One of New Zealand’s iconic moa species was almost wiped out during the last ice age according to recently published research. DNA from ancient eastern moa...
Scientists have a variety of methods to use when they try to date a rock or a rock layer. Scientists choose the method that best suits...
This Connected article explains how an ancient lake, Foulden Maar was formed by a volcanic eruption 23 million years ago and is very fossil rich. In...
This Connected article by Sophie Fern covers the discovery of Squawkzilla – a giant parrot that lived in New Zealand 19 million years ago. Two leg...
By comparing some features of fossilised plants with the same features of plants living today, scientists hope to be able to learn more about the effect...
Meet geologists James Goff and Scott Nichol as they investigate how ocean pebbles ended up on clifftops in Northland. What was it that caused the sudden...
The first human to ever visit the Ross Sea might have been Ui-te-Rangiora, who travelled there from Rarotonga in the 7th century. The first New Zealander...
In this activity, students use different pieces of a jigsaw to work through a process of observation, discussion, collaboration and deduction to determine what the picture...
Go back in time 50 million years, and Earth looked incredibly different. Crocodiles lived near the North Pole, and the Antarctic coast looked more like our...
New Zealand scientists are using fossilised moa poo (coprolites) to study the diets and habitats of the large flightless native birds, which became extinct around 500...
Tributes came in from around the world when Joan Wiffen died in 2009. Alongside colleague Ralph Molnar, Joan identified and published on the first dinosaur fossils...
Geologists often need to know the age of material that they find. They use absolute dating methods, sometimes called numerical dating, to give rocks an actual...
In this activity, students date fossils from one site by matching them to fossils already dated somewhere else. They use real data from Mangahouanga, made famous...
Position: Paleoclimate scientist, GNS Science. Field: Paleoecology. Dr Marcus Vandergoes is a paleoecologist at GNS Science. That means that he uses the ancient remains of plants...
Position: Emeritus Scientist, GNS Science. Field: Paleontology. Dr Alan Beu has spent most of his life working with fossils. He has collected shell fossils throughout New...
Relative dating is used to arrange geological events, and the rocks they leave behind, in a sequence. The method of reading the order is called stratigraphy...
Many of us are familiar with some names for parts of Earth’s distant past. There’s the Jurassic, made famous in the movie Jurassic Park, and the...
An inquiry approach is a method often used in science education. The question bank provides an initial list of questions about measuring the age of rocks...
Learn how geologists find out the ages of rocks and fossils to help explain how New Zealand’s structure – and the life it supports – has...
The Earth is an active planet. Earthquakes shake and volcanoes erupt. Sections of the crust are on the move. Mountains push up and wear down. These...
The Earth has a magnetic field around it, and some magnetic minerals line up with that field. A compass also lines up in the field so...
The study of fossils, combined with accurate dating, gives us a detailed picture of climate and environment changes in New Zealand over the last few million...
Dinosaurs used to live in New Zealand. We know this because their fossils have been found in a few places. The fossils of a number of...
“How old is it?” is one of the first questions you’ll probably ask when you see an interesting rock or fossil. It’s certainly one of the...
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