Fossil layers

Use a smartphone or GPS device to navigate to the provided coordinates. Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage its resources, and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth.

Rock Layers: Timeline of Life on EarthEvolution is a complicated subject. While everybody understands that black bears are related to grizzly bears and we can even figure they are related to extinct bears, lots of people wonder how scientists can be so sure that bears are related to salmon as well. One evidence is rock layers—specifically, what is called the geologic column. Scientists learned that rocks are stacked in layers containing fossils with the oldest fossils at the deepest layer…

Stromatolites are large, layered structures built up by mats of cyanobacteria. Stromatolites vary in appearance, ranging from slightly wrinkled horizontal laminations in sedimentary rocks to low mounds to prominent mounds to columnar structures and other forms. Stromatolites are most common in the Proterozoic fossil record. They are scarce today, but famous modern examples occur at Shark Bay, Western Australia.

Sedimentary Rock Layers with Fossils | Sedimentary layers with fossils

Mixed media and installation artist Peter McFarlane has spent his life turning found objects, computer waste and other discarded materials into sculptures, installations, and even the backdrops of paintings. Of his work McFarlane says: To me, waste is just lack of imagination. This belief carries beyond the boundaries of my art production and permeates mostContinue reading "Circuit Board Fossils, Paintings and Other Found Object Sculptures by Peter McFarlane"

Relative dating is all about figuring out the order in which things happened in the past, without necessarily knowing exactly when they happened. It's like putting things in chronological order, but without knowing exactly how many years ago they happened. What is relative dating? Relative dating is like figuring out the order in which rocks formed, like putting them in first, second, third place. It doesn't tell us exactly when each rock formed, only that one rock is older or younger than…

Fossils in layers.

Layered Fossil Parfait: Deeper is Older