Several places around the National Capital Region showcase exhibits of our geological heritage. The following exhibits are open to the public during opening hours:
W.E. Logan Hall, Geological Survey of Canada
Logan Hall is closed to the public due to Covid concerns.
Ground floor, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa
A fascinating, large, one-room display of the history and personalities involved in the geological exploration of Canada, including some of the fossils, rocks and minerals they discovered. See also meteorites and the stories of their discovery, economic ores and minerals and mining, and nice examples of many rare and beautiful crystals and other minerals, including items of local interest.
Plant and mollusc fossils collected by G.M. Dawson, 1880s.
Ancient ‘sea scorpion’, Eurypterus remipes, collected from Late Silurian rocks at Niagara, ON.
Trilobite, Olenoides serratus, from the Late Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Yoho National Park, British Columbia.
Vale Earth Sciences Gallery, Canadian Museum of Nature
3rd floor east, Canadian Museum of Nature, 240 McLeod Street, Ottawa, Ontario
Discover our planet, and learn how geology and mineralogy connect with everyday life. Explore the diversity of Canada's rocks and minerals and those from around the world; see spectacular gems; discover the oldest rock in Canada, meteorites, and samples from the Earth's core, mantle and crust. If your interests run to fossil vertebrates, check out the Talisman Energy Fossil Gallery on the main floor west, featuring some of Canada's most important dinosaur and other Late Cretaceous and later fossils and their geological context.
The gallery, housed in a spectacularly renovated heritage building built of stone from the local area and around Canada, offers a fascinating journey through geological time. Learn how the Earth formed, how powerful forces have shaped and changed our planet, and how geology and mineralogy connect with everyday life. Explore the diversity of Canada's rocks and minerals and those from around the world; see spectacular gems; discover the oldest rock in Canada, meteorites, and samples from the Earth's core, mantle and crust. If your interests run to fossil vertebrates, check out the Talisman Energy Fossil Gallery on the main floor west, featuring some of Canada's most important dinosaur and other Late Cretaceous and later fossils and their geological context.
Check the museum's website for admission fees and open hours.
Banded iron from Sherman Mine, Temagami, ON, formed as a sedimentary deposit of iron oxide 2.2 billion years ago, when Earth's oxygen largely came from cyanobacteria.
4.2 billion year-old Acasta gneiss, Acasta River, NWT, one of the oldest rocks known.
A specimen of azurite and malachite, one of the many spectacular mineral specimens in the exhibit.
Apatite crystals from the Grenville geological province, Ontario and Quebec, Canada.
Sir William E. Logan exhibit, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Face to Face: The Canadian Personalities Hall, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 100 Laurier Street, Gatineau, Quebec
Logan was the founding director of the Geological Survey of Canada, and played a central role in the development of Canada's national museums. In the mid-1800s, Logan led a national effort to identify, document and develop Canada's vast mineral resources.
Check the museum's website for admission fees and open hours.