Interactive Map 'Ancient Earth' shows where your hometown was millions of years ago

Your hometown has traveled a long way over many millions of years to reach the location it occupies today and to track that journey over the ages, an interactive digital map has been developed. This online interactive map 'Ancient Earth' shows the exact continental drift where your hometown has wandered over the years.

The map is created by California palaeontologist Ian Webster in a web application and the map is based on geological models created by Christopher Stoese, according to a media report. The map allows users to travel back in time by using pre-set options available, such as when the first land animals appeared, the first vertebrates appeared, or the first green algae. Users can rotate the globe to see the shape of all the continents and get concise guides to which creatures were alive on Earth at that time if there were any.

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For instance, for the Middle Triassic, 220 million years ago, it said the Earth is recovering from the Permian-Triassic extinction. Small dinosaurs begin to appear and the therapsids and archosaurs emerge, along with the first flying vertebrates. In another instance of London, 430 millions ago, it said Silurian Period. A mass extinction took place, wiping out nearly half of marine invertebrate species. The first land plants emerge, starting at the edge of the ocean. Plants evolve vascularity, the ability to transport water and nutrients through their tissues. Ocean life becomes larger and more complex, and some creatures venture out of reefs and onto land".

Users can check out the interactive map here: Ancient Earth

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