THE TRAVELING GEOLOGY EXHIBIT - BRINGING GEOLOGY TO THE PEOPLE

The Traveling Geology Exhibit recreates the geologic history of the Central United States with special emphasis on the Greater Kansas City area, and consists of over 80 wall illustrations and fossil specimens that reconstruct the paleoenvironments that existed during two widely separated intervals of geologic time: the Pennsylvanian Period and the Quaternary Period. Selected parts of the Exhibit are shown on the poster.

A study of the rocks "underfoot" opens a "window into the past" and reveals the extent of ancient seas; the swamp-like rain forests that thrived in lowland areas at time of sea retreat, and the location of continents and mountain ranges 300 million years ago during the Pennsylvanian Period. The Quaternary Period marks the arrival of continental glaciers that once covered the highest hills in downtown Kansas City less than a million years ago. The types of life that lived in these diverse environments widely separated in time are entombed in the rocks that underlie Kansas City and environs.

The Exhibit has been a success beyond our most optimistic expectations. Over 100,000 visitors have seen the Exhibit at 6 locations since it opened in March 2013. A large number of the participants are Earth Science Teachers from the Greater Kansas City School Districts who have adopted the Exhibit as a teaching aid for their students. The final destination for the Exhibit will be the Richard L. Sutton Jr., Geosciences Museum, University of Missouri-Kansas City. We hope the Exhibit will be a model and inspire educators to create similar exhibits in other cities.

The Exhibit is based on the book, Rocks and fossils of the Central United States with special emphasis on the Greater Kansas City area, authored by Richard J. Gentile, illustrated by John Babcock, edited by Jill Hardesty and Denise Mayse, and published by the Department of Geology and Paleontological Institute, University of Kansas, 2016, Special Publication 8, (2nd ed.) 216p. The Exhibit was funded by a generous grant from the William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank, Kansas City, Missouri.