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Orton Geological Museum (Columbus, OH)


Mediospirifer

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Over Christmas, my husband and I visited and photographed the Orton Geological Museum in Columbus, OH. It's a small, single-room museum in the geology building of Ohio State University. It's well worth visiting!

My photoset is a compilation of four different photo sessions, one from my first visit in 2010, the other three on different visits during this trip. If you want to know which visit a given photo is from, look at the image title: my format is a picture number, a photoset letter, and an image description. The 'a' set are from 2010, the rest from 2015. :D Where I had multiple images, I chose the best one to post here.

I'll start with some views of the geology building, Orton Hall. It was purpose-built in the early 1890s to house the geology collections and library, out of Ohio stone and clay.

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The tower houses a set of bells to ring the hours, and is ornamented with a lot of gargoyles:

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More building pictures next. Unfortunately, my photos are too large to include more than a few of them in a single post, and my image compression software doesn't have an option for another 50% reduction.

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The 24 gargoyles on the bell tower are representations of different primitive animals found in Ohio.

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The front entrance is bigger than it looks. :P

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The architects used a lot of ornamental features in their stonework. Here are the upstairs colonettes and the bay window:

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More building photos up next!

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Here are some of the whimsical details. All of the carving was done by hand:

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And the rear view of the building. This might seem to be of less interest, but notice the colors of the stonework layers. The building stone was laid in order of geological age! At the bottom is Brassfield limestone, which is only visible at this corner. The next layer up is Dayton limestone, then Springfield dolomite, and the rest of the layers are Berea sandstone. The red trim is Hocking Valley red sandstone, and the roof tiles are made of Ohio clay. How many buildings are there that echo the geological column? :P

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A few more outside photos next, then we'll look inside. :D

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Thanks, ZiggieCie! I have a lot more photos to come.

Here's the final outside photos, the wall and some of the details:

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And the front entrance foyer, looking out:

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More to come!

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In the front hall is a glass-topped case of photos, with text describing the history of the building. There's a lot of interesting information there!

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I'll post a few more views of the front entrance, then we'll get to the Museum! :D

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In case you were wondering about the reflections in the glass case, here's what the ceiling looks like:

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Around the foyer walls, there are 24 columns, each carved from a different stone. Here's the list of what's where:

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And some views of the columns:

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More to come!

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Each column has a uniquely-carved capital featuring a different fossil. Here's an interesting pair:

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And into the museum. We're greeted at the door! :D

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Meet Megalonyx jeffersoni, the giant ground sloth.

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Waiting patiently behind Megalonyx is Glyptodon clavipes:

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More views of Glyptodon up next! :D

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A couple more views of Glyptodon:

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Next to Glyptodon, we find Dunkleosteus terrelli in a glass case:

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And a Tyrannosaurus rex skull:

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More to come! :D

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Here's a contrast between 2010 and 2015: The T-rex skull has been redone (2010 on left):

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And some interesting text with another view of the skull:

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And a skull from a dinosaur I don't recall seeing elsewhere, Cryolophosaurus ellioti:

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Interestingly, this dinosaur was found in Antarctica. I thought that was pretty cool!

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A couple more views of Cryolophosaurus:

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Here's some views of the Museum overall:

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As I said previously, it's a small facility. Of course, this is just the public display area. I have no idea how much of the building is housing the research collections!

Back to looking around, here's what you see along the right-hand wall, starting with the poster by the door:

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More to come! :D

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The first of the glass cases. These are arranged by geological order, starting with Precambrian and Cambrian. Some of the information may be out of date, the Museum hasn't updates these displays in a while. I was told while there that they're planning to do so in the near future.

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On the Precambrian side, there isn't much. That's because there isn't any Precambrian rock to be found in Ohio except in deep drill-cores.

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Here's some examples of those drill-cores:

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And some examples of what fossils are found elsewhere from Precambrian rocks: Stromatolites!

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There's a bit more on the Cambrian side:

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Some Cambrian trilobites. Top row, left to right: Elrathia kingi, Olenoides serratus, and Asaphiscus wheeleri. Bottom row, left to right: Ptychoparia striata, Paradoxides minor, and Olenoides serratus.

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Here's a better view of the diagram:

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And here's a partial cast of Dickinsonia costata, with a photo of a complete one:

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Next up: Ordovician!

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The Ordovician Period:

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Lots of fossils here:

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And some individual photos. Isotelus (trilobite) facial spines:

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A couple of bryozoa, Hallopora on the left, Monticulipora on the right:

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A nice hash plate of brachiopods. The label says Reserella meeki, but this is an example of out-of-date information. This brachiopod has changed it name several times since this display went in: Onniella meeki, Dalmanella meeki, and now Cincinnetina meeki.

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And a coelenterate, Columnaria:

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Next: Silurian!

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The Silurian Period:

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With fossils:

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Some individual fossils, starting with a couple of Stromatoporids:

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Brachiopod endocasts in matrix, Pentamerus laevis:

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A coral colony, Favosites niagrensis:

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A few more Silurian to come, plus Devonian!

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Echinoderms Marsupiocrinus and Megacystites:

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And a couple of cephalopods, Graftonoceras and Orthoceras:

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The Devonian Period:

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The fossils:

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And some individual fossils. A Platyceras gastropod (I like those spines!):

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And a Favosites coral:

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More to come!

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A couple of Devonian horn corals, Hadrophyllum and Heliophyllum:

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The Carboniferous Period (both Mississippian and Pennsylvanian):

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The fossils:

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Individual fossils:

A branching example of Lepidodendron:

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Pecopteris:

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Asterphyllites equisetiformis:

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Next up: Ohio rock exposures.

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Ohio Rock Outcrops:

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This case has field photos of some sites of different geological age:

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And some examples of different rocks:

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The Pseudofossil exhibit. The Museum pairs pseudofossils with the real fossils they most closely resemble:

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One more Pseudofossil picture, then the Mesozoic display!

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Last of the Pseudofossils:

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Mesozoic:

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Instead of fossils, this case has a diorama:

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Where are the dinosaur fossils? Behind us--we already looked at Tyrannosaurus and Cryolophosaurus!

The next case is dedicated to the Solnhofen Limestone:

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There's a cast of the Berlin Archaeopteryx:

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Some fossils: Rhamphorhynchus, Tarsophlebia (dragonfly), and a cast of Pterodactylus:

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More Solnhofen up next!

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Morre Solnhofen fossils. :D

Horseshoe crab, Mesilimulus:

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The crustacean Eryon:

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Another crustacean, Aeger, and a crinoid, Comatula pinnata:

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An ammonite:

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A squid, Plesioteuthis prisca, with the ink sac:

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A couple of fish. Left is Parathrissops, right Thrissops:

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One more Solnhofen fish, then the Evolution of Plants!

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The final Solnhofen fish, Gyrodus:

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Evolution of Plants:

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Plant fossils:

Angiosperms, Left to Right: Cercidiphyllum, Viburnium robustum, and Sassafrass latilobum:

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Sphenopsids, Left to Right: Annularia, Asterophyllites, Calamites, Equisetum (modern example), and Pseudobornia inornata:

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Gymnosperms, Left to Right: Sequoia, Trigonocarpus, and Cordaites borassifolia:

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More plant fossils to come!

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More plant fossils:

Lycopsids, Lepidophylloides and Lepidodendron:

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Filicopsids ("True Ferns"), Sphenopteris and Pecopteris:

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Pteridosperms ("Seed Ferns"), Mariopteris, Neuropteris, and Alethopteris serlii:

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Recent Acquisitions:

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The photo in the case at bottom right is of a large piece of petrified wood that made it into the building, but was too heavy for the elevator! It's on display in the basement, and we'll see it later.

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Evolution of the Horse:

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Mineral Specimens. These are part of the gift shop, and are for sale:

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More to come! :D

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Oreodont skeleton in matrix:

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Another view of the Museum:

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A Xiphactinus fish skull. This specimen is large! I wouldn't want to go swimming with one of these! :o

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The Extraordinary Fossils display:

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And the individual fossils. A hash plate of the crinoid Strataster ohioensis with remarkable detail:

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A brachiopod with the brachidium preserved:

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And a stromatoporid growing on a gastropod. The calcite crystals covering the gastropod are beautiful! :wub:

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More to come! :D

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There's a really nice crinoid slab, with several different species identified: :wub:

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A very nice spiny trilobite from Morocco:

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Here's a couple of Isotelus maximus trilobites that survived getting chewed. :o

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And a wonderfully prepared ophiurid brittle star:

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Next up: Methods of Fossilization.

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Methods of Fossilization:

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Duripartic Preservation and Calcification:

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Duripartic Preservation example: Eocene fish:

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Molds and Casts:

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Molds:

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Calcification and Silicification:

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More to come!

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Silicification example Halysites catenularia:

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Pyritization:

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Coalified Compression and Permineralization:

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Authigenic Cementation and Trace Fossils. It was difficult to get a good photo of this part of the case, so I took two different angles: :P

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More to come!

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