Theme exhibition Natural History│Geology│Archaeology│History│Folkfore│Biology
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Geology　[General Exhibition Section]


  There is a long geohistory in Iwate. The various kinds of igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks, and fossiliferous rocks of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic strata in this region tell us an interesting story of the geologic age.

Giant club-moss from the Devonian Tobigamori Formation
Leptophloeum rhombicum
  This tree grew in Paleozoic humid swampland, having scale-like bark. Devonian giant club-moss in the Kitakami Mountains is the oldest terrestrial plant in Japan.

Dinosaur bone from the Lower Cretaceous
Miyako Group
　 ?Mamenchisaurus sp.
　   This is the first dinosaur fossil to be found in Japan.
This is a part of the foreleg of a dinosaur about 22 meters long.

Mounted skelton of a Pliocene whalebone whale
　 Burtinopsis sp.
　   This whale, Maesawa-kujira, which lived in the early Pliocene sea, is a member of the whalebone whale family.They had become specialized in effective filter feeding through baleens.
Kesen meteorite  
　
This meteorite fell in Rikuzentakata, in the south of Iwate, 1850.
  This is part of the biggest meteorite found in Japan.
　
Granodiorite
　 Igneous rock 
　
Locality:Morioka city
Age:Cretaceous
　
　Granodiorite is one of igneous rocks which magma is solidified at the deep part.　The bodies of granodiorite and other rocks formed in the Cretaceous occupies about a quarter area of the Kitakami mountains.
　This granodiorite is distributed to Morioka city.　The rock was used as stone walls of Morioka castle.　Ishiwari-zakura cherry tree grew through a crack of a block of granodiorite.
　
Amber  
　
Amber is fosilized tree resin.
  Amber containing fossilized insects is often found.