Digging into geology at Rock-n-Fossil day

Students and members of the public who want to discover more about the world beneath their feet and the ways minerals impact their daily lives were able to attend Rock-n-Fossil Day. Hosted on Feb. 22 by the Utah State University Department of Geosciences, the annual free event enticed curious kids and experts alike. It was held in the Geology Building, which is located on the northeast corner of the Quad, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Although it’s open to all ages, many of the activities at Rock-n-Fossil Day were aimed toward a younger audience. These included coloring pages, creating pet rocks and discovering what rocks and minerals from the video game “Minecraft” look like in real life.

Dennis L. Newell, geoscience’s interim department head, spoke to The Utah Statesman about the importance of the public being aware of their impact geology has on their daily lives.

“The goal of today is to basically open up our department to the whole community to show people what geosciences are all about — bring awareness to other important things that are in our local geology, like earthquake hazards and groundwater. Often, people don’t know that we do more than just rocks,” Newell said.

Newell credits the majority of the event’s planning to Ellen Imler, geology program assistant III.

“We’ve done this every year for decades, actually, and we just try to make it accessible to all ages so that they can learn things about geology,” Imler said. “We just try to have all sorts of different activities, and we change it each year a little bit to include something new.”

Next year’s Rock-n-Fossil Day will be held in the USU Geology Building on Feb. 28.

Different presentations were given throughout the day by the Cache Rock and Gem Club, Alba M. Rodriguez Padilla and Amy Hochberg. They went over topics such as Lake Bonneville and the science of earthquakes.

Room 101 contained a display about earthquake hazards. This helped attendees understand how they work, the frequency which they occur and plans for resilience.

“Most of our city’s drinking water comes from the spring that’s up Logan Canyon: Dewitt Springs. That’s important to know because the snow that falls in the mountains infiltrates and feeds that spring,” Newell said. “Sometimes, we have lots of snow, and sometimes, we don’t have a lot of snow, so that’s important for our supply.”

In GEOL 205 guests were able to explore the USU Geology Museum. On display are an array of fossils and minerals primarily found in Utah. A highlight of the museum as stated on their website includes “Percy” the Utahraptor, which is a sculpture made by a student named Justin Tolman.

In another effort to show people how intertwined daily lives are with minerals, Room 302 included a matching game where participants attempted to guess which minerals household items are made from.  

 “Basically, it’s showing how toothpaste is made from a mineral and our houses are built from a mineral and our makeup is from a mineral,” Imler said. “Things that we use in everyday life are from the earth.” 

 Because the event has been going on for so long, Imler said things usually plan themselves. To keep things exciting, the department tries to come up with different experiences for event goers.  

 “For example, this year, the deep sea drilling is our new activity,” Imler said. “Just deciding what activity will be best for that year and then sorting out which space might work best for it.”  

 The deep sea drilling activity allowed guests to learn about how scientists are able to study samples from the bottom of the ocean. One of the most popular attractions was an experience on the third floor where attendees were welcomed to bring their own rocks and fossils to have them identified by experts