The Oriental Geological Popular Science Museum will open to the public today with the exhibition of two major dinosaur skeletons and a huge plaster replica of crystal.
   
Located in Nanhui District near the Pudong International Airport, the museum consists of five exhibition halls respectively representing rocks and minerals, the Earth's crust, ancient biology, the Earth surface and the land resources in Shanghai.
   
"The museum displays most of the typical geology-related specimens and samples, enabling visitors to have an overall view of our Earth," Gong Liming, an official with the city's Science and Technology Commission, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. 
  
With a total exhibition area of 3,600 square meters, the museum is about one-hour drive from the People's Square and will be open seven days a week.
   
One of the exhibited dinosaurs was excavated in Zigong, Sichuan Province in 1996. It is a carnivorous dinosaur that roamed the planet about 1 billion years ago. According to authentication, the dinosaur was 5.3 meters tall, twice as tall as Chinese NBA star Yao Ming.
   
The skeleton of the other dinosaur was excavated in Yunnan Province in 1968. 

Another key exhibit is a 3.6-meter-tall plaster crystal - like a small hill - which is hailed as the biggest sample of its kind in the world. The museum also displays other kinds of mineral resource samples including various precious stones.
   
The hall dedicated to land resources in Shanghai explains to visitors how the city gradually came into being since the land on its western borders formed 6,000 years ago.
   
The exhibit notes that Shanghai is on an alluvial plain - mainly made up of mud and silt - so it is highly unlikely that the city will be hit by a trembler.

(Shanghai Daily December 16, 2004)