LibGuides: Geology: Home

Nau mai haere mai | Welcome to your Geology subject guide

This Guide brings together some important research resources for Geology, including:

Key article databases
Useful introductory texts and handbooks
GIS datasets

These different types of resources are available via the navigation bar, to the left. Please contact the subject librarian for Geology (contact details to the left) with any questions about finding resources that you need.

R. Ewan Fordyce Paleontology Fund

A fund has been established to honour the life and work of the late Professor R. Ewan Fordyce.

The passing of Emeritus Professor Ewan Fordyce FRSNZ in November 2023 affords the Department an opportunity to celebrate the work and legacy of this internatlonally renowned paleontologist who worked in the Department of Geology for over forty years.

Funds raised will be used to facilitate paleontological research, teaching and outreach that makes use of the University's paleontology collections.

For more information: https://www.otago.ac.nz/geology/about/fordyce-fund

To donate: https://alumni.otago.ac.nz/donate/research

Featured open access textbooks

This ebook was written by staff in the Geology Department:

Fossil treasures of the Geology Museum by Daniel Thomas, Jeffrey Robinson and Daphne Lee

Tens of thousands of fossils are housed in the collections of the Geology Museum. This books offers a close look at some or the most special treasures.

The following eBook is currently used as the primary textbook in GEOL112:

Physical Geology / Adapted by Karla Panchuk from an original text by Steven Earle.

With a strong emphasis on examples from western Canada, Physical Geology is a comprehensive introductory text on the physical aspects of geology, including rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, mass wasting, climate change, planetary geology and much more.

Featured Dept. of Geology databases

The University of Otago Geology Museum holds more than 60,000 catalogued fossils in three main collections: vertebrates, invertebrates and plants. These fossils have been carefully logged into hand-written catalogue books for more than 100 years. Now, these catalogue books are being digitised into three searchable databases for all to access.

Vertebrates
An internationally significant collection of mostly marine vertebrates, varying from largely complete skeletons to single or partial bones and otoliths. Highlights include Late Cretaceous plesiosaurs and mosasaurs.
Invertebrates
Most of the Geology Museum's 60,000 specimens are marine invertebrates. Of particular note are Ordovician graptolites, Permian, Triassic and Jurassic molluscs and brachiopods, a diversity of Eocene to Miocene foraminifera, corals, crustaceans and echinoderms and Miocene insects from Foulden Maar and other sites.
Plants
A collection of spectacular plant fossils that have been critically important for understanding the evolution of southern landscapes. Fossils especially represent Otago and Southland localities including Pikopiko Fossil Forest, Foulden Maar, Hindon Maar, Newvale Mine, Lake Manuherikia and diatomaceous leaf beds around Ōtepoti Dunedin.