This collection is the oldest on campus, established in 1912, and it is also the oldest provincially funded museum collection in Alberta. The Meteorite Collection, part of which is on display, is the third largest in Canada, and the largest collection of meteorites in a Canadian university!
When I first visited the museum, I felt intrigued by the different rocks and minerals on display. I was amazed by the bright colours, unique textures and distinctive shapes of the rocks. The learning atmosphere of the museum invited me to read the explanations of the displays to learn about the origin and history of these pieces. I found it easy to navigate the different sections of the museum; regardless of the order in which I looked at the sections, I understood each part fully.
My favourite part of the collection is the Toluca meteorite. This is because I got to feel the texture of a meteorite that is 4.6 billion years old and also because this meteorite was found close to my hometown in Mexico! Learning about this meteorite has motivated me to visit the different museums on campus to know more about the diverse specimens that other collections host, to find out where these specimens were brought from and maybe find another display from my hometown!
Prior to visiting the collection, I had limited knowledge about rocks and minerals. The organization of the displays and the explanation on the boards facilitate learning, even with limited background on the topic. Visiting the museum is a great plan even if you do not know much about rocks or if you think you are not interested. You might change your mind and become a big fan of rocks, just like I did!
What to expect during your visit
The U of A Museums Mineralogy and Petrology Collection contains 15,000 specimens, and 2,500 are on display. There are over 2,000 meteorites in the Meteorite Collection. The museum organizes and displays these specimens in different sections:
The first section contains the rocks displayed on the east, south and north walls. Some of the elements found in these rocks are used to manufacture the things we use in our daily life. For example, some of the rocks have copper, from which electrical wires are made.
The second section is made up of flat cases that display the different minerals grouped together by kind. This grouping of the minerals is based on their chemical composition. Fun fact: some of the minerals in the flat cases were donated by William Ferrier, who received an honorary doctorate from the U of A in part for his contributions to the mineralogy collection.
The third section is the “Fluorescent Minerals” section. Here, you can see different minerals under UV spectrum light. The ultraviolet rays are the ones that are beyond the blue end of the visible spectrum. These UV rays cannot be seen by the human eye but can cause many minerals and rocks to glow. The right term to say that a mineral glows is to say that it “fluoresces.” One of the minerals that fluoresces is fluorite, which gave the name to this phenomenon.
The fourth section relates to the rock cycle. These cases show how the rocks are grouped and how they change during the cycle. The diverse types of rocks in the cycle include sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks and igneous rocks.
Fifth are the diamonds. This section exhibits uncut diamonds and explains that diamonds take billions of years to form and travel hundreds of kilometres to get to Earth’s surface. This display explains that the kimberlite rock is the principal host rock of diamonds. The exhibit of diamonds shows the natural colour and shape of diamonds before they are cut.
The sixth section is called “from minerals to rocks.” It explains that there are “over 6,800 different minerals” that have differences in “composition or structure, which distinguishes one mineral from another.” This display explains some of the properties of minerals, including lustre, gravity, magnetism, effervescence, colour, hardness, cleavage and fracture. Lastly, this section explains that a rock is “composed of one or more minerals.”
The seventh section talks about the meteorites, which “fall to Earth from outer space as a fireball blazing through the sky.” The structure and “chemical composition in meteorites preserves a blueprint of the Solar system’s earliest history.” This record helps provide information that would be unavailable otherwise.
The next section focuses on the geology of Canada, which if looked at from left to right, displays this geology starting from the west, and concluding with the eastern geology. To the left is the Canadian Cordillera, which consists of belts of mountain ranges separated by plateaus and valleys. This cordillera extends from the West Coast to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountain Foothills. This part also explains the plate tectonics, the terranes, the cross-section of the Rocky Mountain Belt, the physical geography of the region and the mineral discoveries of the area. The next display to the right focuses on Alberta’s geology and explains the mineral resources from the area that “played a major role in Alberta’s economy, such as coal, natural gas, crude oil and oil sands.” The last display to the right relates to the Canadian Shield, the “largest area of exposed Precambrian rocks on Earth.” In this region there were important mineral discoveries such as nickel, copper, silver, gold, uranium and diamonds.
The last section of the museum is the hands-on specimens that you can touch and interact with for learning purposes. Some of these specimens include a: quartz crystal, septarian nodule, limestone, cadomin conglomerate, granodiorite and the Toluca meteorite. This meteorite is the oldest item you will ever touch since it is from 4.6 billion years ago, the same time as the Earth! The meteorite was found in 1776 in Mexico and has a known mass of three tonnes.
The museum is regularly used for teaching. Around 1,200 students use the collection for learning annually. Groups from different disciplines come to the museum every day. For example, some students look at the rocks to write travel chronicles, fine arts students use the collection for drawing purposes and earth science students visit the museum to complete lab assignments. There are ongoing research projects all year long that study the pieces in the collection conducted by both faculty members and students. Similarly, some specimens are loaned around the world for research purposes.
In addition to research, the museum is also open for K – 12 class visits and special events such as Science FUNday and U of A Days, where over 1,000 guests visit the collections. It is estimated that around 6,500 people visit the museum every year.
You are invited to visit the collection and feel the texture of the meteorite from 4.6 billion years ago!
About the museum
The museum is located in the Earth Sciences Building on the U of A North Campus, room B-08. It is open to the public to visit for free during operating hours (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.). An interactive virtual tour is also available.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
