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150 Years American Museum of Natural History

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113 Results for "rock"

olc_034_sedimentary_rocks_listing

These rocks provide the most clues about the history of life on Earth.

olc_246_metamorphic_rocks_listing

Deep inside the Earth, intense heat and pressure can change rocks into entirely new metamorphic rocks.

olc_244_igneous_rocks_listing

Igneous rocks form when magma, or melted rock from inside the Earth, cools and hardens. They can form above ground wh...

Visit a scientist's lab to see how he creates a magma chamber!

This rock is as old as Earth itself. What stories does it tell?

Meet six rocks that travelled to the Museum from places like Mexico, Scotland, and even outer space.

Every rock has a story to tell. Learn how to create a collection that rocks!

Create your own crystals with sugar. Then enjoy your tasty treat!

Rocks fall into these three groups: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic.

Meet a rock that's made almost entirely of fossils!

Meet obsidian, an igneous rock that formed from magma.

This strong and sturdy rock has a special history. Find out!

Did you know that jade is actually a common name for two different rocks?

Jade is one of the most durable rocks in the world. It's the perfect material for tools!

Anyone can find fossils. This handy guide tells you where to look and what to do.

olc_242_deformed_conglomerate_listing

Deformed conglomerate is a metamorphic rock that has been changed by heat and pressure.

Meet a rock that has been through it all: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

After 200 million years apart, this rock finally reunited with its long-lost cousin.

Ed Mathez on a rocky ledge with water behind

Find out how he became a geologist and what you can learn from studying rocks.

Take a peek at our planet's layers, learn what secrets rocks reveal, and gain a long view of history.

olc_243_granite_listing

Granite is an igneous rock, which means it formed from magma, or melted rock. It forms deep inside the Earth under a...

olc_247_obsidian_listing

Obsidian doesn't look like your typical rock. In fact, it looks more like dark glass than a rock you'd pick up in you...

olc_259_jade_listing

Jade is a special and rare rock. For thousands of years, people around the world have been using this durable and bea...

olc_256_ed_mathez_listing

Ed Mathez has always been fascinated by rocks and the Earth. As a young boy, he went with his mother to old rock quar...

olc_248_jim_webster_listing

Jim is fascinated with volcanoes. He wants to know why some volcanoes erupt explosively, and how he might be able to...

olc_240_ro_kinzler_listing

Like many kids interested in science, Ro Kinzler thought she wanted to be a marine biologist. But later on, she reali...

olc_249_earthquakes_listing

The plates that make up the Earth's crust are always moving. When two plates meet, the motion causes lots of pressure...

olc_058_asteroids_listing

Asteroids are space rocks that have existed since the formation of the planets over 4.6 billion years ago. Scientists...

olc_059_meteorites_listing

Did you ever see a "shooting star"? What you really saw was a meteor burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.

olc_258_george_harlow_listing

George Harlow travels the world over to study how jade, rubies, and diamonds form. George wants to find out what thes...

olc_245_limestone_listing

Limestone is made up of fossils. After small marine animals die, their shells and skeletons build up on the ocean floor.

olc_057_comets_listing

Comets are like "dirty snowballs" that have orbited the Sun since our Solar System formed, billions of year...

olc_180_continental_shelf_listing

Most ocean plants and animals live near the shore, on a narrow ribbon of seafloor called the continental shelf.

olc_155_pseudoscorpions_listing

If you ever find a pseudoscorpion in your bathtub, don't worry! These tiny arachnids are harmless to humans.

olc_160_white-tailed_spider_listing

Not all spiders spin webs to catch their meals. When night falls in Australia, the white-tailed spider hunts its prey...

olc_028_fossilization_listing

Fossils are the key to understanding life in the past.

olc_305_john_flynn_listing

As a kid, John Flynn had a rock collection and made lots of trips with his family and school to the American Museum o...

olc_022_amy_davidson_listing

Carefully removing the fossils without damaging them takes talent, special tools, and lots of patience.

olc_123_hellbender_listing

The hellbender is one of the largest salamanders in North America.

Water is a precious resource, and all things need water to survive.

olc_087_field_journal_listing

When "ologists" observe plants, animals, fossils, or rocks, they know they won't remember every detail. So...

olc_053_saturn_front

Saturn is known for the beautiful rings that form a giant hula hoop around it. The rings are made of chunks of ice an...

olc_064_pathfinder_listing

Pathfinder landed on Mars' surface carrying thesix-wheeled Sojourner rover, a mobile robot. Rover and lander took ov...

olc_241_sandstone_listing

Sandstone is made of tiny pieces of sand you can see and feel. You can actually scratch away grains of sand from a pi...

olc_054_uranus_listing

The oddest thing about Uranus is that the planet, its rings, and its moons "roll" around the Sun on an axis...

olc_261_jurassic_period_listing

The name Jurassic conjures images of tremendous dinosaurs roaming the Earth.

olc_262_triassic_period_listing

Earth was a very different place at the beginning of the Triassic. All of Earth's continents were combined into one s...

olc_298_carbon_dioxide_listing

Take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Your body just released carbon dioxide, a colorless gas that's essential to lif...

olc_250_volcanoes_listing

Some volcanoes erupt explosively, like opening a shaken soda bottle, because their magma is full of gases.

Test your knowledge about our planet Earth with this quiz.

olc_303_geothermal_power_listing

Miles below your feet, scorching temperatures can get hot enough to melt rock. In some places, water heated deep unde...

olc_226_siq_listing

Imagine you are an Arabian incense trader in 100 B.C. Arriving in Petra, you enter through the Siqa long, winding go...

olc_117_dolly_listing

In 1997, Dolly rocked the world of genetics. Not baaaa'd for a little lamb from Scotland. What was the big deal? She...

Theodore Roosevelt

When he was 8 years old, Theodore Roosevelt found a seal skull. It would be the first specimen in his very own natura...

olc_174_matter_listing

A bike, a tree, a cloud, an ocean -- any object you can name -- it's all made of matter. Even YOU are made of matter....

olc_183_seafloor_listing

The seafloor covers more than half of the Earth's surface. Most of the seafloor consists of the flat, expansive abyss...

olc_260_ghost_ranch_new_mexico_listing

In the 1940s, paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History discovered rich fossil beds in the high des...

olc_056_pluto_listing

Pluto was discovered in 1930 and considered to be the ninth planet in our solar system.

olc_062_sojourner_listing

On July 5, 1997, the six-wheeled robotic rover, Sojourner, rolled down a ramp from the Pathfinder spacecraft onto the...

Do you dig the Earth? If so, you'll want to meet Ed.

Mundo Shamundo! Can you help Mandy study for her geology test?

Send a note to a friend with these earthy letterheads.

olc_078_craters_listing

Craters are formed when objects from space crash onto a planet's surface. The impact blasts a hole or impression wher...

As an Eagle Scout, David Hurst Thomas was always on the lookout for ancient Indian camps. He never found one as a kid...

How do your fossil-sorting skills stack up? Put them to the test with this kid-friendly online puzzle.

Conservation biologist Ana Luz Porzecanski answers kids' questions.
¡TAMBIÉN EN ESPAÑOL!

Two thousand years ago, an ancient city called Petra thrived deep in the desert of Nabataean kingdom.

Take a peek into a mineralogist's scrapbook to see why he thinks jade is so special.

olc_052_jupiter_listing

It's fitting that the largest planet in our solar system is named after Jupiter, the supreme king of all Roman gods....

Bury chicken bones in plaster of Paris to see the challenges paleontologists face when excavating fossils.

olc_030_cretaceous_period_listing

Many famous dinosaurs, such as T. rex and Triceratops, first appeared in the Cretaceous Period.

David Hurst Thomas sitting in his office.

Ancient trash or ancient treasure? This archaeologist tells us which he prefers.

Egyptian papyrus painting of the god Anubis and four attendants preparing a mummy.

Archaelogist David Hurst Thomas answers kids' questions.

olc_042_pinacosaurus_grangeri_listing

About 80 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, this armored plant-eater roamed the Gobi Desert in Central Asia.

olc_036_brachiopods_listing

These creatures have lived in Earth's oceans for over 545 million years!

olc_037_trilobites_listing

Long before dinosaurs, these strange roach-like creatures scurried along the ancient sea floor.

olc_035_crinoids_listing

Are these rare and colorful creatures flowering plants or animals?

olc_050_earth_listing

The Earth is our home. So far, it's the only place that we know of that has life. Everywhere you look on Earth there...

olc_024_central_asiatic_expedition_listing

In the 1920s, the first team of Museum paleontologists trekked to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

olc_016_presbyornis_pervetus_listing

This prehistoric relative of living ducks had a long neck, tall legs, webbed feet, and a duck-like head.

olc_002_diatryma_gigantea_listing

This extinct bird weighed over 330 pounds and had heavy legs and tiny wings.

olc_003_tyrannosaurus_rex_listing

This "king tyrant lizard" was one of the largest carnivores that ever lived.

olc_004_alxasaurus_elesitaiensis_listing

Dug up in the Alxa Desert in China, this is the oldest and most complete therizinosaur ever found.

olc_005_pelecanimimus_polyodon_listing

This theropod belonged to a group called ornithomimids, also called "ostrich-mimics."

olc_014_eoraptor_lunensis_listing

This is one of the oldest known dinosaurs!

olc_007_gondwanatitan_faustoi_listing

Compared to other titanosaurs, Gondwanatitan was a peewee at only about 7.5 meters (25 feet) long.

olc_025_gobi_expeditions_listing

Every summer, Museum paleontologists join Mongolian scientists to hunt for fossils.

olc_026_mongolia_listing

Mongolia is a large country in the middle of Asia. Its Gobi Desert is a fossil "gold mine" for paleont...

olc_023_roy_chapman_andrews_listing

This real-life "Indiana Jones" led the first AMNH expeditions to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

olc_063_viking_listing

The Viking mission was the first to explore Mars' surface. Two spacecraft, Viking 1 and 2, each with an orbiter and a...

olc_074_nasa_listing

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) runs the space program, but that's just part of what they do.

olc_055_neptune_listing

The smallest and most distant of the "gas giant" planets. Neptune has much in common with its three huge ne...

olc_044_protoceratopsian_baby_listing

Paleontologists uncovered this just-hatched Protoceratops in 1997 at Ukhaa Tolgod.

olc_019_oviraptor_philoceratops_listing

Oviraptor was a bizarre-looking, toothless dinosaur.

olc_018_velociraptor_mongoliensis_listing

This predator has fast feet, a pair of "killing claws," and more than 60 jagged teeth!

olc_008_huayangosaurus_taibaii_listing

As you can tell from its body plates and tail spikes, this dinosaur is related to Stegosaurus.

olc_017_stegosaurus_stenops_listing

Because of the diamond-shaped plates on its back, Stegosaurus was given a name that means "roof lizard."

olc_020_mike_novacek_listing

A dinosaur book led to this paleontologist's lifelong fascination with fossils.

olc_012_protoceratops_andrewsi_listing

This plant-eating dinosaur might have weighed as much as 225 kilograms (500 pounds)!

olc_013_drinker_nisti_listing

This plant-eating dinosaur was an ornithopod, as are duck-bill dinosaurs.

olc_010_triceratops_horridus_listing

Its brow horns and snout horn inspired this dinosaur's name, which means "three-horned face."

olc_027_ukhaa_tolgod_listing

Located in the Gobi Desert, this is a fossil "hot spot" for Museum paleontologists.

olc_038_fighting_dinosaurs_listing

About 80 million years ago, the carnivorous Velociraptor and the plant eating Protoceratops fought to the death.

olc_039_gobiderma_pulchrum_listing

This rare lizard lived in the Gobi Desert about 80 million years ago.

olc_040_kryptobaatar_listing

Although extinct today, this gopher-sized mammal thrived during the Mesozoic Era for about two million years.

olc_046_byronosaurus_jaffei_listing

Named in 2000, this dinosaur is hot off the "paleo" presses! Unlike the jagged teeth of other troodontids,...

olc_043_troodontid_nest_listing

About 80 million years ago in the Gobi Desert, sixteen dinosaurs hatched in this nest. One of the hatchlings died bef...

olc_006_apatosaurus_excelsus_listing

This famous long-necked, long-tailed wonder belongs to a group called "sauropods."

olc_011_achelousaurus_horneri_listing

This horned dinosaur had two long spikes on the back of its frill, the bony extension behind its skull.

olc_001_chirostenotes_pergracilis_listing

With its bird-like features, this animal was mistaken for a giant bird for a while.

olc_032_psittacosaurus_mongoliensis_listing

Psittacosaurus is one of the oldest and most primitive ceratopians ever found!

olc_033_oviraptorid_embryo_listing

Museum scientists made a surprising discovery in the Gobi Desert: an egg that contained the remains of a tiny dinosau...

olc_045_oviraptorid_skull_listing

This fossilized skull was recently discovered at Ukhaa Tolgod in the Gobi Desert. It is probably from a new kind of d...

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