Geological time scales
- UC
Berkeley Time
Machine Probably the best Web-based geological time scale,
with
clicable links to detailed information about all major time
periods.
Review a capsule summary of each time period, link to reviews of life
forms,
localities where rocks of that age occur, and tectonic events of the
time.
- Niel
Brandt's Time line Includes
major
events in the history of life. Plus an "official" correlation
between
absolute (MYA) and relative (ERAS, etc.) geological time scales.
Available in several downloadable formats.
- Yale
Peabody Museum: The Mural The famous "Ages of Reptiles" mural
showing prehistoric environments of the dinosaurs from the
Carboniferous
& Devonian periods to the Cretaceous. Though somewhat out of
date with modern interpretations, this is still beautiful and it is
fully
commented upon.
Continental Drift
- Chris Scotese's Paleomap
Project - Chris Scotese helped pioneer approaches
to decipher and display pre-Pangean (pre Jurassic) continental drift
(see
the early article in American Scientist -Bambach, Richard K.,
Christopher
R. Scotese, and Alfred M. Ziegler. 1980. Before
Pangea:
The Geographies of the Paleozoic World. American
Scientist.
68 (January.February): 26-38). It is intriguing to look at these
reconstructions and imagine what kind
of world organisms were inhabiting during these times. From the
home page choose Earth History, Climate History or Animations.
- Continental
Plate Reconstruction Service ODSN Plate Tectonic
Reconstruction
Service for any time since 150 MYA. Check out this site if you
want
to know what the world looked like at any time during the Mesozoic or
Cenozoic.
- Paleogeography and Geologic History A
set of late Paleozoic (Permian) to early Cenozoic (Eocene)
reconstructions of the building of western North America. This shows
images by Ron Blakey of Northern Arizona University (home page with
much more: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/RCB.html).
- http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/stoddard/keels.html
- Image of distribution of rock types from major eons as related to
continental drift