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 and animals to ...
“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 first things that a geologist wants to know. As you’ll ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
In this activity, students investigate what historic rubbish dumps (called middens) can reveal about people’s daily lives and the resources they used. By the end of this activity, students should ...
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 ...
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 ...
About 14,000 earthquakes are recorded in and around New Zealand every year. Canterbury’s 7.1 and Kaikōura's 7.8 magnitude earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks show the constant threat ...
Children’s involvement in science is increased when they have an opportunity to make decisions about science-based issues that have consequences for their lives. It’s bringing science into the ...
Dr Christine Prior is Team Leader of the Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory at GNS Science. In this video, she compares conventional and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. AMS is ...
Dr Marcus Vandergoes, a paleoecologist at GNS Science, explains how cores from Ōkārito Pākihi and other Westland peat bogs provide evidence for climate and environmental change over the last ...
Dr Marcus Vandergoes, of GNS Science, outlines the relative and absolute dating methods used on a sediment core from Ōkārito Pākihi in Westland. AMS radiocarbon dating of organic material is ...
Choose the best methods for finding the absolute dates of different rock layers. You will need the Adobe Flash Player to view this.
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 ...
This timeline lets you see aspects of Athol's life and work, and how these fit into a wider science picture of radiocarbon dating. A full transcript is underneath.
