Rock On down to Earth in the geology department

Geology is about a lot more than rocks. The Geological Sciences department at ASU lists more than a dozen sub-specialties on its Web site, including geophysics, volcanology and tectonic studies.

The Robert S. Dietz Museum of Geology, located in the Bateman Physical Sciences Building on the Tempe campus, contains numerous treasures culled from the Earth, including the teeth of a “super-shark” (carcharocles megalodon) 45-50 feet in length (lower left); the fossilized remains of a wall-sized fish, xiphactinus audax, found in the Pierre Shale area of South Dakota (above); and the skeleton of one of only two known specimens of xenosmilus hodsonae, a type of saber-tooth cat (extreme right). The museum also displays a vast array of minerals (near left) and fossils (including trilobites, upper left, and a delicate scene from an ancient Wyoming lake, lower right) from around the world.

For more information on the department and its museum, visit http://geology.asu.edu/.

To provide feedback on this article, click here.

Photo: Tim Trumble