Geology Museum at the University of Otago
2 and 3 October - The Geology Museum at the University of Otago presents an impressive collection or rocks, minerals and fossils.  Fifty of the most extraordinary fossils in the collection are highlighted in an open access online e-book Fossil Treasures of the Geology Museum by Daniel B. Thomas, Jeffrey H. Robinson, and Daphne E. Lee (2025) (>).  These are just a tiny sampling of the tens of thousands of specimens collected over the years, many of which are detailed in the Geology Department's three online fossil databases (vertebrates, invertebrates and plants). 
In the foyer is an extraordinary specimen of fossil teeth from an extinct white shark.  [For more details see: Fossil Treasures of the Geology Museum].  
As the description notes "most fossil shark teeth are found one at a time."  Searching the online database for "Carcharodon" produces 17 records, most of which are parts of individual teeth.
Detail from facsimile of James Hector's Geological Map of the Province of Otago, New Zealand (1864).  The red colour around Otago Harbour designates igneous rock, an indicator of the volcanic history that makes this area so distinctive.
Underneath the layers of alluvium and volcanics is a layer of Caversham Sandstone from about 50 metres to 350 metres down, dating to the Early Miocene period (16 to 24 million years ago).
In the next room is the fossil preparation research laboratory.
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