Geo-treasure Hunt
(Note: You may have to read some of the labels to find the answers.)
OLD RANKIN DISPLAYS:
1. Find and name the mineral(s) or rock(s) that is (are) used in:
1. music tapes
14. concrete block
2. dinner fork
15. coins
3. false teeth
16. paper in textbooks
4. fertilizer
17. cosmetics
5. white paint
18. pencil
6. matches
19. sandpaper
7. car battery
20. baby powder
8. pottery
21. beverage cans
9. glass
22. nails
10. electric wiring
23. medicine for stomach ache
11. wall board
24. insecticide
12. photographic film
25. deoderant
13. saw blades to cut rocks
26. toothpaste
2. Find and name 5 different minerals that are used in the manufacture of a truck (or a car).
3. Find and list at least 3 uses for the mineral gypsum.
a.
b.
c.
4. How many different things can you find for which petroleum is used?
b. Why is petroleum not considered a mineral?
5. Look at the display of cave deposits. The broken surfaces you see are cross-sections through a
stalagmite and stalactite and show evidence of how those structures were formed. Look closely
and then describe how those structures were formed.
6. Look at the concretions, nodules, and geodes.
a. What do they have in common?
b. What is the difference between geodes and round concretions?
c. Look at the geodes and concretions? Do the minerals begin to form from the outside of the
structure or from the inside?
Explain
FOYER DISPLAY - GEOLOGY OF NORTH CAROLINA:
1. North Carolina is divided, geologically, into three zones. What are they?
2. What types of materials characterize the most eastern part of the state?
3. The most western and mid zones of the state have similar rock types. What are the predominant
types of rocks in those areas?
4. What are the Triassic Basins?
In which zone do they occur?
5. In which zone does the Reid Gold Mine occur?
What is its importance?
TEACHING MUSEUM:
1. Find the following and answer the question about it.
a. carnivorous dinosaur tooth
How do we know it's a carnivore tooth?
Why was it with the bones of a very different type of dinosaur?
b. gold from North Carolina
How is gold distinguished from pyrite (fool's gold)?
c. fossils from North Carolina
What types of animals are represented by the fossils?
All of the fossils were found in quarries or outcroppings along the road. What do the fossils
tell us about the geologic past in this part of eastern North America?
d. a trilobite
Trilobites are extinct. What do you think its living relatives are?
Explain.
e. diamonds
Why don't these diamonds look like jewels?
2. Find the fossil plants from the Pennsylvanian and Cretaceous and younger. Would you feel more at
home in a Pennsylvanian forest or a Cretaceous one?
Explain.
3. Find the meteorites. What are they?
4. How is petrified wood formed?
5. What is the difference between intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks?
Look at the rocks in the display and tell what differences you can see between intrusives and
extrusives.
6. What do all clastic sedimentary rocks have in common?
Look at the rocks in the display. What do you see in those rocks that shows what they have in
common?
HALLWAY DISPLAY CLOSE TO MUSEUM:
1. What are ballast stones?
How are they used to map out old shipping routes?
2. What are the important elements for good health?
What are some of the minerals that provide those elements?
How do we get those elements into our bodies?
3. What is radon?
How do we get exposed to radon?
What harm can radon do?
How can we protect our homes against radon buildup?