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Home , Argentinosaurus, Dreadnoughtus, Kenneth Lacovara, The Etches Collection

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GEOLiteracy TOUR Why Matter With Professor Ken Lacovara

8-15 APRIL 2017

The PESGB’s national public outreach initiative has calamitous events that unearthed some of the wiped out the dinosaurs Join largest dinosaurs ever and helped shaped to walk our planet, the modern world. As including the super- a community inspired Professor massive , park, Lacovara’s vision which at 65 tons is to create a center weighs more than for citizen science that seven T. rex. In his connects people to Kenneth quest to understand their ancient past and these titanic creatures fosters pathways into that strain the human the STEM disciplines for Lacovara imagination, Lacovara students of all ages and blends exploration backgrounds. in remote locations on tour... across the globe with A popular public the latest imaging and speaker, Lacovara modeling techniques enjoys sharing the from engineering to wonders of science medicine. When he’s and discovery with not excavating audiences around the in far-flung locations, world. He has appeared Lacovara works on in numerous television the cutting edge of documentaries and applying 21st-century his discoveries have technology to the study landed him three times of dinosaurs. By using in Discover magazine’s 3D imaging, , 100 Top Science Stories robotics, and medical of the and in Time’s modeling techniques, his Top Stories of 2014. work is helping to shift Lacovara was named by our perspective of giant Men’s Journal as one of herbivorous dinosaurs the The Next Generation from their historic of Explorers and he is portrayal as hapless an elected fellow of the lumbering prey to that prestigious Explorers of fearsome, hulking, Club in New York. hyper-efficient eating machines that deserve Kenneth Lacovara our awe and respect. earned his Ph.D. in from the Lacovara led the effort . to create the Rowan He is the founding Dean University Park in of the School of & . Within its Environment at Rowan quarry, Lacovara and his University and Director team are using a globally of the Rowan Fossil important cache of 65 Park. million year old fossils to shed light on the TOUR DATES

Why Dinosaurs SATURDAY 8 APRIL Bay & Matter Field Trip The Etches Collection Museum Why study the ancient past? Because it gives Talk & Reception us perspective and humility. It’s the past that gives our world context. And it’s the past that gives us foresight. SUNDAY 9 APRIL Lecture Dinosaurs were tiny, and huge. They were Baptist Church skittish and ferocious. Fast and slow. Runners, walkers, climbers, flyers, and sometimes MONDAY 10 APRIL swimmers. They were solitary and gregarious. Lecture Nocturnal and diurnal. Meat-eaters and plant- Natural History Museum, London eaters. Hunters, , grazers, and browsers. They were drab, colourful, scaled and feathered. But, most of all, they were TUESDAY 11 APRIL astoundingly adaptable. Stoneley Lecture & Reception Cavendish Centre, London Dinosaurs dominated every continent and were thriving the day before their demise. WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL Snuffed out by an asteroid, along with 75% of Keith Palmer Lecture & Reception on the planet, their sudden extinction University of Birmingham School emphasizes the contingent nature of Earth history. Over geological time, improbable, nearly impossible events do occur. By studying FRIDAY 14 APRIL the ancient past, we begin to see ourselves as Fun family activities throughout the day part of nature, connected across deep time to TED talk screenings & Q&A Aberdeen Science Centre, Aberdeen all other living things. Stoneley Lecture & Reception After 165 million , the dinosaurs died in Aberdeen Science Centre, Aberdeen the world’s fifth mass extinction, wiped out in a cosmic accident, through no fault of our own. They didn’t see it coming and they didn’t SATURDAY 15 APRIL have a choice. We, on the other hand, do have Lecture a choice and the nature of the fossil record National Museum of Scotland tells us that our place in this world is both Part of the Edinburgh Science Festival precarious and potentially fleeting. Right now, our species is propagating an environmental disaster of geological proportions that is so broad and so severe, that it can rightly be called the sixth extinction. But, unlike the dinosaurs, we can see it coming. And, unlike the dinosaurs, we can do something about it. That choice is ours.

Saturday 8 April, 13.00-17.00 & Lulworth Cove Field Trip FREE, but booking essential Family-friendly event Kimmeridge Bay &

Register for field trip and evening event at: Lulworth Cove eventbrite.co.uk/e/geoliteracy-festival-kim- meridge-bay-and-lulworth-cove-fam- Field Trip ily-field-trip-and-the-etches-collec- Collect your own fossils on this family field trip led by Dr Andrew tion-tickets-29778379936 Racey in the Kimmeridge area of Dorset, famed for both its oil baring Kimmeridge Shale and abundance of sea life fossils.

Saturday 8 April, 17.00-19.00 The Etches Collection, Museum of Marine Life FREE, but booking essential Family-friendly event

Or just register for the evening event at: eventbrite.co.uk/e/geoliteracy-fes- tival-the-etches-collection-muse- um-talk-and-reception-tickets-29819616275

WIN the chance to dine with Ken and Steve at The Castle Inn at 8pm In conversation with ...watch this space It was long thought that the local Kimmeridgian clays had little to yield by way of evidence via well-preserved fossils. A belief that was changed by the amazing discoveries of Steve Etches, local to Kimmeridge, fossil collector and expert who over the last 30 years, has discovered, collected and researched over 2000 incredible late Jurassic Kimmeridgian specimens. An achievement that has resulted in a collection of the most extensive and finest fossil specimens ever found in the Kimmeridgian Clay Formation. The Etches Collection is the result of one man’s passion. Over 30 years of discovery and diligent research, dogged determination not just to find and collect specimens, but also to bring to life the amazing stories of the creatures that existed in the Kimmeridgian age. During the visit inside the new purpose built home of the Etches Collection enjoy some well-earned drinks and nibbles whilst listening to Ken Lacovara and Steve Etches discuss a shared passion in discovering Fossils. Following this ‘in conversation event’ you will be welcome to stay and enjoy the hospitality while chatting to our speakers.

ACTIVITIES TO INCLUDE

For 5 and under: Little Explorer Day Storytelling Session & Activities including dig pits

Family show: ‘Giants of the Past’ – this hands-on show will look at the science behind the fossils and how scientists have discovered them

Fossil Roadshow DINOSAUR DAY AT THE THE AT DINOSAUR DAY

ABERDEEN SCIENCE CENTRE Make your own Fossil Workshop DORSET

Sunday 9 April, 14.00-16.00 Why Dinosaurs Pine Hall, Lyme Regis Baptist Church FREE, but booking essential

Matter... Public event in Lyme Regis Register at: eventbrite.co.uk/e/geoliteracy-festi- val-lyme-regis-tickets-29779384942

PESGB KEITH PALMER LECTURE BIRMINGHAM

Wednesday 12 April, 17.00 Why Dinosaurs University of Birmingham School Matter... FREE, but booking essential Public event in Birmingham Register at: eventbrite.co.uk/e/geoliteracy-lap- worth-museum-of-geology-tick- Hosted by Alice Roberts ets-29788841226

EDINBURGH

Saturday 15 April, 15.00 Why Dinosaurs National Museum of Scotland FREE, but booking essential Matter... Public event

Registration coming soon... in Edinburgh

ABERDEEN

TED Talk Screening & Live Q&A Hunting for dinosaurs showed me our place in the universe

Friday 14 April, 11.00 & 14.00 Aberdeen Science Centre Venue entry fee: £5.75 adult / £4.50 children / £18.00 family Family-friendly event

Registration not required Adventurous geologist who made perilous expeditions in search of oil and enthused his students with his passion for discovery. (The Times, Newspaper, 17 October 2008) Stoneley Lecture Series The PESGB are proud to announce the next lecture and date to continue our Stoneley Lecture Series in memory of Professor Robert Stoneley. “Earth, Exploration & Excitement: travels in modern geology” by Professor Iain Stewart StoneleyTuesday 13 March 2012 Central Hall, Westminster, London LectureDoors open at 6pm, Lecture will start at 6.30pm Iain Stewart is professor of Geoscience Communication at the University of Plymouth. The Stoneley Lecture The StoneleyHe is also Lecture a television and Series radio presenter, and has worked Series is the PESGB’s is named inon honour a variety of programmesof such as ‘Journeys From the Professor BobCentre ofStoneley the Earth’, ‘Earth: (1929 flagship outreach The Power of the Planet’, ‘Hot – 2008), eminentRocks’, ‘The Climategeologist Wars’ and event which was ‘How Earth Made Us’. and educatorHis moreand recentan work established in 2011 includes; ‘Making Scotland’s Honorary MemberLandscape’, shown of PESGB. on BBC One in late 2010 and; ‘Men with the aim of Of Rock’, a television series about pioneering geologists in raising the profile of Scotland. geology and earth Registration OpenLONDON sciences in the public Book now to reserve your place. consciousness. Tickets cost £15 and Tuesday £5 for students* 11 April, 18.30 *(proof of status will be required Cavendish on the evening) Conference Centre £15, includes drinks reception Professor Lacovara Public event follows a line of Stoneley_lecture_Ad_Feb_12.indd 1 1/12/2012 9:54:56 AM engaging speakers Register at: eventbrite.co.uk/e/pesgb-stoneley-lecture-2017- who are leading tickets-29787885367 figures in the communication of scientific and ABERDEEN technical material, including; Professor Friday 14 April, 18.30 Aberdeen Science Centre Iain Stewart, Hugh £10, includes drinks reception Denis, Dallas Public event Campbell, Sir Tony Register at: Robinson and Lord eventbrite.co.uk/e/pesgb-stoneley-lec- Robert Winston. ture-2017-aberdeen-tickets-30885106184 New tricks for old The study of Dreadnoughtus schrani— a massive titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Upper of southern — insights from , biomechanics, and molecular

Dreadnoughtus schrani is a new species of super force of muscles that the had massive dinosaur from southern Patagonia, and where they attached to the skeleton . At 26 m long and weighing about 59,300 – information that is lacking in many kg in life, Dreadnoughtus is the largest land animal sauropods. for which a body mass can be accurately calculated. With a body the size of a house, the It weighed as much as a dozen African elephants weight of a herd of elephants, and a or more than seven T. rex. Surprisingly, skeletal weaponized tail, Dreadnoughtus would evidence shows that when this 60-tonne specimen have feared nothing. The name refers to died, it was not yet full grown. the turn-of-the-last century battleship the Dreadnoughtus is known from exceptionally H.M.S. Dreadnought, which was huge, complete skeletal remains, with over 70 percent thickly clad and virtually impervious to of the bones, excluding the head, represented. existing technology. Because all previously discovered super-massive Rapid burial in liquifacted crevasse-splay dinosaurs are known only from relatively fragmentary deposits resulted in both the extraordinary remains, Dreadnoughtus offers an unprecedented skeletal completeness of Dreadnoughtus window into the anatomy and biomechanics of the and the exquisite preservation of its largest to ever walk the Earth. For example, bones, including finely detailed muscle was of a comparable and perhaps insertion scars. Efforts are underway greater mass than Dreadnoughtus, but is known in the Lacovara Lab to understand this from only a half dozen vertebrae in its mid-back, dinosaur’s body structure, growth rate, a shinbone and a few other fragmentary pieces; and biomechanics. because the specimen lacks upper limb bones, there is no reliable method to calculate a definitive mass of Argentinosaurus. was the most LONDON complete (27%) extremely massive titanosaur known prior to Dreadnoughtus, but that specimen lacks most limb bones, a tail and any part of its skull. Monday 10 April, 12.30-14.00 To better visualize the skeletal structure of Natural History Museum Dreadnoughtus, its bones were imaged with a 3D FREE, but booking essential laser scanner and used to create a “virtual mount” Academic event of the skeleton. A 3D PDF of the virtual mount is available for open-access download. The 3D laser Register at: scans of Dreadnoughtus show the deep, exquisitely eventbrite.co.uk/e/geo-literacy-london-natu- preserved muscle attachment scars that can provide ral-history-museum-tickets-29785037850 a wealth of information about the function and The Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain was established in 1964 by a group of like-minded professionals keen to create a community of geoscientists for networking and sharing ideas. Over 50 years on, we have a membership of over 5000 individuals, active in all six continents.

The Society’s objective ‘to promote, for the public benefit, education in the scientific and technical aspects of petroleum exploration’ is achieved by a variety of means including; lectures, field trips, the monthly magazine, special interest groups and regular conferences and events. As part of our charitable objective we have a growing programme of disbursements and outreach projects. We have donated over £2m supporting various educational projects including; school-based education, university support and public engagement. pesgb.org.uk pesgbblog.org.uk