Labels: art, geologic time, oceans, plate tectonics

This weekend, I walked down to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History to check out their new Sant Ocean Hall (previous mentions on this blog).

The new exhibit hall has been under construction for a long time, and opened to the public the previous weekend. I've got a few photos here to share some of what I saw, but the museum also maintains their own Flickr page, which has additional (and better) photographs.

It's pretty cool. There are suspended specimens of both giant squid and also this coelacanth (with "pup" at upper right):


The exhibit has a lot of cool stuff having to deal with the geological aspects of oceanography, too, like this interactive exhibit about drill cores and how geologists interpret sediment. It would make an ideal visit for Historical Geology students:


The thing that caught my eye at first was a series of skeletons showing the evolution of whales over time, and in particular the shrinkage and eventual absence of their hind limbs and hips. I failed to note the name of the first one (falsely thinking I could look it up online!), but the more distant two specimens are Dorudon and Basilosaurus:


And they've got a nice C. megalodon jaw reconstruction holding lots of authentic teeth:


There are lots of smaller fossils, too. I was really impressed by the substantial portion of the hall which was given over to ancient oceans, as preserved in the sedimentary record. Here's a case showing some stunning fossils, including a MASSIVE asaphid trilobite and the best receptaculid ("sunflower coral") that I've ever seen:


A lot of trilobites are on display, most donated by Bob Hazen, of the Carnegie Institution and George Mason University. Here's a lovely Olenellus from Pennsylvania:


Also, you'll find Dunkleosteus, mosasaurs, and this Placinticeras ammonite with mosasaur bite marks running across it.


Here's a rudist clam, one of a half-dozen diverse and chunky specimens on display:


Lastly, I'll show a photo that's part of their display on the Burgess Shale. They include some imagery from Walcott's journal documenting actual fossil specimens that are displayed right along with it. Pretty cool -- a sort of window onto historical paleontological field work.


I also wanted to mention a really neat display called "Science on a Sphere," where a suspended sphere about six feet across gets imagery projected on it from the inside, accompanying narration that explains phenomena like plate tectonics, El Nino, the thermohaline "conveyor belt," and so forth. This YouTube video (not mine) gives a small taste of the Sphere as it explains surface currents using rubber duckies:



All told, it's a great exhibit, and you should check it out next time you're in DC.

Labels: fish, fossils, museums, oceans, smithsonian

Joel Achenbach reports in today's Washington Post about the Smithsonian Institution's newest addition: the Sant Ocean Hall, which opened this weekend at the National Museum of Natural History. I plan to go check it out myself this week, but until I get the chance to report, consider Mr. Achenbach's words.

Labels: dc, museums, oceans, smithsonian

I saw David Byrne (formerly the frontman of the Talking Heads) perform last night in Baltimore. He did a great job, as he always does. (This was my fourth time seeing him in concert.)

One of the Talking Heads biggest hits (featured on NPR's list of the most influential songs of the previous century) was "Once in a Lifetime" (1984). Listening to him sing it again last night, I was struck by the geological undercurrents. I thought I would share a few of the topical lyrics that have a peripheral relevance to this blog:

On hydrology:

"Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/in the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water underground"

On oceanography:

"Water dissolving...and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Carry the water at the bottom of the ocean
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean!"

On the principle of uniformity ("uniformitarianism"):

"Same as it ever was, same as it ever was,
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was"

Also, from a different Talking Heads tune ("Life During Wartime"), Mr. Byrne offers us this epistle, clearly referring to the value of studying for open-book geology lab practicals:

"Burn all the notebooks
What good are notebooks?
They won't help me survive!"

Mr. Byrne may be coming to a concert hall near you. Check out his tour dates here. Listen to his new album for free online here. He also keeps a blog (which he calls a "journal," and it occasionally features geological musings, as in this example.)

Labels: geology, music, oceans, water resources

Labels: fossils, mammals, meetings, oceans, psw, smithsonian

Just a few weeks left until the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) opens the doors of its new Ocean Hall to the public (Saturday morning, September 27). I'm particularly excited that it contains an exhibit on ancient seas, including a Basilosaurus skeleton!

Labels: dc, museums, oceans