Fossilworks

Fossilworks is a web-based gateway to the Paleobiology Database (PBDB), an open-access database that compiles fossil occurrence data, taxonomy, and associated metadata from scientific literature. The site provides a user-friendly interface that enables researchers, students, and educators to query PBDB data by taxon, locality, stratigraphy, or time interval, and to generate summaries of diversity, geographical distributions, and temporal trends. It also offers data export options (for example, CSV) and visualization tools, including maps and charts, to aid analysis and teaching.

Fossilworks relies on contributions from paleontologists and institutions worldwide, with data curated and vetted for quality as part of the PBDB project. The data cover the Phanerozoic eon, with fossil occurrences spanning from the early Paleozoic through the present, and include taxonomic classifications, stratigraphic context, and geographic coordinates where available. The portal emphasizes open access and allows users to download data for research and educational purposes, while requiring proper citation of sources.

The project is maintained as part of the Paleobiology Database ecosystem, often in collaboration with academic museums and universities. Fossilworks is widely used in academic research, paleontological data analysis, and science communication to explore patterns of biodiversity and biogeography through geologic time.