Ballintoy Harbour, Antrim

The Geology Department houses teaching and research collections the first of which were acquired by Trinity in 1777. Currently the collections comprise over 100,000 specimens. The main palaeontological holdings include Irish Silurian and Carboniferous invertebrates, Mesozoic ostracods, and Upper Palaeozoic miospores. The rock and mineral collections largely date from the 1820s and contains both Irish and foreign specimens.

A number of displays on topical aspects of Geology can be seen in the entrance hall of the Museum Building which is open Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm. The hallway also contains skeletons of the iconic Pleistocene mammal, the giant Irish Deer, and various Irish and foreign decorative stones make up the pillars and the staircase.

The current Geological Museum was relocated to the Trinity Technology and Enterprise Center (TTEC) in 2014. Visits can be arranged by emailing the curator, Patrick Wyse Jackson or by contacting us at geologicalmuseum@tcd.ie.

Fossils

Fossils are the remains or traces of past life. The most common ‘body’ fossils are formed from the hard parts of an organism e.g. tooth, bones, shells or wood. In exceptional circumstances the soft parts, such as muscle tissue, may be preserved. Trace fossils record the behavior of an organism, for example in the form… Continue reading Fossils

Minerals

Botryoidal malachite

A mineral is a natural inorganic substance that has a particular chemical composition, and a regular atomic structure. There are over 2000 different mineral species of which about 360 are found in Ireland. Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks are composed of only a very small number of minerals, and these are referred to as being… Continue reading Minerals

Rocks

Rocks are composed of assemblages of minerals. They are classified into three primary categories: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks form from magmas and lavas, sedimentary rocks are formed due to the erosion of existing rocks at the Earth’s surface, and metamorphic rocks are formed by alteration of existing rocks under high temperature and pressure… Continue reading Rocks

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“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

Darwin