Canadian Rockhound: New Pacific Museum of the Earth opens in Vancouver, Canada

About us | Contact us | Services | Copyright

News Highlights
Gem & Mineral Shows
News Archive

New mineral museum exhibits include giant "jelly-roll" and dinosaur named George

By UBC Public Affairs Office
June 23, 2003

School children meet dinosaur George. Photo by Pacific Museum of the Earth.
The move
The "jelly-roll" being moved from the Pacific Mineral Museum to its new home at UBC. Photo by Pacific Museum of the Earth.
Gift store
Future location for the new gift shop. Photo by Pacific Museum of the Earth.

UBC opened its newest on-campus museum on June 19 [2003]. The Pacific Museum of the Earth is a merger of the Pacific Mineral Museum, formerly located on W. Hastings St., and the university’s M.Y. Williams Geological Museum.

The merged 30,000-piece collection is the only one of it’s kind in B.C. and includes spectacular samples of rocks, mineral and fossils from all over the world and a six-metre-long Lambeosaurus named George. Other showpieces include a sparkling seven-foot amethyst "tube", a giant "jelly-roll" sedimentary structure, and ancient gizzard stones.

Eventually, the museum will also house an interactive tornado machine, a seismic centre, and several oceanography displays. Also being developed is a resource centre for K-12 and undergraduate educators. It will contain AV equipment, curriculum-based displays, lesson plans, samples and other reference materials and will be a place where teachers can bring their students to learn about Earth Sciences.

The museum is located on the main floor of the Earth and Ocean Science Building, 6339 Stores Road, and is open to the public daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, contact museum curator Kirsten Parker at 604.822.6992.

The former M.Y. Williams Geological Museum at UBC's Earth and Ocean Science Building (above). Official opening of the new Pacific Museum of the Earth, June 19, 2003 in the same building (below). Photos by Pacific Museum of the Earth.

Explore from Here:

The Pacific Museum of the Earth
http://www.eos.ubc.ca/public/museum/opening/opening.htm
The museum website was not yet ready at the time this article was published. However, you can read about the opening ceremonies on this page.
Earth and Ocean Sciences at UBC
http://www.eos.ubc.ca/
Official website of the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of British Columbia.

Contacts:

Kirsten Parker
Curator, Pacific Museum of the Earth
Tel: 604-822-6992
E-mail:

Reprint Acknowledgement:

This article was originally published in a media release web-posted June 23, 2003, by UBC Public Affairs. The Canadian Rockhound is pleased to reprint this electronic article with kind permission from Hilary Thomson, UBC Public Affairs. The original article is available from the World Wide Web at: http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2003/mr-03-62.html.

Reprint instructions:

This article may not be copied, distributed or reprinted in any form without the author's permission. To contact the author, please use the e-mail address provided. If you are unable to contact the author, please contact the Canadian Rockhound. Authorized reprints must acknowledge the author, original source and the Canadian Rockhound, and include the website URL address of the Canadian Rockhound.

Photographs appearing in this article are copyright © 2003 Pacific Museum of the Earth. Used with permission. Photographs may not be copied, distributed or reprinted in any form without permission from the Pacific Museum of the Earth.