Geosciences Professor to Give Talk on Arkansas Paleontology

Laurel Lamb

A plaster cast of the dinosaur tracks within the UA Museum's storage facility.

The University of Arkansas Museum will host associate professor Celina Suarez's talk "The Vertebrate Fossil Record of the Lower Cretaceous Strata of Arkansas: A Rapidly Evolving Picture" at 7 p,m. Wednesday, Jan. 16.  

Associate professor in the Department of Geosciences, Suarez was part of the research team which studied the first theropod dinosaur trackways found in Arkansas and published their findings in the journal PLOS ONE last year. The tracks were found in 2011 at a gypsum quarry in southwest Arkansas. It was determined the tracks belonged to the large carnivorous dinosaur Acrocanthosaurus. Plaster casts of the best-preserved tracks were made and later donated to the University of Arkansas Museum. Suarez will discuss the team's findings, as well as some of her other recent work. 

A sampling of the casts will be on display specially for the program. Those who attend will also get a chance to see other fossils from the Museum, including the Arkansas State Dinosaur Arkansaurus fridayi. 

Suarez will be the first in the UA Museum's new Monthly Speaker series this semester. The series aims to connect the UA Museum's collections with exciting, related research conducted by the U of A community. The series will be multidisciplinary as the collections include a wide range of materials. Program topics later this semester will include the challenges of studying secretive snakes, prehistoric textile weaving traditions in the region, and a look at the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of the African continent through art.

The event will be held in the neighboring Arkansas Archeological Survey building at 2475 N Hatch Ave. Light refreshments will be served. This series is free and open to the public. 

The UA Museum is an administrative unit of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and seeks to serve the campus, community, and research scholars.