France and the world
CALCITE AROUND THE WORLD
This room is dedicated to the presentation of a mineral very widespread in nature: CALCITE.
Present in limestone rocks, it is a calcium carbonate (CaCO3) which reveals crystallizations of various shapes and varied colors.
In the display cases of this room, numerous samples come from all over the world: America, China, Belgium but also from France where spectacular specimens were discovered by museum volunteers during quarry prospecting.
MINERALS FROM FRANCE AND THE WORLD
In this room, minerals from all over France and the world are presented by classes: Elements, Sulfides, Halides, Oxides, Carbonates, Sulfates and Silicates.
The central display case displays a beautiful diversity of very pure quartz samples or colored by various oxides.
Fluorines from all sources are also very well represented
and come from French deposits that are now closed but also from China,
Spain, Great Britain or Morocco.
Among the elements, note a sample of silver from Germany as well as a gold native to California.
The findings of members of the Association have enabled the shelves dedicated to barite to be enriched with rare pieces, sometimes associated with galena crystals, from Belgium.
Amethysts, malachites, minerals from India, China, Romania, Sand Roses, Agates and many other wonders complete the discovery of this room.
FOSSILS FROM FRANCE AND THE WORLD
The fossils are presented following the succession of geological times, from the primary era to the Quaternary era (i.e. from the Paleozoic to the Cenozoic).
In the primary school windows there are numerous trilobites, organisms which have now disappeared, as well as two remarkable ones: one of Crinoids and the other of Orthocera from Morocco.
For the secondary, ammonites abound and among these are splendid pearly specimens from Russia.
The Tertiary display cases contain fossil fish from the south of France but also from Wyoming.
The transition to the Quaternary allows us to discover mammoth bones and molars as well as the remains of woolly rhinoceroses from the North Sea and Belgium.
Dinosaur egg: Hadrosaur – Cretaceous – China
Fossil fish - Dapalis –
Stampien – Provence
Tridactyl dinosaur footprint Le Veillon Vendée
MINERALS IN BLACK LIGHT
In the corridor located between the two rooms devoted to fossils from France and the World, a space presenting minerals subjected to ultraviolet radiation has been set up.
You can discover the colored reactions of certain minerals when they are presented with what is called “black light”.
In order to appreciate this change, the same minerals are visible on the lower shelf in “natural light”.