Rocks and Minerals
This rock collection contains specimens from the three great classes of rock: Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary. Our best igneous specimens consist of various varieties of basaltic lavas and granites. One notable lava specimen was collected in 1987 from an important geological location in Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The granites were collected mostly from England (particularly Cornwall), Scotland, the Channel Islands, Germany and Italy. The metamorphic collection is the smallest in all three classes and shows varieties of slate, marble and schist. The majority of the sedimentary collection is made up of limestone, sandstones, ironstones and coals.
The small coal collection was collected throughout the 1920s and has specimens such as Bituminous coal from South Wales, Jet from Whitby in Yorkshire, Kimeridge clay from Dorset, Alum shale from Whitby in Yorkshire and Lignite from near Newton Abbot in Devon.
