of Maryland is part of a large collection of fossiliferous exposures, called the Chesapeake Group. The Chesapeake Group encompasses exposures around the Chesapeake Bay, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. These exposures were created by sediment accumulation in the Salisbury Embayment, an area encompassing the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia coastal plains which are often covered by the ocean. Fossil Quarry and Nature Center
Rochester, MN
450 million years ago, Quarry Hill Park and surrounding areas in Southeastern Minnesota, were covered by an ocean inhabited by many sea-dwelling creatures. It is these ocean-dwelling creature's fossils that remain in the Platteville limestone found in the park today. Uncovered by a quarry operation during the early 20th century, commonly found fossils include: Brachiopods, Trilobites, Cephalopods and Gastropods.
Schramm Park State Recreation Area

Greta, NE
Schramm Park State Recreation Area has a limestone outcropping that houses many fossils from the Pennsylvanian period. You are able to use hand tools but no digging is allowed, and you can keep your finds. Geology enthusiasts will also enjoy a geological display, located at the east entrance to the park, that highlights limestone and shale from the Pennsylvanian Period. Visitors may also see Paleozoic marine fossils like brachiopods or corals. A park sticker is required to park. Late Cretaceous shallow-marine fossils of the Navesink Formation, including shellfish and shark teeth, can be collected from the streambed of Poricy Brook from April to October. For a small fee, the park will rent you the tools you're permitted to use, or you can bring your own trowels & screens. Rock hammers, picks, and shovels are not allowed. You are asked to limit yourself to taking home five fossils per visit.
Poricy Brook Fossil Beds
This fossil collecting location contains Cretaceous marine fauna, including fossil shark teeth, and the occasional Mosasaur. Fossils here come from formations that erode out of stream banks in central New Jersey. They are found by walking the streams.
Middletown, NJ

Colts Neck, NJ
You may find brachiopods, trilobites, horn corals, crinoids, and gastropods. Spring Break - Apri l 12 - 19, 2013, Monday - Saturday. 9 AM - 4 PM & Sunday, 11 AM - 4 PM May-October: Saturdays 9 AM to 4 PM & Sundays, 11 AM to 4 PM June 14-September 2, 2014: Monday-Saturday, 9 AM to 4 PM, Sundays, 11 AM-4 PM. No pre-registration required for the above visiting hours. Penn Dixie Site will be open rain or shine. Dress for the weather. Visitors may keep all the fossils they find. Additional individual, family, group, scouts, day care centers, summer camps, birthday parties, amateur & professional geological groups, etc. may be scheduled by calling (716) 627-4560. Penn Dixie has over 4,100 feet of paved trails for wheelchairs, walkers, strollers and wagons to accommodate site accessibility for all. There are now 5 shelters available for use on the site. Schools, scouts, and groups may schedule a visit at other times by calling (716) 627-4560. School memberships are available. Non-member adults $7, children 12 and under $6, children 2 & under and Penn Dixie Members are free.
Penn Dixie Paleontological and Outdoor Education Center
Located near the LaFarge Quarry in Paulding, Ohio, the company has created a public fossil park due to the overwhelming number of requests and letters from Dry Dredgers and other amateur fossil club members. The park is located on the quarry property but far removed from the mining operations. It is a flat fenced area where LaFarge periodically dumps Silica Shale. It is open 7 days a week to collectors, who simply have to sign in and follow the rules. Trammel Fossil Park
Blasdell, NY
Located in the Cincinnati area in Sharonville, Ohio, this is a great place to go hunting for brachiopods, bryozoans, and other goodies from the Late Ordovician. The park is open to the public year-round, free admission, and you can keep all the fossils you find. Information from the Dry Dredgers, who helped create and maintain Trammel Fossil Park. East Fork State Park You can find bryozoans, crinoids, brachiopods, and gastropods. Collecting rules apply, request collecting permission at the Visitor Center.
Paulding, OH
Experience the life of a fossil hunter at one of only two prime Devonian Era sites on the entire planet, at a park that is unlike any other. When your work is done, transport your treasures home where you can continue to learn, research and remember your adventure. Nearly 375 million years ago, northwest Ohio was a great sea teeming with life. Now, Fossil Park is rich in fossilized brachiopods, coral and more than 200 species of prehistoric life. You're going to dig exploring for these buried treasures, and the best part is, you get to keep whatever you find! Fossil Park's 5-acre, ADA accessible rock quarry allows you to search for world-renowned fossils in a safe, controlled environment. The fossils come from Hanson Aggregate Midwest's large working quarries, located just a mile south of Fossil Park. The specimens are already in shale that is soft enough to break with your bare hands, making this an activity nearly anyone can enjoy. Caesar Creek
Sharonville, OH
The Caesar Creek Spillway was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to aid in flood control. When they blasted it out, they exposed layers upon layers of fossil-bearing Ordovician limestones and mudstones that stretch for football fields!
Sylvania, OH
The city of Fairborn, near Dayton, allows fossil collecting in this former limestone quarry; you'll find brachiopods, crinoids and other Silurian marine fossils. The sitemap also points out glacial grooves and a (fossil) coral reef. Check for instructions when you arrive.
Waynesville, OH
You can find fossil leaves and branches from the Oligocene, approximately 33 million years old. You will find similar fossils here as the ones in nearby John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, but you can collect them here.
Fairborn, OH

Wheeler High School Fossil Beds

South Dakota
Take your family on an adventure that they will never forget; a trip to the remote badlands of South Dakota in search of dinosaur bones. ALL TOOLS AND TRAINING ARE PROVIDED and yes, unlike many other trips you may keep some of the common fossils that you find. "Commercially significant" fossils like T. rex teeth, and more complete Triceratops and Edmontosaurus bones can also be purchased for an additional fee if you like. "Scientifically significant" pieces are reserved for museums only. Ladonia Fossil Park Ladonia Fossil Park is a project of the City of Ladonia, Texas and is located two miles north of downtown Ladonia on Highway 34 north and west of the bridge spanning North Sulphur River. The park sits on the bank of the vast river channel and provides an entrance into canyon hunting grounds that have yielded a variety of fossils from the Cretaceous and Pleistocene Periods. Cretaceous fossils including mosasaurs and plesiosaurs are found in the bed while Pleistocene fossils including mastodons and mammoths are found in the banks. The park is open 365 days a year but hunting is determined by whether water is in the raging flow. Due to safety issues, hunting is allowed only when the river is not flowing. Admission is free. The fossils date back about 80 million years or more. With the exception of large museum-worthy finds an unusual and rare specimen, hunters may collect and take fossils out of the river. A fossil left in the riverbed or embankment will not be there after the next big rainfall due to the extreme flow rate of the raging North Sulphur River. Ladonia Fossil Park Rules: the city of Ladonia is not responsible for accidents or injuries occurring on this property. Use of this property is at your own risk. Fossil collecting is allowed only within the river beds and banks. Parking permitted in designated area only. Possession/discharge of firearms, hunting and archery are prohibited. Possession/consumption of alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs is prohibited. No pets allowed. CAUTION! Enter and exit collecting area at designated points only. Mineral Wells Fossil Park
PaleoAdventures - Dinosaur Dig Site Adventure
Mineral Wells Fossil Park provides the fossil enthusiast, paleontologist and student an excellent opportunity to see and collect well preserved "Pennsylvanian Period" fossils with ease and abundance. These fossils have been dated to be just over 300 million years old. You may collect and take fossils out of the park - for personal use only. The park as it exists today is a result of 20 years of erosion of the old City of Mineral Wells landfill's borrow pit, which was closed in the early 1990s. The erosion of the borrow pit has revealed fossils documenting ancient sea species of crinoids (sea lilies), echinoids (urchins), brachiopods, pelecypods (clams and oysters), bryozoans, corals, trilobites (arthropods), plants and even primitive sharks. In recent years, the borrow pit has become a mecca for the avid fossil hunter, the amateur and professional paleontologist, and various fossil, paleontological, gem and mineral groups and societies in Texas and the surrounding states. Park Rules: The City of Mineral Wells is not responsible for accidents or injuries occurring on this property. Use of this property is at your own risk. Fossil collecting is allowed in designated areas only. Operation of motor vehicles/motorcycles/ATV's/bicycles is prohibited. Parking permitted in designated area only. Dumping/open fires/smoking are prohibited. Possession/discharge of firearms, hunting and archery are prohibited. Possession/consumption of alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs is prohibited. No pets allowed. CAUTION: Enter and exit collecting area at designated points only. The area has dangerous drop-offs, steep slopes and loose soil. Encounters with dangerous insects/animals are possible. Fossil Collecting Rules: Fossil collecting is for personal use only - not for commercial sale. Surface collecting only is allowed. Small gardening tools are permitted. Shovels, hoes, picks etc., or motorized equipment are prohibited.
Badlands, SD
Stonerose Interpretive Center & Eocene Fossil Site
Mineral Wells, TX
Stonerose is the name of a fossil site, a place where impressions of plants, insects, and fish that lived millions of years ago can be found in shale. These fossils are the result of events that happened long before there were people to observe them. The organisms found at Stonerose lived nearly 50 million years ago, in a time known as the Eocene Epoch. At that time, the area now occupied by the City of Republic was part of an ancient lake. Over many years, layers of sediment built up on the lakebed. Much of this material was powdery ash from volcanic activity occurring in the area.
Washington

Republic, WA

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There are a number of places around the U.S. where you can observe, and in many cases keep the fossils you find! See the map below-these dedicated fossil parks and other collecting areas are indicated by the collecting icons. Please note: you are responsible for confirming the collection policies of any place you visit prior to collecting fossils.

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Now that we know a little more about fossils and how they form, what fossils we can find in our area, and why we find Ordovician fossils, let's get outside and go on a fossil quest!

After watching the video, head outside to see if you can find any rocks with fossils in them, either at home, at school, or out at a park. Always go with an adult, especially if you'll be going near water.

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The Theory of Plate Tectonics is that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates (7 large plates and several smaller plates) that glide over the mantle layer above the Earth's core. This theory is considered the unifying theory of geology -it explains all geologic features on Earth, and combined many descriptions scientists had made about specific and regional geologic features. Let's explore this theory, and see if it can help us understand why we find Ordovician fossils here in Dayton, Ohio.

After watching the video, explore plate tectonics a little more by playing the plate tectonic game below.

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Dayton, Ohio is home to lots of fossils, you may even have some right in your own backyard! But what kinds of fossils can we find in our area? Watch this video to learn more about the Ordovician fossils you can find!

After watching the video, check out the MetroParks fossil brochure as a good reminder of the different fossils you can find.

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Fossils can be found all over the world, but what is a fossil? How is a fossil created? Watch this video to find out!

After watching the video, check out the article below about how hard it is to become a fossil.

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Tricks to preserving your bones for future archaeologists

Step One: Be a Human

smithsonian.com

Have you ever found yourself standing in a museum, gazing up at the skeleton of a mighty T-Rex with envy and thought "one day, that'll be me"? Becoming a fossil is a quick and effortless way to become a global superstar. But just how do you become one? Here are five simple ways to increase the chances that your bones could one day find a home next to a velociraptor.

Congratulations! If you're a human, you're a step ahead of the game, writes Dan Nosowitz for Atlas Obscura. When it comes to fossilization, not all creatures are created equal; it takes hard body parts, like bones and teeth, that will survive long enough to even begin to fossilize.
Step Two: Get Buried
"Mammals have a very good record, because teeth make fantastic fossils," Mark Norell, chair of the paleontology department at the American Museum of Natural History tells Nosowitz. "They're incredibly hard, incredibly resilient. Most of the fossils we find of mammals are teeth."

Other animals aren't so lucky, says Norell - fossilized birds are some of the rarest paleontological finds because their bones are so fragile. Yet another reason to schedule that dentist appointment.

The second step is the most important to the fossilization process, Nosowitz writes. You'll have to find a way to preserve your body for the next 10,000 years before you'll be considered a fossil. Before that milestone, your bones are considered remains or evidence. It's very rare to be buried quickly enough for a body to be preserved, so keep an eye out for natural disasters like volcanic eruptions and flooding streams, which can help by burying you in ash or engulfing your body in sediment.
Step Three: Pick a Nice Plot
If you can't find a volcano nearby, the next best thing is a traditional underground burial. It turns out that human burial rites are a very effective way to prep a body for the thousands of years the fossilization process takes to work its magic. Most animals that die where they stand get picked apart by scavengers and torn apart by the elements. But burying bodies in coffins protects them from the first few years on their way to becoming a fossil, writes Nosowitz:

"We can look at graves from the Medieval period, 500, 600 years ago, that have been exhumed, and the caskets have decomposed but the bodies are usually in pretty good shape," says Norell. We are, effectively, performing our own rapid burial procedures that normally would have to come from extraordinary natural events.

Step Four: Trade Those Guts for Crystals
Pro-tip for the aspiring fossil: pick a place that won't have too many natural disasters that could mess up that perfectly preserved skeleton of yours. While it may be harder to find a burial site free from fault lines or flooding if you choose to go the sudden burial route, you'll stand a better chance of your fossilized skeleton being found if it's not buried by tectonic shifts or washed away by running water. The best spot, according to Nosowitz? Try the Midwest:

"You can't really predict what's going to happen in the future," says Norell, "but an ideal kind of place would be someplace out on the Great Plains." It's got everything: it's tectonically stable, well-drained, with few major rivers running through it. It's likely to stay the way it is for quite a long time. "Those sorts of habitats, we know from excavating animals all over the world, are most likely to preserve fossils," says Norell.

Your intestines are just going to block the view of your pelvis: why not trade them for longer-lasting crystals and minerals? Most fossils are formed when mineral-rich water mixes with an animal's remains that replace its cells over time, hardening until the corpse becomes rock-hard.
Step Five: Be Incredibly Lucky
"Imagine a deflating balloon that you fill slowly, as slowly as it deflates, with molten metal," writes Nosowitz. "Eventually the balloon will be not really a balloon anymore, but it will still have the shape of a balloon--and it'll be much, much more sturdy than it ever was during its time as a flimsy structure of air and rubber."

Congratulations! You've made it this far - there's just one last thing.

When it comes down to it, you never know whether you'll be one of the lucky few to be fossilized. Despite the extensive fossil record that archeologists have discovered beneath the surface of the earth, Norell says that represents the tiniest fraction of a fraction of a fraction of all the animals that have ever lived on this planet.

"Most things just don't preserve," Norell tells Nosowitz. "It's a very rare event to become a fossil."

Norell says that there's a pretty minimal chance of a human becoming a famous fossil in the distant future. But just because it's incredibly unlikely to happen to you doesn't mean it's impossible: just make sure to be buried in the Midwest with a full set of teeth.

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How to Become a Fossil in Five Easy Steps

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Step One: Be a Human smithsonian.com Have you ever found yourself standing in a museum, gazing up at the skeleton of a mighty T-Rex with envy and thought "one day, that'll be me"? Becoming a fossil is a quick and effortless way to become a global superstar.

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Every plant and animal has a habitat which provides food, water, shelter, and space that the animal needs to survive. There are many types of habitats on Earth, and here in Dayton, Ohio we have many types of habitats like forests, prairies, meadows, wetlands, rivers, creeks, and lakes.

After watching this video, choose an animal (alive today or extinct) and do a quick search to learn about its habitat.

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First Grade

Life Science (LS)

Topic: Basic Needs of Living Things

This topic focuses on the physical needs of living things in Ohio. Energy from the sun or food, nutrients, water, shelter and air are some of the physical needs of living things.

1.LS.1 Living things have basic needs, which are met by obtaining materials from the physical environment.

1.LS.2: Living things survive only in environments that meet their needs.

Second Grade

Life Science (LS)

Topic: Interactions within Habitats

This topic focuses on how ecosystems work by observations of simple interactions between the biotic/living and abiotic/nonliving parts of an ecosystem. Just as living things impact the environment in which they live, the environment impacts living things.

2.LS.2: All organisms alive today result from their ancestors, some of which may be extinct. Not all kinds of organisms that lived in the past are represented by living organisms today.

Social Studies:

History

1. Time can be shown graphically on calendars and timelines.

2. Change over time can be shown with artifacts, maps, and photographs.

Government

10. Personal accountability includes making responsible choices, taking responsibility for personal actions and respecting others.

Fourth Grade

Earth and Space Science (ESS)

Topic: Earth’s Surface

4.ESS.2: The surface of Earth changes due to weathering.

Life Science (LS)

Topic: Earth’s Living History

This topic focuses on using fossil evidence and living organisms to observe that suitable habitats depend upon a combination of biotic and abiotic factors.

4.LS.1- Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.

4.LS.2- Fossils can be compared to one another and to present-day organisms according to their similarities and differences.

Social Studies:

History

1. The order of significant events in Ohio and the United States can be shown on a timeline.

Eighth Grade

Earth and Space Science (ESS)

Topic: Physical Earth

This topic focuses on the physical features of Earth and how they formed. This includes the interior of Earth, the rock record, plate tectonics and landforms.

8.ESS.2 Earth’s lithosphere consists of major and minor tectonic plates that move relative to each other.

8.ESS.4- Evidence of the dynamic changes of Earth’s surface through time is found in the geologic record.

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Have you been to a MetroPark before? Which one? Explore all of our facilities through our website.

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MetroParks Ice Rink closed for the 2020-2021 skating season

COVID-19 select closures and cancellations extended until further notice

As COVID-19 continues to keep us apart in person, Five Rivers MetroParks has created new ways for you to connect with staff experts - and nature - virtually.

Whether you want to take a casual stroll to soak in your natural surroundings or have little ones who want to join in on your adventures, MetroParks has trails to help you find your adventure.

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Outdoor Recreation & Education | Five Rivers MetroParks

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MetroParks Ice Rink closed for the 2020-2021 skating season COVID-19 select closures and cancellations extended until further notice As COVID-19 continues to keep us apart in person, Five Rivers MetroParks has created new ways for you to connect with staff experts - and nature - virtually.

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Five Rivers MetroParks Fossil Kit Padlet

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Five Rivers MetroParks Fossil Kit Padlet

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This document will provide everything you need for the Fossil Quest Virtual Field Trip.

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Fossil Background Information and Resources

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Fossil Background Information and Resources

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Please fill out a quick evaluation if you've used our content so we can continue to grow

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Here is a list of good books you can use while teaching about Ohio fossils

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Use these labels to create your students, or your own, collection of Ohio fossils! There are 3 of each type of fossil on this sheet.

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Use this booklet to help your students write a story about a fossil they've found!

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I Found a Fossil at Five Rivers MetroParks

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This activity from Kentucky Geological Survey uses a clock to create a geologic timeline of the history of the Earth.

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Time Clocks KGS Home > Earth Science Education

An exercise assembled by Dr. Stephen Greb, Kentucky Geological Survey to demonstrate changes in the Earth through time, and the length of time it took to make many of the changes.
Materials

A wall clock or watch

Paper, colored pencils or crayons, or other materials to draw or make costumes of ancient animals and plants

Activity
Although time lines are traditionally demonstrated with adding machine paper, why not demonstrate time with time? You can demonstrate changes in Earth history through time using the clock in your classroom. Time conversions for important dates in Earth history are shown here for 1 hour (a typical class period). To show 4.6 billion years in one hour, (the age of the Earth) each minute equals 76.7 million years, and each second equals 1.3 million years.

Click here to get gif image of above clock that can be printed at page size.

A list of Important Dates in Earth History is provided that contains the dates of the events shown on the time clock, and more. The teacher can pick events from the list of key events and calculate, or have students calculate the time for the key events you wish to use.

To calculate the time of an event when you are going to show 4.6 billion years in one hour:

Event (millions of years ago) / 76.7 = minutes ago the event occurred

The number calculated will show the minutes from the end of the hour at which the event occurred. You will usually want to calculate the minutes from the beginning of the hour.

60 - minutes ago = minutes from the beginning of the hour. The minutes will be in decimal form. For accuracy, if you wish to calculate seconds from the decimal number (this will be important when you get to man's place in Earth history):

decimal part of the number x 60 = number of seconds.

Example:  The Cretaceous extinction occurred 65 million years ago.
        65/76.7=0.847
        60 - 0.874 = 59.153 minutes past the hour
        0.153 x 60 = 9.18 (round this off to 9 seconds)
        The Cretaceous extinction occurs at 59:09 after the hour.

Once the dates you wish to use have been converted to time, you can decide how you want to present those dates to your class.

(1) The teacher can simply tell the class that in the next hour they are going to be calling out events in time to give the students a sense of how long it took to get to where the class is today. This can be done as a backdrop to whatever else the class is working on that day.

(2) The teacher can make the entire lesson about Earth history. This takes a little bit of timing, but you can talk about each segment of Earth history as it happens. In the first part of class, discuss how the Earth formed, define a cell, the requirements for life, etc. Then get ready to speed up in the last 10 minutes of class as you discuss the evolution of fish to amphibians to reptiles to birds and mammals, etc.

(3) To make the time clocks exciting for the students, the teacher can assign each an Important Date in Earth History a day or two before the class. Let each student go to the library or provide information about the key date so that they can draw a picture, make a mask, or write a short limerick about their key event. For example, if a student was assigned blue-green algae, they might say "I'm blue-green algae, not much more than slime, but I ruled the Earth for a very long time!" For a mask they might make a headdress that looked like sea weed, or drape themselves in green streamers. This will let each student use their own creativity to illustrate the concept of changes in time.

Because most of the life forms on Earth have been on the planet for only the last 570 million years (the last 10 minutes of class), there won't be much time to demonstrate the changes that have led to the children being in the class room that day. You can try to have the students representing key events in the last 570 million years shout out their topics, but there may be less than a minute between key events in the last 5 minutes of class., and this may require some dramatic orchestration. To better demonstrate the changes since the beginning of the Paleozic Era, do the same exercise the second day of class, using only the last 570 million years of time.

Click here to get gif image of above clock that can be printed at page size.

To show 570 million years in one hour, each minute equals 9.5 million years, and each second equals 158 thousand years. You can pick events from the Important Dates in Earth History list and calculate, or have students calculate the time for their event as above.

To calculate the time of an event when you are going to show 570 million years in one hour:

Event (millions of years ago) / 9.5 = minutes ago the event occurred

The number calculated will show the minutes from the end of the hour at which the event occurred. You will usually want to calculate the minutes from the beginning of the hour.

60 - minutes ago = minutes from the beginning of the hour. The minutes will be in decimal form. For accuracy, if you wish to calculate seconds from the decimal number (this will be important when you get to man's place in Earth history):

decimal part of the number x 60 = number of seconds.

Example:  The Cretaceous extinction occurred 65 million years ago.
        65/9.5=6.84
        60 - 6.84 = 53.16 minutes past the hour
        0.16 x 60 = 9.6 (round this off to 10 seconds)
        The Cretaceous extinction occurs at 53:10 after the hour.

If you want to show your classes work to the world, see Kentucky Kids Dig Earth Science.

Go to Images in Time for pictures of ancient creatures
Go to Key Links in Earth History for more info and images about earth history

Back to Its About Time activities
Back to Classroom Activities
Back to Earth Science Education Network

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Time Clocks, Educational Resources for K-16

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Time Clocks KGS Home > Earth Science Education An exercise assembled by Dr. Stephen Greb, Kentucky Geological Survey to demonstrate changes in the Earth through time, and the length of time it took to make many of the changes.

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This interactive clock shows the history of the Earth. Students will enjoy clicking to learn more!

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If you enjoy this website, please consider a small donation to help with domain and hosting fees. Thanks.

A History of the Earth - Interactive Infographic

The Earth is old, very very old. It is difficult for us humans to fully comprehend just how old our planet actually is.

This infographic offers a visual way to explore the various stages of the Earth's history using a 12 hour clock analogy.

The Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old. In this analogy, one second represents 104,167 years and one hour 375 millions years.

12 h = 720 mins = 43,200 seconds

4,500,000,000 / 43,200 = 104,167

0.5 second = 52,083 years

1 second = 104,167 years

1 minute = 6,250,020 / 6.25 Ma years

1 hour = 375,001,200 / 375 Ma years

humans > 2 Ma years = 19 seconds

Life on the planet started astonishingly early. The first living organisms, in the current model of evolution, are thought to be Prokaryotes ¹. The oldest known fossilised prokaryotes have been dated to approximately 3.5 billion years ago, only 1 billion years after the formation of the Earth's crust.

Eukaryotes ² are more advanced organisms with complex cell structures, each of which contains a nucleus. Although incredibly hard to determine their origin, they are thought to have developed 1.6-2.1 billion years ago, although some research ² suggests eukaryotes being present even earlier than this.

Around 1.1 billion years ago multicellular ³ organisms are thought to have started to develop, most likely similar in form to plants such as green algae. 200 million years later true multicellularity had also evolved in animals similar in nature to today's sponges, which are organisms which can reassemble themselves.

Animals ⁴, in the most basic sense of the word, are considered to have evolved from Eukaryotes. Fossils of early sponges have been discovered in 665 million year old rock. Later on, around 560 million years ago, some highly significant fossils of an organism which was named Charnia 4.1 were discovered. These enigmatic early animals were anchored to the sea floor where they are thought to have absorbed nutrients.

Around 450 million years ago, during the Ordovician Period, land plants appeared, although new evidence may suggest that complex photosynthetic plants developed over 1000 million years ago. Studies of fossils from the Devonian Period 416-359 Ma 5.1 indicate that land plants had evolved features we recognise today, such as leaves, roots, and secondary wood. Towards the end of this time seeds had evolved.

The dominance of the Dinosaurs ⁶ lasted for over 160 million years, from around 230 Ma, to their ultimate demise at the end of the Cretaceous 65 million years ago. The extinction of most dinosaur species occurred during the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event 6.1. The fossil record indicates that birds evolved within theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period. Some of them survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, including the ancestors of all modern birds.

The first Mammals ⁷ are our most direct ancestors, they evolved from Amniotes 7.1 which were a group of tetrapod vertebrates (four-limbed animals with backbones or spinal columns). All mammals posses the same characteristics; they are warm-blooded vertebrate animals of a class that is distinguished by the possession of hair or fur, the secretion of milk by females, and (typically) the birth of live young. One of the earliest known mammals was Eozostrodon 7.2 which lived during the late Triassic and the early Jurassic, about 210 million years ago.

The genus Homo gave rise to modern humans ⁸, Homo sapiens, us. It is estimated we have been around for 2.3-2.4 million years, coinciding with the first evidence of stone tool usage. Incredibly, recent evidence from Ethiopia ⁸ places the earliest signs of stone tool usage at before 3.39 million years ago.

Modern humans have evolved into highly intelligent beings who posses the power, and desire, to understand who we are, where we came from, and how the natural world works. We have even become ambitious enough to try and help each other to understand these amazing things through ever more advancing visual communication!

The Hadean Eon ⁹ is named after the god Hades, which is Greek for Underworld, and generally refers to the chaotic conditions on the early Earth. At the start of the Hadean the solar system was still forming within it's accretion disc 9.1 and the planet was subjected to millions of years of violent impacts known as the Late Heavy Bombardment 9.2. This was a time on Earth before there were any rocks, making geological study of this eon very difficult. The oldest dated material from this time were crystals formed from zircon.

Around 3.8 billion years ago the Earth entered the Archaen Eon ¹⁰. During this time the Earth's crust cooled and rocks and continental plates began to form. 300 million years-in the Earth's magnetic field was established, protecting the early planet from intense solar winds capable of stripping away any atmosphere which existed. Fossils of stromatolites, which were instrumental in creating the free oxygen in the atmosphere are found throughout the Archean, becoming especially common late in the eon.

The Proterozoic Eon ¹¹ is the largest classified time period extending 2 billion years. The name Proterozoic is Greek for earlier life. We have a much better geologic record of this time as many of the rocks are less metamorphosed than from the Archaen Eon. The first-known glaciations occurred during the Proterozoic, one began shortly after the beginning of the eon, while there were at least four during the Neoproterozoic, climaxing with the Snowball Earth of the Varangian glaciation.

The current Eon in the geologic timescale is the Phanerozoic covering roughly the last 545 million years. Here, this infographic splits into 3 Eras, the first of which is the Paleozoic Era ¹². During this time the Earth's landmass was broken up into a substantial number of relatively small continents. Towards the end of the era, around 251 million years ago, sophisticated reptiles and the first modern plants had developed. The continents gathered together into a supercontinent called Pangaea, which included most of the Earth's land area.

The Mesozoic Era ¹³ is the second period during the Phanerozoic Eon and extended from 251-65 million years ago. This was the Age of Dinosuars ⁶ but also a time of intense tectonic, climatic, and evolutionary activity. The gradual drift of the continents towards their present positions resulted in the end of the supercontinent Pangaea. The climate was exceptionally warm throughout the period; this also played an important role in the evolution and diversification of new animal species. By the end of the era, the basis of modern life was in place.

The Cenozoic Era ¹⁴ is the current and most recent of the three Phanerozoic geological eras and covers the period from 65.5 million years ago to the present. It is marked by the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event 14.1 at the end of the Cretaceous that saw the demise of the last non-avian dinosaurs and the end of the Mesozoic Era. The Cenozoic Era is ongoing.

Of the several theories on how the moon was formed ¹⁵, the prevailing idea today is the Giant Impact Hypothesis 15.1. It is thought that the Earth-Moon system formed as a result of a giant impact with a body known as Theia, a Mars-sized planet that collided with the nearly formed proto-Earth, blasting material into orbit, which accreted to form the Moon. The large amount of energy released in the giant impact event and the subsequent re-accretion of material in Earth orbit would have melted the outer shell of the Earth, forming a magma ocean. The newly formed Moon would also have had its own lunar magma ocean.

The origin of life is still one of the biggest scientific mysteries. All known life forms share fundamental molecular mechanisms, and based on these observations, theories on the origin of life attempt to find a mechanism explaining the formation of a primordial single cell organism from which all life originates ¹⁶. The RNA world hypothesis 16.1 suggests that in the 'primordial soup' of organic molecules there existed free-floating nucleotides. These nucleotides regularly formed bonds with one another, producing chains which are proposed as the first, primitive forms of life and the precursor to DNA, the building blocks of complex life.

Photosynthesis ¹⁷ is the chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. It is vital for all aerobic life on Earth. The first photosynthetic organisms probably evolved around 3400 million years ago, extremely early in the evolutionary history of life, when all forms of life on Earth were microorganisms and the atmosphere had much more carbon dioxide.

Cyanobacteria is also known as blue-green algae, blue-green bacteria, and Cyanophyta ¹⁸. It is a phylum of bacteria that obtain their energy through photosynthesis. The name 'cyanobacteria' comes from the colour of the bacteria. Cyanobacteria appeared, around 3000 million years ago, and drastically changed the Earth when they began to oxygenate the atmosphere, beginning about 2400 Ma ago.

The Great Oxygenation Event ¹⁹, also called the oxygen catastrophe, was the appearance of free oxygen (O ₂) in Earth's atmosphere. This major environmental change happened around 2.4 billion years ago. The rising oxygen levels may have wiped out a huge portion of the Earth's anaerobic inhabitants at the time. From their perspective it was a catastrophe. Cyanobacteria, by producing oxygen, were essentially responsible for what was likely the largest extinction event in Earth's history.

Orogeny refers to forces and events leading to a severe structural deformation of the Earth's crust due to the engagement of tectonic plates ²⁰. Response to such engagement results in the formation of long tracts of highly deformed rock called orogens or orogenic belts. It is the primary mechanism by which mountains are built on continents. Global-scale collisional orogens 20.1 occurred between 1800-2000 million years ago, forming Columbia 20.2, one of our planet's oldest supercontinents which contained almost all of Earth's continental blocks.

The supercontinent Rodinia ²¹ existed between 1100 and 750 million years ago, in the Neoproterozoic era. It formed around 1000 Ma by accretion and collision of fragments produced by breakup of the older supercontinent, Columbia. Rodinia broke up in the Neoproterozoic and its continental fragments were re-assembled to form another supercontinent, called Pangaea, 300-250 million years ago. In contrast with Pangaea, little is known yet about the exact configuration and geodynamic history of Rodinia.

The Snowball Earth hypothesis ²² posits that the Earth's surface became entirely or nearly entirely frozen at least once, some time earlier than 650 million years ago. The sudden multiplication of life forms on Earth, known as the Cambrian explosion 22.1 may have been kickstarted by the most recent snowball episode, triggering the evolution of multi-cellular life. Another, much earlier and longer, snowball episode, the Huronian glaciation, which occurred 2400-2100 Ma may have been triggered by the oxygen catastrophe.

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The clock displays your local time.

Midnight represents the start of the planet, 4.5 billion years ago.

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Each dot on the inner-face represents 500 million / 0.5 billion years

Life

Listed here are eight major groups of life which have led to the evolution of all living creatures.

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Events

Listed here are eight significant events which have occurred during the vast expanse of time the planet Earth has existed.

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Eons

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Deep Time : A History of the Earth - Interactive Infographic

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This infographic offers a visual way to explore the various stages of the Earth's history using a 12 hour clock analogy.

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These are the posters we use on field trips to show the geologic timeline to students.

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High School Geologic Time Scale Activity

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High School Geologic Time Scale Activity

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This lesson from Coastal Carolina University uses the football field to create a geologic timeline of the history of the Earth

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This activity helps students place geologic events along a timeline to begin conceptualizing just how old the fossils are in Ohio.

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Traveling Along A Time Line Activity (3-5)