Seemingly non-descript, boring rocks line the wall of one room on the University of Wyoming campus. When the lights go out and the black lights come on, the scene starts to look like something out of a fantasy movie — these rocks glow with a strange, unnatural light.
Is it magic? No — it’s the UW Geological Museum.
Located on the first floor of the S.E. Knight Geology Building, the museum holds these wonders and more. The museum is dedicated to raising awareness and educating students, Laramie residents, and the world at large about the uniqueness and importance of Wyoming’s geology.
“We here at the museum want to help people learn about the diversity of Wyoming’s paleogeology,” said Chris Kingwell, a UW student and a tour guide at the museum. “We’ve got a great collection of minerals, of fossils, and we’ve got a new exhibit on the paloegeography of ancient Wyoming.”
Wyoming’s geology is among the most diverse in the world. Mining is one of the state’s foremost industries and its fossil record stretches back to the time of the dinosaurs.
“A lot of the things in this state are very well-preserved. The diversity of our collection is really impressive, we have stuff from recent times, stuff from the Mesozoic era, the time of the dinosaurs, stuff from less deep time, closer to where we are today, but still very old, like 50 million years,” said Kingwell.
The museum has an impressive collection for its size. Notable exhibits include fluorescent rocks, a collection of rocks native to Wyoming and an augmented reality sandbox where visitors can learn about contour lines.
The highlight of the museum, though, is its fossils. Wyoming is known internationally as a hotspot for fossils with the Como Bluffs north of Laramie, Fossil Butte near Kemmerer and the Hell Creek formation in the north of the state.
“I actually wanted to work here because of the fossils,” said Kingwell. “I’ve been interested in dinosaurs ever since I was little, and when I saw all the fossils here, I knew I had to get a job here.”
Kingwell’s favorite fossil, and his favorite exhibit in general, is “Big Al,” a nearly complete Allosaurus skeleton found in the Bighorn Basin. Though the actual fossil is kept in the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, the cast that the Geological Museum has is still awe-inspiring, towering over 20 feet above visitors.
“I was a big fan of this show, ‘Walking With Dinosaurs,’ when I was little, and they had this special on ‘Big Al,’ this Allosaurus,” said Kingwell. “So I just thought it’d be really cool to work somewhere where Big Al is on display.”
There are many other fossils on display besides Big Al. Standing next to Big Al in the center of the museum is a 75-foot-long skeleton of an Apatosaurus, which is the only mounted skeleton of the Apatosaurus west of the Mississippi. The museum also houses a cast of a Triceratops skull, which is Wyoming’s state dinosaur, and a fossilized gar, which is over 50 million years old and is the largest complete freshwater fish fossil in the world.
Admission is free, and the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.
