View related content below

Explore related articles

Date a dinosaur

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 different dinosaurs were found at the Mangahouanga Stream, in ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Whanganui rocks and climate cycles

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 years. Rights: The University of ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Developing the New Zealand geological timescale

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 Cretaceous, when dinosaurs roamed New Zealand, but ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Explore related activities

Fossil correlation

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 by paleontologist Joan Wiffen. By ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Piecing it all together

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 shows. The activity is ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Using absolute dating methods

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 their material – they might use relative or absolute dating ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Explore related citizen science projects

CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

Fossil Atmospheres – Zooniverse

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 of changing carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels in ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

Planet Four

The Planet Four online citizen science project is designed to assist planetary scientists to identify and measure features on the surface of Mars that don’t exist on Earth. Help is needed to ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Explore related PLD

Earthquakes – unit plan

About 14,000 earthquakes are recorded in and around Aotearoa New Zealand every year. Canterbury’s 7.1 and Kaikōura's 7.8 magnitude earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks show the constant threat ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Exploring natural hazards

In this recorded professional learning session, Lyn Rogers and guest Aliki Weststrate from GNS Science explore some of the science involved in building our understandings of natural hazards ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Science over time: Standing on the shoulders of giants

Why is the sky blue? Why do stars twinkle? Why did the apple fall to the ground? What happens if I hit this rock with another rock? As humans, we’re curious, and throughout history, we’ve ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Explore related videos

Joan Wiffen and her fossils

Joan Wiffen and colleagues were famous for finding fossils at Mangahouanga Stream, in north-west Hawke’s Bay. Dr James Crampton, paleontologist at GNS Science, outlines some of the marine ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

How old is that dinosaur?

Dr James Crampton, paleontologist at GNS Science, explains how relative dating was used to determine that dinosaur and other fossils found in north-west Hawke’s Bay were from the Cretaceous ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Rocks and Ice Ages

Watch this animated video and find out more on how sedimentary rock near Whanganui records 50 cycles of sea level change, each lasting up to 100,000 years. Rocks were formed during warm ...

MORE

+ Create new collection

Explore related interactives

Absolute dating methods

Absolute dating methods give rocks an actual date or date range in numbers of years. This interactive explores four different methods used in absolute dating.

MORE

+ Create new collection

Joan Wiffen – paleontologist

This timeline lets you see aspects of Joan's life and work, and how these fit into a wider science picture of paleontology. A full transcript is underneath.

MORE

+ Create new collection

C-14 carbon dating process

Historical artefacts like moa bones can be dated using a technique that measures the activity of the radioisotope carbon-14 still present in the sample. By comparing this with a modern standard ...

MORE

+ Create new collection