Display of MINERALS, ROCKS, FOSSILS and MAPS Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Acadia University

By J.A. Colwell & S.A. Ferguson, updated by R. Raeside

LOCATION - Huggins Science Hall, third floor. This building is west of University Hall, between University Avenue and Westwood Avenue.

HOURS - Displays are open to the public Monday to Friday from 8:30 a. m. to 4:30 p.m.

DESCRIPTION - The third floor corridors of Huggins Science Hall are located along the outside of walls of the building. This architectural arrangement allows for a large amount of display space, with natural light on the north and south corridors. Stairs are at the southeast and southwest corners.

NORTH CORRIDOR - starting on the east end

Minerals and rocks of the North Mountain basalt are in a large cabinet on the east end. These rocks have been famous for more than a century for the well crystallized specimens of zeolites, as well as amethyst and agate, found in cavities in the lava flows.

The next dozen or so cabinets house a variety of displays - including old geologic instruments, gemstones, recent geologic events, departmental memorabilia and geologic postage stamps.

The rest of the north corridor consists mainly of mineral displays.  Minerals that illustrate the different crystal systems and classes are in cabinets 49 and 48. These are followed by more of the Department's best mineral specimens in the traditional arrangement, according to their chemical compositions. The remaining seven cabinets contain economic minerals and other geologic materials such as coal and oil, together with everyday products derived from them.

WEST CORRIDOR

The largest display is a mosaic of 1:50.000 topographic maps of most of Nova Scotia. Other displays include published student and faculty research projects.

SOUTH CORRIDOR - starting at the west end

The large cabinet at the end contains a display on meteorites - ancient bits of extraterrestrial matter.  The next cabinet has a sample of the oldest known terrestrial rock and fossils of the Precambrian Era. This is followed by displays of typical fossils of younger periods. One cabinet is devoted to the remarkable fauna of the Burgess shale, in which rare impressions of soft-bodied organisms and parts were preserved.

The remainder of the corridor has a series of general displays of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and rock structures along with suites from particular areas, such as the metamorphic rocks of the Shelburne area, noted for crystallized metamorphic minerals.

EAST CORRIDOR

Displays include bedrock and surficial geological maps of the area and research projects by students in Environmental Science.

Prepared for the Geological Association of Canada and Mineralogical Association of Canada Joint Annual Meeting in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, May 25-27, 1992. Meeting Hosted by the Atlantic Geoscience Society.