The Museum of Geology is based on a wide ranging collection of rocks, minerals, and fossils given to the Dakota School of Mines in 1885. The collection was originally used in teaching geology to students of mining and metallurgy. From those early days the collection has blossomed into a comprehensive representation of the geology of the region.
The Museum is ideally located at the transition between two geologically contrasting yet related regions, the High Plains and the Black Hills. Wonderful minerals, rocks, and fossils come from the Black Hills and exceptional marine and terrestrial fossils represent the High Plains. As the collections grew through the efforts of students, faculty, alumni, and friends of the museum, many more illustrative specimens have been added from throughout the world. Within the near future the Museum will have a million objects under its care, most of which are part of our teaching and research collections.
The Museum of Geology preserves an important slice of the earth s diversity. Your visit to the Museum of Geology will be enriched if you can place the myriad of objects into an appropriate context. The following guide traces the threads of knowledge in a systematic way for reference during your visit. Before starting there are some necessary preliminaries given below. This tour was written by the Museum's last two directors.
Dr. Philip R. Bjork
Dr. Gale A. Bishop
Click here to read an interview with Dr. Bishop regarding his career as a paleontolgist.
Wandering and Wondering are expected!
Questions should be asked!
If we do not know an answer to your question, we will search for one and make sure that you get it. We like to do this because your question then teaches two!
The Museum of Geology has two principal collections on exhibit, Fossils and Minerals. As you enter the Museum minerals are to the right and fossils to left.
MINERALS are naturally occurring inorganic chemical compounds each with a more or less definite chemical composition and distinctive physical properties. Minerals combine in natural mixtures called ROCKS.
FOSSILS are evidence of past life and are usually found in sedimentary rocks.
Museum exhibits are identified in a general way on the accompanying
map.
The fossils and some rocks may be labeled with a term indicating the age of the specimen. The ages are provided on the "calendar of geology," the GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE (see Exhibit 12).
Unisex restrooms are located next to the big windows across from the stairs; additionally, a Ladies Room is located on second floor and a Men's Room on the first Floor.
Where should you start? There is no definite answer to this. What follows is a step by step look at the collections arranged with some underlying reason. However most museum visitors bounce like pinballs from one eye-catching exhibit to the next, this guide may then give you some context as you systematically examine the exhibits or as you bounce.
Paleontology is around the Middle Display Island The very large skeletons in the middle will capture your attention as you walk around the central area of the paleontology exhibit. Please look from a variety of viewpoints as you examine the specimens in the cases.
Paleontology continues to the left of the stairs including the cases surrounding the centrally located skeletons is the paleontology exhibit. This section includes a variety of geologically interesting objects and fossils from a variety of geologic times. When a name is printed in italics, the name is a scientific name, either a genus or species. All other names are common names or scientific names for a animal or group of animals.
Mineralogy is to the right of the stairs including minerals, rocks, and meteorites located in labeled cabinets. This section includes The W. L. Roberts Hall of Black Hills Minerals. Mineral names are printed on labels with the specimens location. Black Hills mineral localities can be found in the book by Roberts and Rapp (1965), Mineralogy of the Black Hills.
Continue your tour by examining the specimens in the exhibit cases surrounding the central island beginning with the end case to your right under the plesiosaur's tail!
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