How to Use Eonmap

Organism

Filters by taxonomic group using PBDB's base_name parameter, which matches the given name and all taxa nested beneath it. For example, selecting "Dinosaurs" (Dinosauria) returns every known dinosaur species in the database, not just records filed under that exact name.

The dropdown offers fifteen curated groups. If you need something more specific — a particular genus, family, or any name not in the list — click "Type a custom name" to enter a PBDB taxon name directly. Examples: Allosauridae, Pterosauria, Homo.

Time Period

Filters to occurrences whose geological age overlaps with the selected interval. The dropdown covers all twelve major Phanerozoic periods from the Cambrian (541–485 Mya) through the Quaternary (2.6 Mya – present). This maps to PBDB's interval parameter.

Age Range (million years ago)

A numeric alternative to Time Period. Enter minimum and maximum ages in millions of years ago. The range 0–540 covers the entire Phanerozoic eon — the period of complex animal life. You can use this alongside the Time Period filter or instead of it. Maps to PBDB's min_ma and max_ma parameters.

Environment

Filters by the depositional environment of the rock formation the fossil was found in — where the sediment was originally laid down, not necessarily where the animal lived. You can select multiple environments simultaneously. Available options:

Country

Restricts results to a single country using ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes sent to PBDB's cc parameter. The dropdown lists seventeen major fossil-bearing countries. If the country you need is not listed, it can still be reached via the Bounding Box filter.

ID Quality

Controls the certainty of the taxonomic identification. Any (default) returns all records. Certain only excludes records where the identification was tentative (e.g. cf. or aff. qualifiers in the literature). Uncertain only returns only those tentative identifications. Maps to PBDB's idqual parameter.

Bounding Box

Restricts results to a geographic rectangle you draw directly on the map. Click the rectangle icon in the Leaflet draw toolbar, drag a box over the area of interest, and the coordinates are filled in automatically. The bounding box is sent as latitude/longitude bounds (latmin, latmax, lngmin, lngmax) to PBDB. Click "Clear" in the filter panel to remove it.

Heatmap

Switches from individual markers to a density heatmap. Useful when results are dense and clustered markers become hard to read — the heatmap makes geographic concentrations of fossil sites immediately visible. Powered by the Leaflet.heat plugin.

Paleo (Paleocoordinates)

Repositions each marker to its reconstructed ancient location — where that piece of crust was when the fossil was deposited, rather than where it sits today after millions of years of plate tectonics. PBDB provides these paleocoordinates (pla / plo fields) as part of the paleoloc response block. Only occurrences with valid paleocoordinates move; others stay in place.

Basemap

Switches the background map tile layer. Three options are available:

• OSM — OpenStreetMap. The default. Shows roads, place names, and terrain.
• Esri Imagery — Satellite imagery from Esri. Useful for examining the geography of fossil sites.
• CartoDB Dark — A dark minimalist base. Marker colours stand out clearly against it.

Occurrences by Geologic Period

A bar chart (Chart.js) showing how many occurrences fall within each geological period. Useful for understanding when a group was most prevalent in the fossil record.

Temporal Range

A timeline (vis-timeline) plotting the individual age ranges of occurrences along a geological time axis. Shows the full stratigraphic spread of the group at a glance.

Geographic Distribution

A world map showing all fossil sites for the taxon, using the same Leaflet map as the main Map page.

Classification Summary

Three ranked tables breaking down the occurrence set by phylum, class, and depositional environment. Useful for understanding what is actually inside a broad grouping — for example, what phyla make up the "Cambrian Seas" results.

Taxonomy card

The accepted scientific name, taxonomic rank, and classification breadcrumb (Phylum › Class › Order › Family › Genus) as recorded in PBDB.

Location card

Country, state or province, geological formation, depositional environment, and decimal coordinates of the collection site.

Age card

The geological interval name(s) and the age range in millions of years ago. A visual bar shows where this occurrence sits on a 0–540 million year timeline, giving immediate context for how old the fossil is relative to the entire Phanerozoic.

Collection card

The PBDB collection number, which groups occurrences from the same dig site. Clicking the collection number opens the original collection record on paleobiodb.org, where you can see all other taxa found at the same site.

Mini-map

A small Leaflet map pinpointing the collection site. If coordinates were not recorded in PBDB, a "Location not available" placeholder is shown instead.