Million Years

USNM_35227 (pictured) and USNM_35225: Multiple trilobite fragments are fossilized in the same rock, these are commonly known as hash beds. "Hash" is an indicator of a near-shore environment, where waves could h More

USNM_35225 and USNM_35227: Pictured are multiple trilobite fragments fossilized in the same rock. These are commonly known as hash beds. "Hash" is an indicator of a near-shore environment, where waves could hav More

The Carnegie Exhibit Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie who in 1909 financed the early excavation of the Late Jurassic dinosaur fossils found here. It houses the wall of bones, which displays the fossilized More

Eusmilis, a nimravid that lived in the Turtle Cove about 29 million years ago

Horseshoe Crab’s Crown, a charming children’s book, traces the imagined re-creation journey of life on earth after the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs through 65 million years.

Horseshoe Crab’s Crown, a charming children’s book, traces the imagined re-creation journey of life on earth after the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs through 65 million years.

The early salamander species, Paleotaricha sp., was found in the Bridgecreek strata from about 33 million years ago.

And so, for 65 million years, the animals continued their journey, watching and waiting for the moon, as the cycle of life continues.

The volcanic Bidahochi Formation caps and protects the Chinle Formation exposures along the Painted Desert Mesa at the north end of the park. The gap between the Bidahochi and Chinle Formations represents about More

Public domain vintage photo from New Zealand archive, free to use, no copyright restrictions image - Picryl description

This is a skull of an Allosaurus Fragilis, one of the prevalent meat eaters found in the Morrison Formation during the Late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. The Allosaurus was our second largest p More

The fossil beds at Hagerman National Monument are most famous for the abundance of fossilized and well-preserved Equus simplicidens skeletons, known as the Hagerman horse, Hagerman zebra or American zebra. Over More

Smithsonian excavation in 1930. The fossil beds at Hagerman National Monument are most famous for the abundance of fossilized and well-preserved Equus simplicidens skeletons, known as the Hagerman horse, Hagerm More

A wood block engraved by Lynd Ward to produce a print (no. 29) for his novel without text "Prelude to a Million Years." Exhibited: American Treasures of the Library of Congress, 2005.

The original finding aid described this photograph as: Original Caption: Over 300 dinosaur tracks on a 100 million-year-old tidal flat were uplifted when the Rocky Mountains rose 70 million years ago. The trac More

The original finding aid described this photograph as: Original Caption: Designated a National Monument in 1969, Florissant Fossil Beds preserves incredibly detailed insect and plant fossils dating to 34 milli More

YELL_92942: The fossil featured here is a leaf of a Macginitiea wyominensis, which is a member of the sycamore family. This particular plant existed during the Eocene, between 50 and 34 million years ago.

USNM_35236: Charles D. Walcott, renowned invertebrate paleontologists, identified trilobite specimen Solenopleura? weedi (USNM 35236) from the Upper Cambrian (~500 million years ago) Pilgrim limestone in northw More

YELL-92017 and YELL-92024 (pictured here): Both the inarticulate (YELL-92017) and articulate brachiopods (YELL-92024) existed about 520 million years ago. The inarticulate was collected from the Park Shale, whi More

USNM_61523: Dated about 500 million years old and collected from the Pilgrim Limestone in Yellowstone National Park, is type trilobite Tricrepicephalus yellowstonensis (USNM 61523). This particular species is j More

USNM_96488: The trilobite Blountia polita (USNM 96488) (pictured) was discovered in the Middle Cambrian (~520 million years ago), Pilgrim Formation of Yellowstone National Park. As trilobites continued to evolv More

YELL-165705: A small, Agnostid trilobite (YELL-165705) head is shown here. How did these little arthropods survive 500 million years ago? From their lack of eyes and poorly suited swimming body, scientists infe More

YELL-92017 (pictured here) and YELL-92024: Both the inarticulate (YELL-92017) and articulate brachiopods (YELL-92024) existed about 520 million years ago. The inarticulate was collected from the Park Shale, wh More

STS039-151-193 (28 April-6 May 1991) --- The Strait of Gibraltar, the only outlet for the Mediterranean Sea, was photographed with a large format handheld camera by the STS-39 crew members. Scientists site evid More

Prehistoric Yucatan Impact Crater: 'The infamous K-T impact event 65 million years ago (64.98 plus or minus 50,000 years), imagined here just as the bolide strikes, as seen by some high flying Pteranodons. Art More

STS043-151-159 (2-11 August 1991) --- This photograph looks westward over the high plateau of the southern Peruvian Andes west and north of Lake Titicaca (not in field of view). Lima, Peru lies under the clouds More

STS058-91-058 (18 Oct-1 Nov 1993) --- In this unusually clear view, the Ouachita Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma are framed on the north by Lake Eufaula on the South Canadian River, and on the south by the R More

STS058-77-083 (18 Oct-1 Nov 1993) --- In this scene of the south coast of Africa, Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point on the continent, appears as the leftmost cape. Viewed with the Earth's limb top left, clo More

STS060-90-007 (3-11 Feb 1994) --- Parts of the Swiss Cantons of Vaud and Valois and the French province of Chablais are shown. These mountains were created in the last great mountain-building episode in Europe More

STS068-243-076 (30 September-11 October 1994) --- Parts of the Swiss Cantons of Vaud and Valois, the French province of Chablis and parts of northwestern Italy are seen in this widely stretching image photograp More

The original finding aid described this photograph as: Original Caption: An outdoor classroom adds interest as students learn of creatures walking this area eons ago. Status: Public domain. Digital Photograph More

The original finding aid described this photograph as: Original Caption: Vertical beds of colorful sandstone and mudstore can be seen just a few feet off of Turquoise Trail. They are part of the Galisteo Found More

STS073-727-045 (21 October 1995) --- Photographed by the astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia is this scene over Lake Powell. The lake was formed by the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The vertic More

STS077-737-096 (19-29 May 1996) --- The Palmer River emerging from the left corner of the photograph separates the Gardener Range to the right from the James Ranges on the left. To the bottom and off the photo More

STS077-732-093 (19-29 May 1996) --- This high oblique perspective from the Space Shuttle Endeavour shows the Dead Sea Rift Valley and the surrounding deserts. North is to the right side of the frame. The vege More

STS079-824-081 (16-26 Sept. 1996) --- In this 70mm frame from the space shuttle Atlantis, the Jordan River Valley can be traced as it separates Lebanon, Palestine and Israel on the west, from Syria and Jordan o More

(September 16, 1997) Penetrating 25,000 light-years of obscuring dust and myriad stars, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided the clearest view yet of one of the largest young clusters of stars inside our More

STS089-743-004 (22-31 Jan. 1998) --- This picture showing Auckland Island, New Zealand was photographed with a 70mm handheld camera from the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Endeavour. A spectacular occurrence of More

STS089-706-068 (22-31 Jan. 1998) --- This nadir view of the southern Cape District of South Africa was photographed with a 70mm handheld camera from the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Endeavour. Prominent landma More

STS089-742-014 (22-31 Jan. 1998) --- This near-nadir picture of the central Andes, showing Santiago and other parts of Chile and Argentina, was photographed with a 70mm handheld camera from the Earth-orbiting s More

In October of 1999, researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas, working under a scientific research permit, discovered the 27-foot long section of dinosaur neck in Big Bend National Park. The fossil is More

Rhyolite Canyon Tuff is a volcanic rock formed from a massive volcanic eruption 27 million years ago. It is compressed ash.

The layering in the upper part of the canyon formed over 200 million years ago, when the Colorado Plateau region was part of an ancient passive continental margin.

Kolkheti National Park: Relict Wetland Kolkhic Forests. The Kolkheti lowlands include rare species (relics) typical of the tropical and subtropical vegetation that stretched across the Eurasian continent approx More

The presence of palm fossils indicate a much warmer and wetter climate 52 million years ago, similar to the Gulf coast states today.

Cinder Cone National Natural Landmark: Thirty-two cinder cones surrounded by a sea of hardened lava flows that began erupting into existence 7.6 million years ago. Lava last flowed just 10,000 years ago.

Petrified Forest National Park Rainbow Forest Museum Late Triassic Mural, painted by Victor Leshyk, shows what this area looked like over 200 million years ago.

The Morrison Mural shows what we know about the Morrison environment, based on years of research by paleontologists and geologists. In the upper left portion of the photo is a cast of an Allosaurus fragilis, w More

Glass Mountain (foreground) is made of large gypsum (selenite) crystals deposited when seawater evaporated around 165 million years ago. After deposition and burial under rock layers, the gypsum began to move s More

Bobcats are solitary and not often seen during the day. The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a North American mammal that appeared around 1.8 million years ago. Twelve subspecies are currently recognized. This adaptable More

The West Elk Breccia is formed from a huge volcanic lahar (i.e., volcanic flow) of ash and debris that spewed from violent, pyroclastic eruptions (i.e., spitting/fountaining lava is thrown into the air along wi More

When the Rocky Mountains rose approximately 50-60 million years ago, it both folded and twisted these rock layers. With weathering, they became what you see today. This is an end of summer picture, taken late More

A scientific illustration of Mesocyon coryphaeus was drawn by Artist in Residence Morgan Turner. Mesocyon coryphaeus was a short faced canid about the size of a coyote living around 34-24 million years ago.

Horseshoe crabs originated around 450 million years ago and are considered 'living fossils', meaning they are similar to related species only known from fossils. In recent years, they have experienced a populat More

Pictured: Hagerman Fossil Beds as seen from the Snake River. This area contains fossils of species alive during the Pliocene Epoch, 3-4 million years ago. See what not-so-ancient life was like with almost 150 t More

Hoodoos are tall, skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and 'broken' lands. Formed in sedimentary rock, the shape of a particular hoodoo is affected by the erosional patterns of alt More

Horseshoe crabs originated around 450 million years ago and are considered 'living fossils', meaning they are similar to related species only known from fossils. In recent years, they have experienced a populat More

Bobcats are solitary and not often seen during the day. The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a North American mammal that appeared around 1.8 million years ago. Twelve subspecies are currently recognized. This adaptable More

The Elba Quartzite was formed after the Green Creek Complex. It is one of the most distinctive geologic units of the Albion Mountains - very light in color and extremely weather-resistant (because of the high q More

Fossil tooth of C. megalodon, crown and root. One of the largest vertebrate predators of the sea ever to have lived. The fossil record suggests these animals may have grown to at least 59 feet (18 meters) long. More

These fossil ammonites and belemnites in the Jurassic limestone from Bavaria, Germany dates back to 150 million years ago. Witness these fossils on the floor of the bookstore when visiting the Martin Luther Kin More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Reconstructed skeletons of Miocene age mammals aid in understanding the early 1900s excavations. Mammals found at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument date from the early Miocene Epoch (19-21 million years ago). More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph More

Located near the San Andreas Fault along the boundary of the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, is an excellent example of tectonic plate movement. Some 23 million years ago multiple volcanoes erupted, More

As the mid-ocean ridge separating the Farallon and Pacific Plates entered the subduction zone, the Farallon Plate separated into the Juan de Fuca and Cocos Plates. A transform plate boundary developed where the More

500 Million Years Ago—Iapetus Ocean Opens. Land that will later become Florida is part of Africa. The Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba may have been on the north side of South America.

The Basin and Range topography develops over a few million years as fault lines move gradually, or more abruptly during tens of thousands of earthquakes. The colder upper crust cracks and breaks along faults (l More

250 Million Years Ago—Iapetus Ocean Closes. Pangea forms as the continents collide. The Appalachians are part of a larger zone of continental collision that includes the Marathon and Ouachita mountains in the s More

The topography and bathymetry (underwater topography) of the northern Pacific Ocean reflect the movement of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaiian Hotspot. Prior to 42 million years ago, the Pacific Plate was movi More

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. The rugged Appalachian Mountains are the eroded remnants of much higher mountains that formed as continents collided 300 million years ago.

Badlands area in Petrified Forest National Park. The Amazon-like landscape has evolved over more that 200 million years from a green tropical forest to red Painted Desert. Layers of the Late Triassic Chinle For More

The landscapes of National Park System sites along hotspot tracks differ depending on if the plate riding over the hotspot is capped by thin oceanic or thick continental crust. Oceanic Hotspots: Sites in Hawaii More

The sandstone, shale and chert layers are part of a thick pile of sediments that were deformed and uplifted as Gondwanaland collided with the southern edge of ancient North America 280 million years ago.

750 Million Years Ago—Old Continent Rips Apart. The long mountain ranges and rift valleys were similar to those forming today in East Africa and the Basin and Range Province.

Plate convergence that built Alaska outward as a series of accreted terranes during the past 200 million years continues today. Kenai Fjords has oceanic sedimentary layers that have been metamorphosed, uplifted More

200 Million Years Ago—Ocean separating northern Alaska and a continental fragment begins to close.

"Today"—Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico Open. The modern oceans originated about 200 million years ago when Europe, Africa and South America ripped away from North America. Fragments of the collision zone mou More

Forty million years ago, a large tectonic plate, known as the Farallon Plate, was between the Pacific and North American plates. Subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath the entire West Coast created a line of More

The topography and bathymetry (underwater topography) of the northern Pacific Ocean reflect the movement of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaiian Hotspot. Prior to 42 million years ago, the Pacific Plate was movi More

Sometimes a terrane crashes in and clogs the subduction zone. A new subduction zone develops farther west. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is just the latest of several subduction zones that developed in the weste More

As the mid-ocean ridge separating the Farallon and Pacific Plates entered the subduction zone, the Farallon Plate separated into the Juan de Fuca and Cocos Plates. A transform plate boundary developed where the More

Pillow Basalt—The blobs of lava formed as fluid lava poured out on an ancient seafloor about 200 million years ago. They have since been accreted to North America and uplifted as part of the McKinley Terrane. T More

200 million years ago the coastline of the Pacific Northwest was near Idaho’s western border. There was no Oregon and Washington!

300 Million Years Ago—Iapetus Ocean Completely Closes. The Southern Appalachians develop as the African portion of Gondwanaland crashes in, forming the supercontinent of Pangea.

Forty million years ago, a large tectonic plate, known as the Farallon Plate, was between the Pacific and North American plates. Subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath the entire West Coast created a line of More

The supercontinent of Pangea formed 300 million years ago as an ancient ocean closed. A chain of mountains formed as the continents collided, including the Marathon, Ouachita and Appalachian mountians in the Un More

400 Million Years Ago—Iapetus Ocean Narrows during Subduction. Oceanic sediments and volcanic islands were at times added to the edge of North America.

The terrane accretion that built Alaska onto the rest of North America over the past 200 million years includes the continental collision that formed the Brooks Range in the northern part of the state. The Nort More

The yellow and green shows material added (accreted) to the western edge of North America during the past 200 million years. The North American Craton refers to the continent that existed prior to that time. Ro More

Columns of basalt represent vast outpourings of fluid lava that covered large portions of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho as the hotspot surfaced 17 million years ago.

The paleogeographic map shows that, during the Late Triassic Epoch, North America straddled the equator and Petrified Forest National Park (white dot on red map of Arizona) was at about 4° north latitude.

500 Million Years Ago—Iapetus Ocean Opens. Continental blocks destined to become North America and Gondwanaland drift apart. The eastern edge of ancient North America developed into a passive continental margin More