Geological collections

Geological collections constitute large part of all natural history collections and are usually subdivided into mineralogical, petrological and palaeontological collections. Specimen-level collections are complemented with scientifically invaluable drill cores, rocks samples, preparations and so on. All of them help us to interpret the history of Earth and Life.

The Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology possesses the largest geological collections in Estonia. They comprise fossils, rocks, minerals and meteorites from all over the world, the emphasis being, however, on the Estonian and former Soviet Union material. The collections include historical specimens collected already in the 1850s by, e.g., Fr. Schmidt and J. Nieszkowski. Most of the material has still been accumulated since the 1950s until present.

The collections form an integral part of the research carried out at the Institute. Estonian collections have contributed significantly to studies of evolution and diversification of biota during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event as well as the end-Ordovician extinction. Th e Estonian microfossil collections, some of the largest in the world for this time-span, have been used to establish and correlate regional and global geological timescales and biostratigraphical zonations. The drill cores and rock samples are continuously utilized for testing new methods and developing scientific ideas. For instance, the recent advancement in stable isotope research, which also grounds on collections, has turned the Baltic isotopic curve as world-wide standard for the Ordovician and Silurian.

Vast amounts of data related to collections are nowadays kept in electronic information systems. At the Institute of Geology, development of such system started in 1998 and since 2002 most of the digital data are publicly available on-line. As of 2006 also Estonian Museum of Natural History and University of Tartu Museum of Geology utilise the same database for collection management.