Geology

These extraordinary trilobites show extreme stalk eyes and horn-like curved cheek spines. They come from the St. Petersburg area in Russia. What these striking features were for is still not clear and is continually the subject of entertaining scientific debate. 

Hagen-Vorhalle in North Rhine-Westphalia has a reputation as a world-class fossil deposit: Complete 320-million-year-old giant flying insects were discovered there for example. This male of the species Homoioptera vorhallensis, with a body length of 31 centimeters, is the largest specimen of a total of six found. Given the small number of these found, these special ancient neuroptera are even rarer than the famous ancient bird Archaeopteryx. 

Different types of coal have different technical characteristics. Block sections like this one were an important part of miners’ training. Using such teaching aids, they can learn to distinguish between the different types of coal even with the naked eye. The individual components of coal types are also made visible by means of so-called thin sections.  

Kaolin tonsteins are formed from volcanic ashes. They can be radiometrically dated. In the Ruhr area they occur at different levels of the Upper Carboniferous strata, mostly in coal seams. They were also deposited in an area of up to 400 kilometers. Given these characteristics, they serve, among other things, as isochronous time markers and to subdivide the geological layers.  

The three meter tall marine crocodile from the Posidonia Shale Formation of Holzmaden is one of the most spectacular specimens that came into the former KRUPP collection via the paleontologist FRAAS. This 180-million-year-old marine crocodile resembles today’s gavial-like river crocodiles from India with its long narrow snout. It became famous as an original illustration in the book “Der Petrefaktensammler” (The Petrifact Collector) by EBERHARD FRAAS.  

The RUHR MUSEUM owns a collection of fossilized sponges from the Cretaceous period, which is one of the best and most extensive of its kind in the world. The fossils are exposed down to the smallest detail through their masterful preparation. The richness of forms of these sponges from the Münsterland region is very aesthetically appealing. The bizarre shapes are reminiscent of SALVADOR DALÍ’s artworks created 80 million years later.  

Drop-soils are a testament to the climate of an area and form in permafrost areas off the edge of the ice sheet. In order to preserve such special “works of art of nature” over the long term, they have to be fixed in place before removal using the so-called varnish section method. Each varnish section is geologically unique and has an individual aesthetic. The RUHR MUSEUM is in possession of an entire Ice Age gallery of these.  

Fire and water: The natural science collection of the former RUHRLANDMUSEUM was severely damaged by bombing during the Second World War. A glass fragment is fused on the surface of the small Cretaceous ammonite. It could have been restored. But the geologist CARL WEIDMANN was farsighted enough to give it a new meaning in the collection of damaged pieces.