Step back in time at Great Lakes Aquarium in our largest exhibit design to date. Lava to Lakes is Minnesota’s ultimate origin story, tracing the region’s history to a time before land, when the region was covered by expansive ancient seas.
Did you know sharks, jellyfish, and colossal prehistoric predator fish once swam where we live? This immersive exhibit experience brings visitors up close to these animals with two new touchpools, one featuring sharks and skates and the other featuring moon jellyfish. The exhibit also showcases sea nettles, blue blubber jellyfish, ratfish, horseshoe crabs, and giant isopods.
Look up and see an award-winning, full-scale reproduction of the prehistoric Dunkleosteus, a giant, now extinct, armored fish, suspended in a watchful gaze over the gallery.
Discover life’s ancient secrets hidden written in the landscape all around us. From rock formations to fossil rich earth, Lava to Lakes tells the story of the connection between geological history and our state’s rich natural resources today.
Lava to Lakes is positioned in a 2,500 square foot exhibit gallery on Great Lakes Aquarium’s second floor. The nearly $1 million exhibit is funded in part by a $500,000 grant from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Acknowledgements
This project was funded in part by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund in FY 2024/25. Click HERE for more information.
Additional funding for this project comes from City of Duluth Tourism Tax Fund and Lloyd K Johnson Foundation.
