1. The Pangea Puzzle
Katherine Ryker, Eastern Michigan U. (U. of South Carolina in January!)
Callan Bentley, Northern Virginia Community College
Mark Uhen (Activity Author), George Mason University
Go ahead and pull out your tablet, computer or smart phone!
Go to paleobiodb.org and click on Explore
NSF DUE Award # , Leveraging “Big Data” to Explore Big Ideas: Utilizing the Paleobiology Database to Provide Hands-on Research Opportunities for Undergraduates

2. Puzzle of Pangea Where were the continents in the past?
Fossils can help identify past continental positions
Can track the occurrence of fossils-- where a species occurs in space and when a species occurs in time
The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) is an online database that tracks all fossils, across all time and space, and across the tree of life
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered:
Outline the geographic distribution of a species
Describe the basic tenets of plate tectonics
Summarize the geologic time scale
Describe past supercontinents

3. Students will be able to…
Construct a map of fossil occurrences on the present-day Earth's surface
Construct a map of fossil occurrences on the Earth's surface at various times in Earth's past
Identify the past distributions of fossils on ancient continents and supercontinents
Explain how the present-day distributions of fossil organisms are different from their distribution during the time of their deposition as fossils
Develop hypotheses regarding why the present-day distribution of fossil occurrences is dramatically different from their distribution during the time of their deposition as fossils.

4. Delving into the Database
Map (CENTER) showing continents with dots representing fossil occurrences
Geologic time scale (BOTTOM) showing the major eras, periods, and stages.
Tool bar (LEFT) showing the tools you can use to explore the database
Phyla
Zoom in/out on map
Reconstruct plate tectonic configurations for time interval
Narrow down which taxonomic group is plotted
Create a diversity curve for the occurrences currently plotted
Download the data
See examples

5. Delving into the Database
Enter Lystrosaurus into the PBDB
The dots on the map show where in the modern world paleontologists have discovered fossils of Lystrosaurus.
Click on to figure out what type of organism it is
Hover over colored dots to see what time intervals they're from. When did Lystrosaurus live?
Click on the purple time unit labeled “Triassic" on the geologic timescale
Describe the geographic distribution of Lystrosaurus
Click on the to show the configuration of the continents during the Triassic
Early Triassic period
At this point, stop and consider your map. In 1-3 sentences, describe how are the occurrences of Lystrosaurus are distributed on the modern map. If you were to redraw this map during the time that Lystrosaurus lived, what do you predict will happen to the distribution of Lystrosaurus fossil localities?

6. Delving into the Database
Enter Mesosaurus into the PBDB
Look at the distribution for these fossils. Describe the distribution of this fossil on the land masses. How do you think this animal might have gotten distributed?
Does your answer make sense? (Hint: Use to find out what Mesosaurus is.)
When did Mesosaurus live? Click on that time period in the geologic time scale and then click the button. What’s different about the map? Does this make sense?
Repeat this procedure for Glossopteris then Marsupialia, working back from the Neogene.
Choose your own fossil – a dinosaur, whale, dolphin…
Do you have the same predictions for how the distributions will change from the modern map to the paleo map for both the marine and terrestrial organisms? Why might the marine and terrestrial organism distributions behave differently? Save a copy of your map and paste it here. What did you learn about the past distributions of your fossils? Are these distributions what you expected, or were you surprised in any way? If so, what surprised you?

7. The Pangea Puzzle
Find other activities from this project by searching for PBDB (or Paleobiology Database) on SERC!