Photo: Craig Chesek, AMNH |
Ed Mathez, Chairman of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
examines an outcrop of stromatolites in the Mauritanian desert.
Ed's team collected a boulder of this stromatolite for the exhibition. |
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Photo: Dennis Finnin, AMNH |
Jim Webster, Associate Curator, Department of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, makes an entry into his field journal on a hillside
near the Grand Canyon. Several samples for the Hall were collected
by Jim's crew here. |
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Photo: Jackie Beckett, AMNH |
On Mount Rainier in Washington State, Ro Kinzler, Research Scientist
in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the National
Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology, uses a
hand-lens, a basic tool for many kinds of scientists. This tool
magnifies minute details such as mineral colors and shapes, which
help identify the rock. Lava columns from Mount Rainier will be
exhibited in the Hall. |
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EARTH SCIENCE WAS SELECTED AS THIS YEAR'S YOUNG NATURALIST AWARDS
THEME IN HONOR OF THE OPENING OF THE AMNH GOTTESMAN HALL OF PLANET
EARTH. This new permanent exhibition explores how Earth works, as well
as the phenomena and circumstances that make our fragile planet
habitable. This hall will contain an array of large, dramatic
samples that represent the evidence for what is known about Earth,
collected from around the world. An ice core from Greenland will
be featured that contains in its strata evidence of climatic shifts
that occurred thousands of years ago. Another dramatic sample
will be a massive boulder of folded rock hewn from a quarry. Towering
"black smokers," chimney-like sulfide structures that grow at
hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean, where they harbor fantastic
life-forms that thrive without sunlight, will offer an especially
fascinating means of exploring the origin of life on Earth and
the possibilities of life on other planets.
On the AMNH's Web site, visitors can learn the stories behind
the making of the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth and see how scientists
travelled the planet to bring the big picture of Earth's dynamic
processes home to the Museum. Visitors can see geologists solve
problems in the field, learn about the tools they use, and see
how giant rocks were collected and prepared for this exhibition.
www.amnh.org/rose/hope/creatinghope
Photo: Jackie Beckett, AMNH |
Photo: Jackie Beckett, AMNH |
| Cameras are used to record how a specimen appeared when discovered,
or to document a specimen which may be too large, complex, or
heavy to collect. Here we see a "skylight" or a window into a
Hawaiian lava tube being captured on video. An AMNH team travelled
to Hawaii to collect samples, photos, and videos for the exhibition. |
Heather Sloan, Research Scientist in the Department of Earth and
Planetary Sciences, points out one of her favorite features, a
fold, which appears in a rock that can be seen from the roadway
I-84 near Brewster, New York. Heather found this fold while searching
for a boulder of folded rock for the Hall. The fold pictured was
too large to collect. |
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