The David J. Fitzgerald Museum of Earth Sciences
The David J. Fitzgerald Museum of Earth Sciences is an educational addition to the Environmental Science department. This museum contains exhibits that display the findings of various minerals, fossils and other geological elements. Below is a sample of the many items collected over the years that have allowed students and staff to create the captivating museum we have today.
To see the collection in person, visit us in Garni Science Hall, Second Floor. There you will find maps and descriptive infographics that showcase all the samples featured within the cabinets.
Specimen of the Month
March: Brush Coral
Acropora Hyacinthus
Location: Unknown
Brush coral is the most abundant coral of exposed outer reef slopes and is mostly found in the upper reef slopes and outer reef flats. Brush corals are grouped in colonies which can be observed as wide flat plates and tables or tiered aggregations of small plates.
Branchlets are thin and finely structured except when exposed to wave action, which then become closely fused. Branchlets are fine and upward-projecting. It is thought to have a range that includes the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific waters, southeast Asia, Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean. Figures of its population are unknown, but it is likely to be threatened by the global reduction of coral reefs, and the increase in temperature causing coral bleaching.
The image shown above shows the physical consequences of coral bleaching in which the colorful appearance of coral is taken away, leaving a white cast as seen in this sample.